After claiming her second individual title of the 2007 season at last weekend’s Missouri State Cross Country Classic, MSU senior Carrie Vestal has been named the Missouri Valley Conference’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week. Vestal won the collegiate women’s 5K to lead the Bears to their second team title in as many meets.

Vestal, who won the individual title at the Washington University Early Bird Meet on Sept. 1, bested the competition with a run of 18:29 on Saturday. She withstood a strong challenge from Drake’s Nicole Braunsdorf on the final stretch, but pulled out the victory with a strong final kick. Braunsdorf finished second with a time of 18:32, followed by a trio of Missouri State runners. Junior Jamie Vest (18:50), who came in second at WU’s meet in St. Louis, finished third, with junior Kristin Wolkey (19:10) and freshman Nancy Nieto (19:23) close behind in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Missouri State (20 points) has placed four of the top five finishers in each of its first two races of the 2007 season after Saturday’s victory.

The Classic was the first home meet for Missouri State in six years and the Bears’ first ever event at their new facility, located at Springfield Underground. Missouri State will host the 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship and hopes to secure the 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional for Springfield in the coming months. Missouri State has also submitted a bid for the NCAA national meet.

Missouri State will travel to Stillwater, Okla., next Saturday, Sept. 29, to take part in the Oklahoma State University Cowboy Jamboree at 9 a.m.