Complete Results
The cross country Bears placed twelfth in the field of 65 teams at the 2010 Chile Pepper Festival. The Bears were led by walk-on freshman Leah Nichols who crossed the line at 17:20.71, the second-fastest 5K time in Missouri State history.
Nichols came to Missouri State with a high school personal best of 19:55. In a little over a month, Nichols has dropped her personal best an astounding 2:35. The rest of the Bears finished in the order of sophomore Emily Beaver (17:49.43), junior Terry Phillips (17:51.31), freshman Lisa Imgrund (18:54.92), sophomore Maggie Sutor (19:00.45), redshirt freshman Nicole Thate (19:13.36), senior MJ Vance (19:16.87), freshman Monica Smith (19:37.75), freshman Megan Fox (19:20.37), junior Andrea Marshall (19:59.44) and freshman Emily Argotsinger (20:20.54).
"We had a good race today, but we still are not at our full capability," head coach Greg Hipp said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do after a full rest for the conference meet."
In the meet, the team champion came out to be Oklahoma State, and the individual champion was Indiana's Sarah Pease.
The Bears will now take two weeks off before the Missouri Valley Conference championship in Wichita, Kan. Last season, the Bears finished fifth in the meet, but Phillips was crowned the individual champion. Host school Wichita State is the reigning team champion. The meet will begin on Oct. 30 at 11:00 a.m.
