B e a r c a t T r a c k a n d F i e l d
The Southwest Baptist University Track and Field/Cross Country Website
The Southwest Baptist University Track and Field/Cross Country Website
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9.08.06 WARRENSBURG, MO…The SBU Lady Bearcats opened the 2006 cross country season with a second place showing at the Central Missouri State University Mule Run. The meet was held at Keth Memorial Golf Course, which will serve as the site of the 2006 NCAA South Central Regional Championship in November. Paced by senior Amy Broadhurst’s fourth place finish, SBU fell only 7 points shy of winning the team title, which was claimed by NAIA power Mid-America Nazarene with 82 points. The Bearcat’s 89 points, however, helped them to a 1 point victory over #14 nationally ranked CMSU, the pre-season MIAA favorite. The Lady Cats also beat MIAA foes Pittsburg State (MIAA preseason #2) and Northwest Missouri State, along with NAIA #12 nationally ranked Park University. Overall, 14 teams competed in the meet. Broadhurst crossed the finish line in 14:51 on the 2.5 mile course. The next five Bearcats were separated by only 16 seconds, as SBU put their top-7 runners in the top-33 of the 135 athlete field. Freshmen Courtney Ayers (17th, 15:25), Kristin Colon (22nd, 15:29) and Erica Whitfield (28th, 15:38) were the 2-3-4 punch for the Bearcats, while juniors Alyssa Maggart (30th, 15:39) and Lisa Bunn (31st, 15:40) finished within 19 hundredths of a second to close out the scoring runners for SBU. Freshman Chelsea Strahm’s 33rd place performance in 15:41 helped the Bearcats put seven in front of CMSU’s fifth runner to bump them to the victory by 1 point. The Lady Bearcats fielded a team of 13 athletes, more than double the number of girls on the squad last fall. Their further depth was highlighted by Mallory Roth (52nd, 16:17), Andrea Owensby (58th, 16:33), Kristin Dickerson (61st, 16:37), and Christine Flippin (63rd, 16:43) finishing in the top half of the field. Kristin Edwards (95th) and Susan Bowman (102nd) rounded out the SBU participants in the meet. Head Coach Jeff DeLong was pleased with the opening efforts. “We came in here knowing we were in good shape, and this is a great opener for us to beat CMSU and Pitt State. However, we need to stay healthy and remember that nobody is going to care about what we did here on September 8th. We need to show up and repeat this performance when it counts at conference and regionals,” he said. The Lady Bearcats will return to action next Saturday at the Missouri Southern State University Stampede in Joplin. The women’s college race begins at 9:00am |
