Cross Country/Track
Lady Bearcat Cross Country Third at Stampede
By
Sep 16, 2006, 17:44

Seeking to validate their first-ever national ranking of #16 on last week's Division II poll, the Lady Bearcats used a balanced team effort to claim third place out of 34 teams at the Missouri Southern Stampede.

SBU’s 156 points found them behind only #3 Division II ranked Harding and Division I Missouri State.  Harding took the team title with 56 points, while MSU outdistanced the Lady Bearcats by 29 points with a total of 127.  Among those teams behind SBU in the final standings were Oral Roberts (4^th, 174 points), Pittsburg State (5^th, 216), and Mid-America Nazarene (230).  Mid-America Nazarene had defeated SBU at the CMSU Mule Run last weekend.

A very small spread of 53 seconds separated the top-7 runners for the Lady Bearcats.  They were led again by senior Amy Broadhurst, who finished 17^th in a time of 18:20.  The next six athletes registered personal bests ranging from twenty to almost fifty seconds, led by freshman Courtney Ayers (27^th) in 18:38.  Juniors Alyssa Maggart (35^th, 18:50) and Lisa Bunn (39^th, 18:57) made it four SBU females under 19 minutes.  Freshmen Kristen Colon (48^th, 19:11), Chelsea Strahm (56^th, 19:14), and Erica Whitfield (59^th, 19:17) finished out the tight pack, helping put seven runners in front of MIAA competitor Pittsburg State’s fourth.  Last week Pitt State finished only 4 points behind the Bearcats at CMSU.

Andrea Owensby (77^th, 19:37), Mallory Roth (124^th, 20:17), Kristin Dickerson (138^th, 20:31), Christine Flippin (160^th, 20:53) and Kristin Edwards (215^th, 22:21) rounded out the SBU competitors in the field of 286 student-athletes.

The Lady Cats will take a weekend off before traveling to Chicago to compete in the Loyola University Lakefront Invitational on September 30.  The Bearcats will seek to gain entry into the Gold race, which is open to Division I and ranked Division II and III teams only.