By Jim Fryar
jfryar@joplinglobe.com
Results and rankings indicate the Missouri Southern cross country teams are contenders entering the NCAA Division II national cross country meet today in Evansville, Ind.
Experience is another plus for the Lions. Both teams are racing in their third straight national championship.
The Southern women, ranked No. 2 in the final national poll, haven’t lost to a D-2 opponent all season. They lost a season-opening dual at Arkansas and finished behind four D-1 opponents at the Oklahoma State Jamboree.
“We’re a more solid, deeper team,” Southern women’s coach Patty Vavra said of the Lions, who were 16th in the national meet last year.
“Courtney (senior Waltbillig) was coming off an injury and we didn’t have Ashley (Bunch, another senior, who was injured). The addition of (junior) Ashley Siler (the team’s No. 2 runner most of the season) and (freshman) Marlee Tegenkamp have made us better.”
Senior Kimi Shank was ninth in the national meet last year and has since added a second MIAA title and her first South Central Regional championship. Waltbillig was 58th in the nationals and junior Silvia Pineda was 100th.
“We have to go for the win, there’s no other way of saying it,” Vavra said. “The one thing I know about this group is they’re going to show up to compete and they’re going to give 100 percent.
“This is a group of athletes who have turned the corner for us. At the same time, we have some unsettled business at the national championship. We haven’t had our best races there.”
Experience is a bonus, said Bunch, who ran in the 2007 national meet when the Lions placed 12th.
“It think it (experience) will help us to be a little more relaxed, a little more comfortable,” she said. “It’s a different setting that normal, but I think we’ll handle it well.”
Tom Rutledge, Southern men’s coach, hopes his veteran runners learned from their experience in last year’s national meet at Slippery Rock, Pa. The Lions finished 22th.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Rutledge said. “We ended up coming from behind and it was too late. ... We had a lot of inexperienced kids. Now they’re a year older and they have learned a lesson.”
The Lions also have senior Dustin Dixon back. Dixon, an All-American as a sophomore, missed last year’s meet while recovering from a broken leg. Junior Josh Mathis, a transfer from Oklahoma State, has also made a major impact in the Lions’ tightly packed field.
“We don’t have that No. 1, big-time runner, but we have a lot of good ones,” Rutledge said. “We’ve had a different winner every week.”
Top returnees for the Lions are sophomores Jarkko Jarvenpaa and Aki Nummela, who were the team’s 1-2 runners in the 2008 national meet, and senior Brennan Benkert. Freshmen Nick Niggemann and Sam Pogue complete the seven-runner roster, with Niggemann returning from an illness which hampered him at the regional meet.
“Our goals are always the same,” Rutledge said. “We want to be in the top eight in the nation. ... It was hard enough just to get here. We had to beat some good teams (Southwest Baptist is ranked No. 12 in the nation and Pittsburg State is ranked No. 18). It’s all in how we show up on race day, how aggressive we are and how we attack the course.”
The hilly course at Evansville contrasts with the flat surface the Lions dominated during the regional meet at Abilene, Texas.
“We went back to some hill work (last week) so it won’t be a shock to them,” Rutledge said of his runners.
Bunch is looking forward to the course. “I grew up running hills,” she said.
Adams (Colo.) State is the defending champion in both divisions.
Adams State is still ranked No. 1 in the men’s division, followed by regional rival Western State, Grand Valley (Mich.) State, Cal State Chico and Colorado Mines.
Grand Valley is the No. 1-ranked women’s team. Alaska-Anchorage, Adams State and Cal State Chico are 3-4-5 in the national poll.
