Inductees

This could have been a completely different story. Of a kid who grew up in snowy Colorado who might have become a name in downhill skiing, perhaps in the Olympics.

However, in the eighth grade, Ashley Wysong moved home to the southwest Missouri town of Nevada.

“I’ve learned that everything in life happens for a reason and, had we not moved back to Missouri, I likely would have never started running,” Wysong said.

A year later, she found her calling and ran right into the record books, becoming one of the state’s – and, eventually, the nation’s – best middle-distance runners. And it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Wysong with the Class of 2024.

At Nevada High School, Wysong was a five-time Class 3 state champion in the 400 meters (1995, 1996, 1997 state record 56.08) and 200 meters (1996, 1997).

She then went on to the University of Missouri, where she was a six-time NCAA All-American in the 800 meters and national champion on the record-breaking distance medley relay team. Wysong earned 16 All-Big 12 honors, winning the conference title and setting the record in the outdoor 800 meters in 2000. She placed third at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor (MU-record of 2:02.94), ran in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials, and won the silver medal in the Pan-American Games.

Upon graduation, Wysong held Mizzou records in both the indoor and outdoor 800 meters and relay records in the indoor distance medley, outdoor 4×400, and outdoor 4×800. All individual records and two of three relay records stand to this day.

Wysong later ran for the Nike Farm Team and competed in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 800 after returning from two knee surgeries.

All this from an athlete who was once a Junior Olympics ski racer competing for Ski Club Vail and Vail Gymnastics in the early 1990s.

It’s an incredible story, with an even better ending. She is now Dr. Wysong, the Professor and Chair of Dermatology at the University of Nebraska, where she is a skin cancer surgeon, researcher and educator.

In fact, she still remembers one of her first races in eighth grade, where Nevada coach Jodie McNeley told her mom during the 200-meter dash, “There’s literally no one else around her!”

That became a habit. Not a bad one, though.

In 1994, Wysong went undefeated in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes as a freshman, winning conference, district and sectionals and placing in the top five at state, helping Nevada win the Class 3 state team title. That summer, she attended Mizzou’s Track & Field camp and tried out for the 400 meters.

Over the next three seasons, she was undefeated in the 400, except for one race, the 1995 Kansas Relays. That led to being recruited by Mizzou’s Rick McGuire and Natasha Kaiser-Brown (MSHOF 2016).

Said Wysong, “I’ll never forget a conversation that changed my life and running career. Coach McGuire said, ‘I have no doubts that you will be All-American in the 400, however, I think if you come to Missouri, we can help make you become world class in the 800.’”

McGuire made an impact.

“Having Coach McGuire as a head coach was extremely unique with his professional background as a sports psychologist,” Wysong said. “We had weekly ‘Mizzou Mindset’ sessions which gave us a competitive edge in learning to prepare our minds alongside our bodies.”

Wysong credits her success as a collegiate athlete, including the 2000 storybook season, to coach Jeff Pigg, whose focus on personalized workouts made a difference. It led to a legacy.

Looking back, she credits so many others, too: Mizou athletic director Mike Alden (MSHOF 2015), Nevada coaches Leland Day, McNeley, Larry Hurst, Robert Watts and Larry Testman.

“It is pretty surreal to hold records at the University of Missouri now 25 years later,” Wysong said. “I’d encourage young athletes to celebrate your wins along the way.”

Following the Pan American Games – and sensing possible regret if she didn’t try to make the 2004 Olympics – Wysong joined the Nike Farm Team in California. But knee injuries – and surgeries on both knees in 2004 – nearly derailed it all. But she rallied in time for the Trials.

“I am extremely proud of my 2004 season,” Wysong said. “While things did not end as I would have wanted, after two knee surgeries and racing against all medical advice, I left everything I had on the track and was able to walk away with my head held high and having no regrets.”