Former University of Missouri national champion Derrick Peterson will try to advance at the Olympics in the 800-meter run today in Athens. Peterson ran a personal best at the trials in Sacramento earlier this summer to qualify for the games. Just making the team is a vindication of sorts for Peterson. In 2000, he failed to get out of the semifinals of the Olympic trials by fractions of a second. After four years of training, Peterson will get his chance to extend his stay in Athens. In 1999, Peterson was the national indoor champ in the 800 and set the NCAA record, which still stands today. In 2002 he won the national indoor championships.
