Oct. 31, 2015

Results | Season Stats

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Missouri State cross country team competed in the 2015 MVC Cross Country Championship today here, finishing eighth out of 10 teams at the meet and improving two spots from last year's finish at the event.

Leading the Bears at the MVC championship was senior Cindy Forde, who finished fifth overall with a time of 17:14.91 to earn All-MVC honors. The Barbados-native has picked up a personal best at each meet she has competed in this season and is now the second-fastest 5-kilometer runner in MSU history. Only Pasca Cheruiyot's mark of 16:57.81 in 2008 ranks better. Ford is MSU's first all-conference cross country runner since 2011.

Bears' head coach Jordan Fife, who is wrapping up his second season at MSU, sees this meet as a learning block for next season.

"As a whole, we weren't able to execute the race strategy we wanted to," said Fife. "There are certainly some things we can take away from the outcome for next year and we will be better prepared."

"Cindy's effort was certainly the highlight of the meet for us with her fifth-place finish," said Fife. "She showed tremendous courage and guts during the second half of the race as she battled with the other competitors for an all-conference spot. A top-10 finish is something we thought was possible for the last month or so of the season and it was exciting to watch her fight to make that happen today."

Freshman Jade Raynor posted a personal best today of 18:39.55 coming in second for the Bears and 49th overall in a field of 79 runners. Six other Bears - Savannah Beaver (19:28.77), Alyson Jones (19:51.81), Jessica Allen (19:58.10), Tenaly Smith (20:04.29), Kaitlyn Cravens (20:05.05), and Renae Buschling (20:34.36) - also competed in today's championship. Allen led the Bears a year ago with a time of 19:01.05 at the MVC meet.

"We thought even if we didn't run a great race we could be eighth which is where we ended up," said Fife. "We are encouraged with the improvement from last year's result and we are excited to continue that trend."

The Bears will next compete at the NCAA Midwest Region on Friday, Nov. 13 at the Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan.

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