WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The SBU Bearcats won the MIAA Championship today, as the men's team finished first at the event hosted by Central Missouri.

SBU finished first with a point total of 63, followed by Pittsburg State with 84, and Missouri Southern with 86.

SBU's Shawn Etzenhouser ran a 25:46.23 to finish in 4th place. Jeremy Glassmaker finished in 7th place (25:52.78) and Michael McCampbell was right behind him in 8th (26:02.02). These three runners, by virtue of their top ten finish, were named first-team All-MIAA athletes.

The SBU women finished in third place with 83 points. Missouri Southern won the women's meet with 42 points, followed by Pittsburg state with 72 points.

They were led by Courtney Ayers, who finished 3rd (22:57.05), which claimed her an All-MIAA award. Chelsea Strahm finished in 10th place, to also earn an All-MIAA award, with a time of 23:24.63.

“First in school history but hopefully there are many more to come.”  A quote by coach Corey McElhaney after learning his men’s cross country team won the MIAA Championships.  His men’s team came into the season picked for second and maintained a third place ranking throughout the season.  That is until now, the men claimed first by placing three runners in the top 8 and their 4th and 5th runners in the top 27.  Leading the way was Junior Shawn Etzenhouser’s 4th place finish (25:46).  Following close behind him were juniors Jeremy Glassmaker (25:52) and Michael McCampbell’s (26:02), 7th and 8th place finishes.  Freshman Will Hansen ran a personal best (26:22) to claim 17th place and rounding out the top 5 was Josh Rollins' (26:50) 27th place finish.

Coach McElhaney “I am so proud of our team today; we all believed we could do it and we finally followed through. It was awesome seeing our guys come together and run as a team. God has truly blessed me with a great team on and off the course. We now have to get focused for regionals in two weeks. I also want to say thanks to everyone who came and supported the teams, I can honestly say we had the loudest crowd there.”

Place                     Name                    Time

4th           Shawn Etzenhouser               25:46

7th          Jeremy Glassmaker               25:52

8th          Michael McCampbell              26:02

17th         Will Hansen                           26:22

27th         Josh Rollins                           26:50

29th         Cameron Ayers                      26:59

37th        David Hackney                       27:13

51st        Vince Tichenor                       27:42

62nd        Andrew Bly                           28:29

Top Four Team Placing

Southwest Baptist           63 points

Pittsburg State                84 points

Missouri Southern           86 points

Fort Hays State               96 points

Full Results: http://www.themiaa.com/MIAAstatsMCrossCountry.asp

SBU women placed 3rd at the MIAA Championships, after being picked for third int the preseason poll. SBU finished behind MSSU and Pit State with 83 points.  MSSU and Pit State are both ranked in the top 25 nationally.  Coach McElhaney said, “I know our ladies had the #2 spot in their eyes but came up a little short. I am still very proud of their efforts today; we have been in the top three in all of the past three years. That is something to be said about our ladies and how hard they work, especially in a conference as tough as the MIAA. The team really ran together today and pushed each other, I have a great group who are willing to work hard, and hopefully that will pay off in two weeks as we are currently ranked 5th and the top three teams go to nationals.”

Leading SBU was Courtney Ayers (22:57) third place finish which ties Amy Broadhurst for the highest finish at the MIAA Championships by an SBU Bearcat.  Following close to here was Junior Chelsea Strahm (23:24) and her 10th place finish. Rounding out the top five was Erica Whitfield (24:05) 21st, Kristen Colon (24:16) 24th, and Rebecca Brigance (24:18) 25th.

Place                     Name                    Time

3rd           Courtney Ayers                       22:57

10th         Chelsea Strahm                       23:24

21st         Erica Whitfield                          24:05

24th         Kristen Colon                           24:16

25th         Rebecca Brigance                    24:18

40th         Camrie Nixon                           24:46

43rd        Holly Hackney                          24:57

45th         Andrea Owensby                     25:02

57th         Melanie McVay                       25:35

63rd        Christine Pierce                        25:51

Top Four Team placing

Missouri Southern           42 points

Pittsburg State               72 points

Southwest Baptist           83 points

Truman State                 109 points

Full Results: http://www.themiaa.com/MIAAstatsWCrossCountry.asp