Results
Augusta, Kan. – The Missouri State women's cross country team starts the 2018 campaign off strong with multiple personal bests at the J.K. Gold Classic, which featured 75 runners from six Midwestern programs.

MSU was one of three Division I programs in the four-kilometer race including Kansas State and host school Wichita State. As a team the Bears finished in third place with a team score of 56 points with five top 25 finishes on the day.

"Overall, it was a pretty decent day," head coach Jordan Fife said. "The key to a great season will be our ability to run as a strong group up front and we did that pretty well today."

Grace Breiten earned a fourth place finish after running a career best 4K time of 14:33.5, less than a half a second behind the leader Rebekah Topham from Wichita State.

"Grace had a great performance considering she's really only been working out for a couple weeks," Fife said.

Jordyn Capra shaved almost a full second off her 4K personal best time, finishing at 14:57.8 in 12^th place. Erica Wollmering marked a 13^th place finish running a 15:01.5 race, while Paityn Howat also ran a career high, 15:04.4 race, finishing in 15^th place.

"Jordyn had a big improvement from last year at this meet and that was also good to see," Fife said.

Mercedes Robinson (15:50.2), Kayla Fallis (15:52.9), Madeline Saville (15:56.3) and Shelby Palmer (15:57.6) took 27^th through 30^th place respectively.

The Bears will have two weeks to prepare for their next race when they return to the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin on Sept. 15.

Missouri State Individual Finishers
4. Grace Breiten (14:33.6)
12. Jordyn Capra (14:57.8)
13. Erica Wollmering (15.01.5)
15. Paityn Howat (15:04.4)
27. Mercedes Robinson (15:50.2)
28. Kayla Fallis (15:52.9)
29. Madeline Saville (15:56.3)
30. Shelby Palmer (15:57.6)
42. Emily Yaeger (16:30.6)
50. Lindsey Biesemeyer (16:47.7)

Team Scores

1. Wichita State 22
2. Kansas State 49
3. Missouri State 56

Follow the Bears
For more information on the Missouri State cross country team, visit MissouriStateBears.com or visit the team Twitter @MSUBearsTrackXC and Facebook.