Ingram Top LSC Finisher at Missouri Cross Country Meet

September 17, 2005

Joplin, MO - Southwestern Oklahoma State cross country star Rachel Ingram kept her steady strip of top finishes, placing 22nd in the Missouri Southern Stampede Saturday in Joplin, Mo.

Ingram, a sophomore from nearby Springfield, Mo., covered the five-kilometer course in a time of 18:12.

There was a total of 291 runners in the event. The race featured teams from Central Oklahoma, Southeastern Oklahoma, East Central and Texas A&M-Commerce. Ingram finished ahead of all runners from those schools.

The overall winner of the event was Faithy Kamangila from Oral Roberts who clocked in at 17:16. SWOSU finished 25th in the 35-team field with a total of 714 points. The University of Missouri “B” team finished first with 81 points.

"We did not finish all that great in the team scoring, but individually all the girls ran their best race of the year,” coach Melanie Miller said. Their times greatly improved over their previous races.”

Other SWOSU runners were Jamie Belusko finished 182nd with a time of 20:58. Kate Hollenshead was 198th with a time of 21:21. Heather Wallace was 210th at 21:45. Whitney Watson was 229th with 22:18, and Carina Gamino was 283rd with a time of 25:54.

SWOSU will next compete Saturday at the Oklahoma Baptist University/Bison Invitational in Shawnee.