JOPLIN, Mo. -- SBU’s men and women’s track and field teams travelled to Missouri Southern State University for the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this past weekend.  Both teams claimed 7^th place out of 8 teams.  The men were 17 points out of 5^th place, while the women were a mere 3 points behind the 6^th place bearcats from Northwest Missouri State. SBU also had 12 All-Conference performers and 3 All-Conference relay teams.  To be named All-Conference an individual must place within the top six of their competitors.  A relay must place top three in the conference to be named All-Conference.

Friday Competition

To start the weekend off Courtney Ayers ran a blistering pace to not only place 5^th in the MIAA conference but also break the SBU 5,000 meter record.  Her time of 18:07.48 broke the 18:17.04 record Christine Showler (McElhaney) set in 2006.  Also in the 5,000 was Kristen Colon who ran a personal best of 19:06.19 to claim 13^th, and Erica Whitfield ran a personal best of 19:08.25 to claim 16^th place.

Next came the men’s 5,000 meter run, Michael McCampbell placed 10^th place with his 15:44.55, Cameron Ayers ran a 15:56.05 to place 12^th, David Hackney ran a personal best of 16:08.14 to claim 15^th place and freshman Patrick Steffen placed 19^th with his 16:43.97.

The other final held on Friday was the men’s and women’s distance medley relay.  The women’s relay team made up of Kelsi Chowning, Kassidy Porter, Alyssa Maggart, and Chelseas Stahm ran the 3^rd fastest time in school history to claim 3^rd place honors.  Their time of 12:42.08 finished six seconds ahead of 4^th place Central Missouri University. The men’s distance medley relay team made up of Shawn Etzenhouser, Erik Johnson, Nathaniel Rogers, and Michael Pierce that is currently ranked 15^th in the nation had an off day and held on for 2^nd place just over one second behind first place Pittsburg State University. 

In the men and women’s weight throw Jennifer Golden threw 36’ 5” to break her own school record of 35’ 3”.  Michael Morris claimed 19^th with his 35’ 1” throw.

Saturday Competition

To being competition on Friday Anna Brandenburgh timed for 7^th place in the high jump.  Her jump of 5’ 3” was her indoor season best.  Anna came into the even ranked 12^th.  Anna also jumped 16’ 1 ½“to claim 12^th in the women’s long jump.

In the throwing events Jennifer Golden threw 33’ 1” to claim 17^th place, while Michael Morris threw 35’ 1 ¾” to claim 19^th place.

In the women’s mile freshman Kelsi Chowning missed All-Conference by .05 seconds.  He time of 5:15.59 was her indoor best while also making her the second fastest miler in SBU history.  Also competing in the mile was Andrea Owensby who placed 16^th with a 5:38.18.

The men’s mile proved to be exciting as expected.  Senior Michael Pierce had a huge target on his back as the pace went out about 6 seconds slower than usual.  When Michael took the lead with about 800 left everyone followed, including teammates Jeremy Glassmaker and Vince Tichenor.  Pierce finished the race in a 4:18.14 to be named Conference Champion with the next finisher only .14 seconds behind.  SBU teammates Jeremy Glassmaker and Vince Tichenor just missed All-Conference honors by placing 7^th and 8^th in the 18 person field.

In the women’s 60 meter dash Katie Ware ran a personal best with an 8.49 while soccer standout Atefah Heivary had her debut in indoor track with an 8.74.

Next was the women’s 400 meter dash.  Sophomore Jenny Blair ran a 58.84 to claim 3^rd place just .05 seconds out of 2^nd place.  Jennifer Gillespie finished 5^th with her 59.24.  In the men’s 400 meter dash Jeff Weseloh ran a 51.93 to claim 13^th place.

In the women’s 600 yard run Kassidy Porter qualified for the finals to finish 5^th with a time of 1:28.90.  In the prelims of the 600 Mallory Roth just missed the finals by placing 6^th place.  This was Mallory’s first race of the indoor season after recovering from and injury during cross country.  Also during the prelims Kassidy Porter’s time of 1:28.13 broke Jenny Blair’s record of 1:28.36 set last year.  Fivi Mihai and Casey Verner also placed 14^th and 15^th in the 600 yard prelims

The men’s 600 yard also proved to be an exciting race with two bearcats qualifying for the finals while junior Erik Johnson missed qualifying by one spot after getting tripped up in the prelims.  Nathaniel Rogers time of 1:14.11 in the prelims breaks Coach McElhaney’s record of 1:14.54 set back in 2005.  In the finals Nathaniel Rogers and Jesse Kueker finished 4^th and 5^th with times of 1:14.83 and 1:15.29.  Kueker’s time was also big personal best.

