FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2008

Lion women take commanding lead after day one of MIAA Championships

Live Results

Maryville, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern women have nearly a 50 point lead over second place Central Missouri today after day one of the 2008 MIAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Northwest Missouri State. The Southern men sit in fifth place with 26 points, 26 behind Central Missouri's 52.

The Lions, looking for the sought after triple crown (Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Titles), took the day one lead after dominating performances in the hammer, discus, pole vault, 3k and 10k with titles in four of the five and multiple point scorers in each event.

Jessica Selby-Tallman took the title in the hammer throw, her third in a row, with a distance of 182 feet, one inch. Emilie Mieseler was third, while Jessica Self, Courtney Vie and Amanda Littlefield were fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively. Vie won the title in the discus with a provisional distance of 148 feet, two inches. The distance is 11th in the country at this time. Self was third, while Littlefield was sixth in the event, earning All-MIAA.

Erica Culver won the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, while Ciara Lipsey finished fourth at 11 feet, four and a quarter inches. Both were All-MIAA. Kara Eckard finished second in the 3k, just a half a second behind the winner, Jonel Rossbach of Emporia State. Courtney Waltbillig was fourth, while Victoria Kline was seventh to earn All-MIAA status. Kimi Shank took home the title in the 10k with a time of 37:37.17, winning by six seconds. Chandra Cole was fourth and Ashley Bunch was eighth.

Stacy Borgard qualified for the finals of the 400m, while Alison Walker, Shannan Borgard and Olga Bulgarova all qualified in the 800m. Channell Lloyd qualified in the 400m hurdles, while Danielle Oliver missed out on the finals in the 100m, finishing one hundredth of a second off the pace. 

The men waited until the final event of the night to score a point, but they made it count as Ryan Arthur finished first and Brennan Benkert was right on his tail to finish second in the men's 10k. Arthur ran a 31:28.70, while Benkert was just 12 tenths of a second behind.

TJ Britton qualified in both the 400m and the 800m, while Jarkko Jarvenpaa qualified in the 1,500m. Phillip Horn made the finals in the 110m hurdles, and Kevin Wright qualified in the 400m hurdles.

In all, the Southern women picked up 13 All-MIAA selections with three multiple All-Conference performers in day one. The men had two All-MIAA selections.

The men and women will finish off the competition tomorrow in day two of the championships.