WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The men and women’s cross country teams travelled to the University of Central Missouri for their annual Mule Run.  The runners not only had to face some very tough competition, the weather was relentless also.  Keith Memorial Golf Course recorded over 3 inches of rain the night before the race.  This created a muddy mess that made the runners understand what true cross country was.  Even though the conditions where not the best, SBU came out with a third place finish in the women’s 2.5 mile race and a second place finish in the men’s 4 mile race.  Coach McElhaney “Overall both teams raced well considering the conditions, we have some work to do but I have a great group of kids that work hard every day and share similar goals for the season.  We are looking forward to MSSU next week.  We have two high caliber meets these next two weeks with MSSU and The Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota.”

The SBU women finished behind Pittsburg State and University of Central Missouri in the 14 team field, to claim third place honors. The women were lead by Junior Courtney Ayers 6^th place finish.  Her time of 15:24 was 37 seconds behind the leader from Missouri Baptist. Coach McElhaney “Courtney ran very well today considering she had been sick the two days prior to the meet, she is a tough runner and is really determined this year to be at the top come conference and regional’s.”  Freshman Holly Hackney was the next bearcat to cross the line with a 15:56 in 14^th place.

Team Results (14 teams)

1^st Pittsburg State University                       51 points

2^nd University of Central Missouri             84 points

3^rd Southwest Baptist University              87 points

 SBU Results (129 runners)

  6^th Courtney Ayers        15:24

14^th Holly Hackney           15:56

20^th Rebecca Brigance    16:07

21^st Erica Whitfield           16:09

35^th Camrie Nixon            16:32

37^th Chelsea Strahm        16:33

38^th Christine Pierce        16:34

44^th Andrea Owensby    16:46

46^th Kelsi Chowning         16:52

47^th Kristen Colon             16:52

82^nd Kassidy Porter          18:09

101 Kelley Flowers           19:01

104 Tiffani Mangone       19:09

The SBU Men were edged out by two points to finish 2^nd place.  The University of Central Missouri won the meet with 68 points to SBU’s 70 points.  Junior Shawn Etzenhouser led the way with his first place finish.  His time of 20:43 won the race by over 7 seconds.  Coach McElhaney “Shawn raced really well today, he set back the first two miles and then just pulled away from there.  He has really been stepping up in practice.” Freshman Will Hansen was the next bearcat to finish the four mile race with a time of 21:29 placing him 11^th overall and the top freshman finisher in the race.

Team Results (17 teams)

1^st University of Central Missouri              68 points

2^nd Southwest Baptist University              70 points

3^rd Pittsburg State University                      111 points

SBU Results (167 runners)

  1^st Shawn Etzenhouser                     20:43

11^th Will Hansen                                21:29

15^th Josh Rollins                                 21:37

22^nd David Hackney                           21:49

23^rd Michael McCampbell                 21:49

27^th Jeremy Glassmaker                    21:55

30^th Nathaniel Rogers                       22:07

38^th Vince Tichenor                           22:16

40^th Cameron Ayers                          22:20

58^th David Shulteis                            22:43

65^th Caleb Loya                                 22:51

73^rd Josiah Coen                               23:07

84^th Jeff Weseloh                              23:44

86^th Andrew Bly                                 23:49

94^th Coty Goodwin                             24:24

102 Phillip Peek                                  24:51

118 Andrew Denbow                         25:28

130 Raymond Varner                         26:08

137 Brian Price                                  27:10

Men's Stats

Women's Stats