From staff reports

sports@joplinglobe.com

Missouri Southern teams return to national cross country competition today at Slippery Rock, Pa.

Both Pittsburg State teams are also national qualifiers.

The Lion women are ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division II and the Southern men are ranked No. 18 after a runnerup finish in the South Central Regional.

Junior Kimi Shank, the South Central Region runner of the year, leads the Southern women’s national bid. Shank was the regional runnerup after winning the MIAA championship.

Shank finished 22nd in last year’s national meet.

The Southern women, 13th in the nationals a year ago on their home course, feature a pair of seniors runner in Kara Eckard (seventh in the regional) and Kari Fritchie. Also competing today for the Lions will be junior Courtney Waltbillig and sophomores Victoria Kline, Olga Bulgurova and Silvia Pineda.

The Lions arrived in Slippery Rock late Wednesday, with two days to acclimate for a forecast of snow showers and temperatures in the low 20s.

The Southern men bounced back from a third-place conference finish to earn a repeat trip to nationals.

They’re led by junior Brennan Benkert and redshirt freshmen Jarkko Jarvenpaa and Aki Nummela. Jarvenpaa finished tenth in the regional meet.

A quartet of true freshmen — Chris Bell, Derek Mendell, Shawn Goebel and Deric Kimrey — compete the Lions’ roster.

Pittsburg State earned its national meet berths with a pair of third-place regional finishes.

Junior M.J. Hassaballa, the MIAA individual winner, finished ninth in the region to spark the Gorilla men. Juniors Cliff Mile was the second PSU runner, followed by senior Matt Seifert, sophomore John VanGundy and junior Josh Coberley.

Senior Erica Ogle was the individual leader for the PSU women, followed by sophomore Brittney Graff, senior Venessa Lee, freshman Lauren Renfrow and sophomore Megan Ballock.