Women's Cross Country Takes Fourth at Louisville
Oct. 3, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Mizzou women's cross country team placed fourth out of 34 teams with 173 overall points at the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday (Oct. 3) at the E.P. "Tom Sawyer Park" on a cold and windy morning in Louisville. The Tigers - who held their top two runners out of the race - were paced by freshman Bailey Belvis (Prosper, Texas) who turned in a time of 17:34.63 in the 5K race, good enough for eight-place overall. "I though that we raced really well today, despite competing without our top two runners," women's cross country coach Rebecca Wilmes said. "Bailey and a lot of the other younger girls really stepped up today. We have been working on cutting that gap between our top runners and the rest of the field and I thought we did a great job of that today. This was a very positive step for our team and I really feel like we are headed in the right direction." One of the other runners that stepped up for Mizzou on the day was senior Emily Baker (Wildwood, Mo.), who set a personal-best time of 18:07.69 en-route to a 22nd-place finish. Baker was also the Tigers' second finisher in the event behind Belvis. Sophomore Laura Roxberg (Overland Park, Kan.) was one of the younger runners that turned in a solid performance at the event, finishing the 5K trek in 18:17.58, placing her 35th overall. Each of the Tigers' top three finishers placed in the top 35 in the event field. Sophomore Aimee Bonte (Fenton, Mo.) just missed cracking the top 50 finishers as she completed the race in 18:33.87, placing 52nd overall. Esther Vermue (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and freshman Chelsea Chrisman (Eureka, Mo.) rounded out the top six finishers for the Tigers after turning in times of 18:41.87 and 18:43.77, earning 62nd and 65th, respectively. Each of the Tigers' top six finishers placed in the top fifth of the 302-person race.
Kinsey Farren (Dallas, Texas), Shannon Leinert (Eureka, Mo.), Jessica Armstrong (Dorr, Mich.) and Megan Kowalik (Foristell, Mo.) also competed at the event for the Tigers. Farren led the way for the remaining Tigers as she clocked in at 18:52.65, placing 81st. Leinert just missed cracking the top third of the field with a time of 19:12.41, placing 102nd overall, while Armstonrg and Kowalik turned in times of 19:25.12 and 20:03.07, respectively. Purdue (first, 88 points), Kentucky (second. 130 points) and Louisville (third, 141 points) were the only schools in the 34-team event to finish ahead of the Tigers. Mizzou will now take a week off before traveling to Fayetteville, Ark. for the Chile Pepper Cross Country Classic on Oct. 17. For all the latest on Mizzou cross county, stay tuned to www.MUTigers.com. |
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