The SBU women’s cross country team followed the lead of their male teammates by claiming a second place finish at the 2006 MIAA Cross Country Championships held on their home course at Bolivar Country Club.

Led by senior Amy Broadhurst’s third place finish, the #19 Lady Bearcats trailed only #16 Missouri Southern State University in the overall team standings, as MSSU claimed their first title since 1998.  Missouri Southern’s 67 points outdistanced the Lady Bearcats by nine points as SBU (76 points) held off ranked opponents #23 Pittsburg State (82 points) and #24 Central Missouri (99 points) for the runner-up slot.  MIAA newcomer Fort Hays State (100 points), Emporia State (159 points), Truman State (168 points) and Northwest Missouri (174 points) occupied fifth through eighth in the team standings.

Broadhurst averaged 5:50 per mile en route to her school record 6k performance of 21:55 for bronze medal honors.  That performance marked the highest individual finish by a Lady Bearcat in SBU history, surpassing the 5^th place finish by Ashleigh Wendleton in 2002.  Also claiming All-MIAA honors was freshman Courtney Ayers, who finished 9^th in a time of 22:20. 

A strong freshman class helped SBU by occupying the 2-3-4-5-6 slots for the Lady Bearcats.  After Ayers, Kristen Colon (17^th, 22:44), Chelsea Strahm (19^th, 22:46), Andrea Owensby (28^th, 23:08), and Erica Whitfield (31^st, 23:08) sealed the runner-up finish for the Lady Bearcats, who topped their previous program high fifth place finish (2001, 2002, 2003) and their preseason ranking of sixth on the MIAA poll.

Junior Alyssa Maggart (33^rd, 23:25), freshman Mallory Roth (34^th, 23:25), junior Lisa Bunn (38^th, 23:37) and freshman Christine Flippin (57^th, 25:07) completed SBU’s ten finishers out of the 70 athletes in the championship field.

The Lady Bearcats will now prepare for the NCAA South Central Regional Championship, which will be held on the campus of the University of Central Missouri on November 4. In order to secure a ticket to the NCAA Championships, SBU would have to finish in the top-2 of the team standings.