The Omnibus

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Sports

Sophomore Josh Rollins was SBU's fifth runner at the Border Wars where the Bearcats took first out of 26 teams. [Click to enlarge]

The Southwest Baptist men's and women's cross country teams seem prepared for the MIAA Championship Meet this weekend in Kirksville.
Two weekends ago, the teams competed in the Border Wars at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville and competed very well. The women's team took third out of 25 teams while the men beat 26 teams to win their side of the meet.
On an unusually hot day in the beginning of October, the women were led by the sophomore trio of Courtney Ayers (17th, 19 minutes, 24 seconds), Mallory Roth (24th, 19:36) and Chelsea Strahm (27th, 19:41).
"The ladies did great this weekend," said Head Coach Corey McElhaney. "I could not have asked more from them, they accepted that everyone had to run in the heat and they ran very strong. They are such a great group on and off the course. You don't see many teams that after a grueling three miles in the heat huddle up and thank God, in prayer, for the opportunity to run for His glory. That says something about the character of this women's team. I am proud to be their coach."
On the men's side, junior Michael Pierce again paced the field for SBU by finishing the eight-kilometer course (five miles) in 26 minutes and one second, which was good enough for third place.
Behind Pierce for the Bearcats were sophomores Shawn Etzenhouser (8th, 26:34), Jeremy Glassmaker (18th, 27:05), Cameron Ayers (20th, 27:08) and Josh Rollins (34th, 27:26).
"Our top 5-6 guys packed it up the first mile going through in a 5:00 first mile," said McElhaney. "This really put them back but with the heat and dry conditions it helped them in the later miles. There is one very big hill on the course. It was located deep in the woods where no spectators could go. The guys wanted me to go back there to stress mental toughness during this part of the course. I met them back there and watched these guys pour their hearts out going up that hill after already running almost 4 miles of the 5 mile race. It made me very happy as a coach to see their determination."

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