Ingram Leads Team at MSSU

September 15, 2007

Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s regionally-ranked cross country team put together a solid effort and placed among the top half of team’s competing in the Missouri Southern State Stampede. The five kilometer race finished at Fred Hughes Stadium in Joplin, Mo.

The Bulldogs, led by senior Rachel Ingram, bettered their position by 10 spots as compared to last year’s finish. SWOSU placed 15th in the 40-team field and finished second of the six Lone Star Conference teams that raced. A total of 250 runners were entered into the event.

Ingram placed 22nd with a time of 18:20, 14 seconds better than last year’s mark of 18:34. Teammate Stefanie Jones ran 47 seconds faster than last year and finished in 26th place with a time of 18:26.

University of Tulsa won the overall team championship thanks in part to Canadian Alex Becker’s first-place time of 16:33. Missouri Southern was second with 122 points, followed by UC-San Diego in third with 150 points and Pittsburg State in fourth with 221 points. Central Oklahoma finished 10th and had the fastest LSC runner with Eveyln Berko placing 20th with a time of 18:17.

Other SWOSU runners and their finish are as follows: Grace Ann Fath was 82nd with a time of 19:23, Kate Hollenshead was 162nd with a time of 20:36, Afton Hoover was 173rd with a time of 20:52, Emily Haskins was 208th with a time of 21:55, freshmen Erin Williams was 213th with a time of 22:11 and Kara Bachus finished at 23:20.

Hollenshead, Hoover and Haskins all bettered their time by a minute from last year and Hoover trimmed more than two minutes off her mark last year.

SWOSU will next race Saturday at the Oklahoma Baptist University Invitational in Shawnee, a meet that Ingram won in 2005.