Nov. 12, 2015
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SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State cross country team will take seven runners to the NCAA Midwest Regional in Lawrence, Kan. on Friday for the 31st time in program history and first time since 2011. The meet will be a 6-kilometer race at the Rim Rock Farm, where the Bears competed in a 5-kilometer event earlier this season.
Head coach Jordan Fife is looking forward to attending the regional meet for the first time at the helm of MSU.
"We're looking forward to an opportunity to bounce back from our performance at the conference meet and end the season on a high note," said Fife. "We're capable of running much better than we did a couple of weeks ago and we want to prove that. Missouri State hasn't participated in the NCAA regional meet for a few years now but we want to re-establish the standard that we belong and can compete at that level."
Fife plans to run seven - Savannah Beaver, Cindy Forde, Alyson Jones, Megan Nickles, Jade Raynor, Mercedes Robinson, and Tenaly Smith - in Friday's meet. This will be the first time running at that capacity for the team. Out of these participants, Smith is the only Bear to compete in a 6K in a race setting. Smith finished with a time of 25:30.60 her freshman season at the Chile Pepper Festival.
Leading the Bears this season has been MSU senior standout Cindy Forde, who finished her 5K career with a personal best of 17:14.91 at the Missouri Valley Conference championship two weeks ago. After posting that time, Forde is now the second-fastest 5K runner at MSU.
"Cindy has a chance to run with the lead pack and place a final exclamation point on a historic season," commented Fife. "Her fitness and confidence is at an all-time high and I'm excited to see her compete against the region's best."
Among schools in attendance will be six Valley schools - Bradley, Drake, Illinois State, Loyola, UNI, and Wichita State, - as well as other high-performance schools such as Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa.
The women's 6-kilometer meet is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. with the men's 10-kilometer meet beginning at 1 p.m. The team's highest regional finish at the Division I level was third in 2002.
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