ROLLA, Mo. – Hosting a top-flight field in the inaugural GLVC-MIAA Challenge, Missouri S&T saw its women’s team place sixth and the men’s team come in eighth place Saturday morning in the cross country meet held at the S&T Golf Course.
In the women’s meet, the Lady Miners were up against a group that included three teams ranked among the Top 25 and five ranked in their respective regions. S&T’s top finisher in the five-kilometer race was freshman Lisa Lake, who ended up in 32nd place out of 79 runners with a time of 19:39, while Colleen Conrad finished two spots behind Lake in 19:42.
Mindy Lake and Lisa Barrett finished 44th and 45th, respectively, with Lake posting a mark of 20:17 and Barrett crossing the line in 20:18. Rebecca McNally was S&T fifth finisher with a 49th place finish in a time of 20:21.
Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballenger, the runner-up at the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s 2008 league meet, won Saturday’s race in a time of 17:33, nine seconds ahead of Rolla native Kimi Shank, a senior at Missouri Southern. Shank’s Lady Lion team, currently ranked third in NCAA Division II, won the team title over USI as it had five of the top seven finishers in the race.
Jason Barry was the top finisher for S&T in the men’s race as he came in 31st place with a time of 25:56 over eight kilometers, one second and one spot ahead of teammate Grant Brown. The Miners’ third runner was Allen Ernst, who placed 37th in 26:03.
S&T’s top five was rounded out by Eric Fairbairn in 39th place in 26:10 and David Huskisson in 50th place in the 84-runner race in a time of 26:36.
Northern Kentucky’s Drew Harris recorded a decisive victory in the men’s race, winning by 16 seconds in a time of 24:17 over Drury’s Derek Berry.
Missouri Southern also won the team title on the men’s side as it edged Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association rival Pittsburg State by eight points. Drury was the top finisher among the GLVC teams in third place.
The Miners and Lady Miners’ next competition will take place at the GLVC Championships, slated for Oct. 24 in Louisville, Ky.