Men's results | Women's results
EMPORIA, Kan. -- The SBU Bearcat men's cross country team placed three runners in the top ten, including Michael Pierce, who won the event, but it was not enough to win as the Bearcats placed third at the 2009 MIAA Cross Country Championships. The SBU women placed ninth.
Missouri Southern won the men's side with 47 points and Pittsburg State took second 53 points, with the Bearcats just behind at 56 points. Central Missouri was fourth with 90 points.
Pierce's time of 24:35.23 was the second fastest time ever on the Jones Park course and was the fastest winning time over 8K in the MIAA championships since Rob Jensen won the 1992 meet in 24:18.0 for Truman. Pierce was nine seconds ahead of second place and MIAA Freshman of the Year Laban Sialo of UCM. SBU's Jeremy Glassmaker took fourth at 25:03.88 and Shawn Etzenhouser placed eighth at 25:24.68. With the top ten finishes, the SBU senior trio earned All-MIAA honors.
A quartet of SBU runners finished just outside the top twenty. Seniors Cameron Ayers (26:04.19) and Michael McCampbell (26:10.12), along with Will Hansen (26:11.92) and Phillip Miller (26:15.69) finished 21st through 24th. Lance Knight was 31st at 26:25.88, Caleb Loya was 54th with a time of 27:20.83, and Max McClure was 64th with a time of 27:54.39.
"We came out and ran hard," said head coach Corey McElhaney. "We knew it would be tough -- 10 points separated the top three teams. We need our four through six guys to move up a bit. I'm really proud of our three top seniors and Michael winning his first conference meet but he's a team guy. He wants the team to go with him to nationals."
On the women's side, the SBU women finished ninth. Missouri Southern blazed through the event with six of the seven top individual finishers and 18 points total, the lowest score in MIAA history. MSSU's Kimi Shank won her second straight individual championship and led the Lions to their fourth straight team title.
SBU's best individual finisher was Chelsea Strahm in 29th (23:38.77 in the 6K event). Rebecca Brigance was 35th (23:54.42), Andrea Owensby placed 43rd (24:09.57) and Christine Pierce was 58th (24:47.89). Camrie Nixon ran 66th, Kristen Colon was 67th and Melanie McVay was 69th.
"We had a few runners that ran personal best times, but we fell short of our goal," said McElhaney. "The conference is so tough -- to finish higher, we needed more near the top. They competed well and I was proud of them."
The Bearcat teams now have two weeks until regionals at Abilene Christian on November 7. The women's race begins at 10 a.m. The top three men's teams advance to nationals while the top two women's squads move on to the national meet. The NCAA Cross Country National Championships are at Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind., on November 21, also starting at 10 a.m.