FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 23, 2006

Two Lions earn MIAA Athlete of the Week honors
Rutledge, Selby win award after collecting automatic berths

Two members of the Missouri Southern State University track & field teams were named Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Athletes of the Week Monday (Jan. 23), the conference announced.

Pole vaulter Kyle Rutledge (Joplin, Mo.) and thrower Jessica Selby (Galena, Mo.) earned the honor for the Missouri Southern squads.

Rutledge, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound senior, secured an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships with his pole
vault effort at the University of Arkansas Razorback Invitational last weekend (Jan. 20-21).

He won the event with a mark of 16 feet, 8.75 inches, joining Matt Campbell as the second Lion vaulter to earn a trip to Boston in as many weeks. Rutledge was 6 inches ahead of second-place Eric DiSilvestro of Division I Illinois.

Rutledge, the son of MSSU men's track coach Tom Rutledge, is a graduate of Joplin High School.

Selby, a 5-foot-8 sophomore, recorded an automatic qualifying mark in the shot put at the University of Arkansas Razorback
Invitational last weekend (Jan. 20-21).

She crushed her previous best and school record by 28 inches with a third-place effort of 49 feet, 1.5 inches. Selby was 13th in the weight throw (36-3).

Selby, an indoor All-America last season in the shot, is a graduate of Reeds Spring (Mo.) High School.