WARRENSBURG, MO…Friday marked a new beginning for the SBU men’s cross country program. 

The Bearcats opened their season by winning the CMSU Mule Run with 33 points, outdistancing MIAA preseason co-favorite and #24 ranked CMSU by 73 points.  Trailing the Bearcats in the team standings were #3 MIAA preseason ranked Northwest Missouri State (2^nd, 93 points), #22 NAIA nationally-ranked Mid-America Nazarene (3^rd, 105 points), CMSU (4^th, 106 points), and Pittsburg State (7^th, 147 points).  Overall, twelve teams took part in the 4 mile race, which previewed the NCAA South Central Regional course. 

The Bearcats had a stellar 1-2 finish by senior T. Jay Sanderson and sophomore Michael Pierce.  Sanderson broke the tape for the victory in 19:59 at just under 5:00 per mile, while Pierce was only fifteen seconds behind in 20:15.  Both athletes have already won All-NCAA South Central Regional honors in their careers. 

Helping the Bearcats to their low scoring 33 point total was a quintet of freshmen who comprised the third through seventh runners for the evening.  Josh Rollins finished 6^th overall in 20:31, followed by Michael McCampbell who claimed 10^th place in 20:39.  Shawn Etzenhouser (16^th, 21:00) and Jeremy Glassmaker (17^th, 21:02) sealed the victory when both finished in front of Northwest Missouri’s fourth runner.  David Hackney completed the SBU scorers with a 44^th place finish in 21:58. 

SBU fielded perhaps the largest squad in the history of the school’s men’s cross country program.  Timmy Specht, a Kansas 3200m state champion last spring, finished 46^th in 22:01, followed by Cameron Ayers (53^rd, 22:10) and Vince Tichenor (59^th, 22:24).  Andrew Bly claimed 77^th in 22:58, beating teammate Jesse Kueker to the tape by one second.  Kueker placed 79^th in 22:59.  Philip Peek and Andrew Denbow finished in 101^st and 103^rd place, respectively.  Tyler Pulley (109^th), Austin Robidou (114^th), Coty Goodwyn (118^th), and Jason Brandt (123^rd) rounded out the Bearcat competitors in the 153 athlete field. 

“I think we really wanted to prove that we felt we were better than our preseason position on the MIAA poll and that we deserved recognition on the Regional rankings [SBU was not ranked in the top-10 regionally],” said Head Coach Jeff DeLong.  “I am beyond proud of the efforts put in top to bottom on our team tonight, but we also need to remember that now the cat is out of the bag.  The MIAA has a great tradition in cross country and these teams will be tough come the end of the year.  We’re going to have to earn it every single time.” 

The men will face stiff competition including perennial Division I powerhouse Arkansas and preseason MIAA co-favorite, Missouri Southern State University, at the Southern Stampede in Joplin next weekend.  The men’s race will begin at 9:45am.