FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 16, 2006

Two Lions capture MIAA Athlete of the Week honors


(OVERLAND PARK, Kan.)   Two Missouri Southern State University student-athletes were named Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Athletes of the Week Monday (Jan. 16).

Women's basketball senior Dacie Reutlinger (Owasso, Okla./Independence [Kan.] CC) and men's track & field senior Matt Campbell (Worthington, Ind./Neosho County [Kan.) CC) received the honor, the conference announced.

Reutlinger (pronounced RUT-ling-er), a 6-foot senior forward, averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds as the Lions extended their win streak to four games with two victories last week.

She began the week with her second 20-point, seven-rebound performance in as many games, as MSSU won at Pittsburg State Wednesday (Jan. 11) in the Del Rio Bordertown Battle. The 20 points tied her career-best scoring effort.

Reutlinger scored eight points in the Lions' 25-4 run to open the second half against the Gorillas, raising a one-point halftime lead to 22 points by the halfway mark of the period.

In an 80-71 home win over Northwest Missouri State Saturday afternoon (Jan.14), Reutlinger posted her second double-double of the season and fifth in her MSSU career with 17 points and 10 rebounds. She did the bulk of her damage in the second half, with 15 points and nine rebounds.

For the week, the Owasso High School graduate shot 51.5 percent from the field (17-of-33) and 3-of-4 from the foul line.

Campbell, a 5-foot-8 and 150 pound pole vaulter secured an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships with his pole vault effort at the University of Arkansas Invitational last weekend (Jan. 14).

He placed second in the event with a mark of 17 feet, 0.75 inches. It was the third-best mark in school history (Campbell has the two better heights as well), and led three Lions in the top eight in the event.

Campbell, the 2005 NCAA Division II outdoor national champion and 2005 indoor national runner-up, is a graduate of Switz City (Ind.)-White River Valley High School.