2008 Woodie Awards
Cross country teams face first test
Erik Johnson
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: Sports
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Overall, the Bearcats finished eighth behind MIAA foes Missouri Southern (second) and Pittsburg State (seventh).
On the women's side, youth prevailed for the cross country team this past weekend at the Missouri Southern Stampede as their top four runners were all underclassmen. Leading the quartet of underclassmen was sophomore Courtney Ayers who finished seventeenth in a time of 18 minutes, 13 seconds. Behind Ayers was fellow sophomore Chelsea Strahm (18:47), freshman Kelsi Chowning (19:06) and sophomore Mallory Roth (19:13). Senior Alyssa Maggart rounded out the top five for the Bearcats in a time of 19:18.
Led by the underclassmen, SBU placed fifth out of 37 teams. Their fifth place finish left them just off the pace set by fellow MIAA-members Missouri Southern (second) and Pittsburg State (fourth).
"At this point in the year, this was kind of what I expected," said McElhaney. "Courtney stepped up and had another big race against some very solid competition. As a team, we'll be a lot better at the end of the year."
Part of the reason for SBU's strong placing was the emergence of Roth. Roth made the biggest improvement of any runner on the women's team, moving from their eighth runner in the first meet to the fourth runner at the Stampede.
"We don't have a real top-five on the women's side yet, but Mallory gave us a boost," said McElhaney. "For her to go from our number-eight to our number-four was big."
After two meets, McElhaney says the best is yet to come from his Bearcats.
"Both teams are at the hardest part of their season," said McElhaney. "We are working toward conference and regionals. We're just trying to get everybody where they need to be when it really matters"
On the women's side, youth prevailed for the cross country team this past weekend at the Missouri Southern Stampede as their top four runners were all underclassmen. Leading the quartet of underclassmen was sophomore Courtney Ayers who finished seventeenth in a time of 18 minutes, 13 seconds. Behind Ayers was fellow sophomore Chelsea Strahm (18:47), freshman Kelsi Chowning (19:06) and sophomore Mallory Roth (19:13). Senior Alyssa Maggart rounded out the top five for the Bearcats in a time of 19:18.
Led by the underclassmen, SBU placed fifth out of 37 teams. Their fifth place finish left them just off the pace set by fellow MIAA-members Missouri Southern (second) and Pittsburg State (fourth).
"At this point in the year, this was kind of what I expected," said McElhaney. "Courtney stepped up and had another big race against some very solid competition. As a team, we'll be a lot better at the end of the year."
Part of the reason for SBU's strong placing was the emergence of Roth. Roth made the biggest improvement of any runner on the women's team, moving from their eighth runner in the first meet to the fourth runner at the Stampede.
"We don't have a real top-five on the women's side yet, but Mallory gave us a boost," said McElhaney. "For her to go from our number-eight to our number-four was big."
After two meets, McElhaney says the best is yet to come from his Bearcats.
"Both teams are at the hardest part of their season," said McElhaney. "We are working toward conference and regionals. We're just trying to get everybody where they need to be when it really matters"
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