In the women’s 800 meter run senior Alyssa Maggart capped off her final indoor meet with a bang by claiming her highest conference place in her career.  Maggarts 2:18.95 finished 2^nd place while training partner Kelsi Chowning came back less than two hours after the mile to claim All-Conference honors with a 5^th place finish.  Christine Flippin also competed in the 800 meter run place 16^th.

Just over 1 ½ hours after Michael Pierce won the mile in 4:18 he came back to see what he had left in the 800 meter run.  With a .43 second difference between first place and 5^th place Michael finished 5^th place in a very tight race.  Vince Tichenor also just missed the finals by placing 11^th in the prelims with a 1:58.45.

In the women’s 200 meter dash sophomores Jennifer Gillespie and Jenny Blair went 8^th and 10^th; while Katie Ware tied her personal best to claim 19^th.  Jennifer’s eight place finish qualified her for the finals where she gained another All-Conference finish placing 6^th place, beating the 7^th place finisher by .02 seconds.

Another record fell in the women’s 3,000 meter run.  Sophomore Courtney Ayers ran another big personal best of 10:29.88 to pass Christine Showler (McElhaney’s) record of 10:34.77 set in 2006.  Courtney’s time was good enough to get her another All-Conference finish of 5^th.  Teammates Chelsea Strahm and Kristen Colon also had standout races.  Strahm’s 10:39 eclipsed her personal best of 10:57 and was good enough for 11^th place.  Kristen Colon’s 11:01.02 was also a personal best by 1 second.

Michael McCampbel and Cameron Ayers finished 11^th and 22^nd in the 3,000 meter run.

On the last event of the day SBU had two 4x400 meter relays left.  The women’s 4x400 meter relay team made up of Kassidy Porter, Kelsi Chowning, Jennifer Gillespie, and Jenny Blair ran a very tight race to claim 3^rd place honors.  Jenny Blair’s last effort at the line to hold off Northwest Missouri States anchor helped get 3^rd by .02 seconds. 

The men’s relay team made up of Jesse Kueker, Jeff Weseloh, Nathaniel Rogers, and Erik Johnson ran the second fastest time in school history (3:26.50) to claim 4^th place.  This race also came down the the anchor leg Erik Johnson who passed the Fort Hayes anchor leg in the last 40 meters of the race to claim 4^th place honors just missing All-Conference honors.

Coach McElhaney commented: “Overall, I am so proud of every effort put forth this weekend.  At the conference championships every race 800 meters and down has prelims the day before.  This makes it very tough on the athletes.  Several of our athletes had to run great races in the prelims just to make the finals.  As I was looking through the results I saw several athletes barely miss All-Conference honors.  Then again, I also saw a couple races where we barely got All-Conference.  Our conference is so competitive it makes it hard.  The women scored 37 points which was 20 points more than any women’s team in school history.  The men’s score of 30 points was the second highest total behind last years 37 points.  Coach Adkison and I told the team before leaving for the meet that our goal is to be in the top 5 on the men’s side and top 6 on the women’s side.  The men were 17 points out of 5^th and the women were 3 points out of 6^th.  We are going in the right direction and within the next couple years SBU will be pushing top 5 and possibly top 3 in the conference.”

“I also want to say thank you to all the family, friends, supporters from the university and community for coming to the meet.  It means a lot to the athletes to know that they have support.  I also want to personally thank Brent Good for coming to the meet.  Some of the athletes commented on how excited their Athletic Director was about their races.  Thank you everyone.”

SBU All-Conference Athletes:

Women

Courtney Ayers – 5^th place 5,000 meter run, 5^th place 3,000 meter run

Jenny Blair – 3rd place 400 meter dash, 3^rd place 4x40 meter relay

Jennifer Gillespie – 5^th place 400 meter dash, 6^th place 200 meter dash, 3^rd place 4x400 meter relay

Kassidy Porter – 5^th place 600 yard run, 3^rd place Distance Medley Relay, 3^rd place 4x400 meter relay

Alyssa Maggart – 2^nd place 800 meter run, 3^rd place Distance Medley Relay

Kelsi Chowning – 5^th place 800 meter run, 3^rd place Distance Medley Relay, 3rd place 4x400 meter relay

Chelsea Strahm – 3^rd place Distance Medley Relay

Men

Michael Pierce – 1^st place Mile run, 5^th place 800 meter run, 2^nd place Distance Medley Relay

Nathaniel Rogers – 4^th place 600 yard run, 2^nd place Distance Medley Relay

Jesse Kueker – 5^th pace 600 yard run

Erik Johnson – 2^nd place Distance Medley Relay

Shawn Etzenhouser – 2^nd Distance Medley Relay

Complete meet results: http://www.mssu.edu/athletics/womenstrackandfield/2008/CopmiledAllEvents.htm