From staff reports

sports@joplinglobe.com

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Kimi Shank won the individual title and Missouri Southern captured the team title in the women’s division of the Border War Cross Country Championship on Saturday.

The Southern men, minus two of their top runners, placed ninth.

“We ran pretty well,” said Southern women’s coach Patty Vavra. “We were without (junior) Ashley Bunch, but we had (junior) Courtney Waltbillig for the first time in a race this year. Everybody stepped it up a little bit.”

Shank, a junior, won the five-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 1.96 seconds. Senior Kara Eckard placed fourth. Waltbillig was 21st, junior Victoria Kline was 22nd and senior Kari Fritchie was 29th.

“We still have some work ahead of us as far as getting our pack a little tighter,” said Vavra, noting that the Lions have two weeks to prepare for the MIAA Championships and four weeks until the South Central Regional.

“Those are the ones we’re working toward,” Vavra said of the upcoming meets.

Shank finished 18 seconds ahead of runnerup Kayla Brown of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Freshman Chris Bell placed 24th to lead the Southern men. Bell ran the eight-kilometer course in 27:01.96.

Junior Brennon Benkert, the only Southern veteran who made the trip, dropped back to pace the younger runners, coach Tom Rutledge said.

“We’re trying to get them (freshmen) up to where they can compete,” Rutledge said. “Chris Bell did a good job and Shawn Goebel held on a lot longer.”

The Lions are still awaiting a final decision on senior Dustin Dixon, the star of last year’s regional championship team. Dixon hasn’t run competitively this fall while recovering from a broken leg and could be redshirted.

VOLLEYBALL

Lions fall twice