Shank finishes ninth and earns All-American status at Division II Cross Country Championships

Men's Results | Women's Results

Slippery Rock, Penn. -- Missouri Southern junior Kimi Shank (St. James, Mo.) finished ninth overall and earned All-American status as the women finished 16th and the men 22nd at the 2008 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships.

Shank ran the 6k course in a time of 21:57, and with  cold temperatures and snow on the ground, earned her second-straight All-American honor. Courtney Waltbillig (Rogersville, Mo.) finished 46th with a time of 23:11, while Silvia Pineda (Monett, Mo.) and Kara Eckard (Warrensburg, Mo.) were 80th and 89th, respectively. Olga Bulgarova (Jefferson City, Mo.) was 120th, while Kari Fritchie (Lee's Summit, Mo.) and Victoria Kline (Miami, Okla.) were 124th and 135th, respectively.

The Southern women came into the meet ranked 8th nationally after winning their second-straight regional title. Southern finished 13th at last year's championships.

A trio of freshmen were the Lions' top finishers as Jarkko Jarvenpaa (Tampere, Finland), Aki Nummela (Helsinki, Finland) and Chris Bell (Branson, Mo.) finished 100th, 116th and 117th. Jarvenpaa finished the 10k course in a time of 33:34, while Nummela ran a 33:52 and Bell was two seconds behind Nummela. Brennan Benkert (St. Clair, Mo.) was 119th, while Derek Mendell (Carthage, Mo.) and Shawn Goebel (Washington, Mo.) were 149th and 161st. Deric Kimrey (Lebanon, Mo.) finished 163rd.

The Southern men finished second at the 2008 regional this past year and were ranked 18th nationally going into the final event of the season.

The Adams State men's and women's teams swept the team titles, as Chico State's Scott Bauhs and Seattle Pacific's Jessica Pixler took home the individual titles.