Sept. 4, 2009
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Tiger cross country women claimed the first three spots and the men got strong performances from several individuals, including sophomore Kevin McKee (Kansas City, Mo.), as the team opened its 2009 season at the SIU Early Bird on Friday (Sept. 4) at Abe Martin Field. Freshman Bailey Belvis (Prosper, Texas), senior Ellen Ries (Ryan, Iowa) and sophomore Aimee Bonte (Fenton, Mo.) claimed the first three spots for the women as Belvis turned in a time of 14:10.09 in her first collegiate race. The women's race was a 4K while the men ran a 6K.
"It was a great start to the year," head coach Jared Wilmes said. "Ellen and Bailey worked well together and they did a great job controlling the race. It was very impressive to see a true freshman win the race. On the men's side, we had a lot of our younger guys gain some good experience. I thought Kevin ran very well today."
Ries clocked in at 14:11.10 to place just behind Belvis for the women. Ries did not run in a cross country race last season, but showed a lot of promise in the first race of her final year on the cross country circuit. Bonte, who had a fine freshman season in 2008, continued to show progress as she clocked in at 14:27.60 to place third overall.
Emily Baker (Wildwood, Mo.) placed sixth overall and fourth among Tigers with a time of 14:44.80 while Chelsea Chrisman (Eureka, Mo.) and Jessica Armstrong (Dorr, Mich.) rounded out the Tigers' top six with times of 15:09.70 and 15:29.00, respectively. Chrisman finished eighth overall while Armstrong was 13th.
The men's team ran most of its younger racers and saw promising results, highlighted by McKee's fifth-place nod after running the 6K course in 19:40.60. Aaron Dixon (Lee's Summit, Mo.) was the Tigers' second finisher after clocking in at 19:55.60, earning ninth overall. Freshman Hayden Legg (Mexico, Mo.) ran a time of 20:22.80 to earn 14th while teammate Blake Irwin (Bettandorf, Iowa) was the Tigers' fourth finisher with a time of 21:33.80, earning 20th at the event.
The final two finishers for the men were
Stanton Ragland (Liberty, Mo.) and
Rick Scheff (Atlanta, Ga.), who placed 21st and 23rd, respectively. Ragland clocked in at 21:34.60 while Scheff was paced at 21:57.80.
No team scores were kept at the event in which Mizzou, SIU and SEMO competed. The Tigers will play host to their only home meet of the season - The Missouri Cross Country Challenge - next Saturday (Sept. 12) at A.L. Gustin Golf Course. For all the latest on Mizzou cross country, stay tuned to www.MUTigers.com.
