Cross country finishes ninth in conference championships

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The Mavs finished the cross country season with a ninth place finish at the MIAA championships hosted by Central Missouri Saturday morning at Pertle Springs Park in Warrensburg, Mo.Missouri Southern claimed its third consecutive MIAA women's title with three runners earning All-MIAA honors. UNO's youthful squad, made up of all freshmen and sophomores, finished last in the nine-team field.

Sophomore Janna Brons, the Mavs' top finisher in the race, finished in 31st place with a time of 24:29:80.

"Janna Brons got in there and competed really well," coach Steve Smith said. "She's overcome some injury problems, so she made a good comeback."

Freshman Cara Kunneman was the Mavericks' next best finisher in 46th place with a time of 25:03:59.

Sophomore Mary Margaret Nelson was UNO's third finisher in 49th place with a time of 25:10.92. Freshman Amanda Stauffer finished immediately next at 25:14.04.

"I never think about our standings individually. Our team ran as a pack, so that's what we were going for," Nelson said. "We just push each other. I think I personally ran well. I felt good about my finish."

Freshman Kelly Esch and sophomore Lisa Tesarek rounded out UNO's pack with times of 25:39.68 and 26:35.24, respectively.

Smith reflected back on the season as a development year and acknowledged the team must work on improving distance running in order to be successful in the MIAA next year.

"They did the best they could, but we see where we're at in this new conference, we need to recruit some distance runners to add to these girls," Smith said. "We didn't have any upperclassmen and that hurts."



Culture Editor Andrea Barbe contributed to this report.