The Chart Online

'A' team claws way toward Mickey Mouse trophy
Tracy Hamilton

Staff Writer

The men s cross country team split into two teams this weekend finishing with a first and third place title at each competition.

Team A went to the Disney World Classic, taking eight runners and finishing first out of 27 Division I, II and NAIA teams. Not only did they run away with the first place trophy, the team set a record for lowest possible score ever with 31 points total. The team s reward trip paid off because of the nationwide recognition they received. Finishing behind Missouri Southern were teams such as Division I University of Central Florida, University of Western Florida and Florida Southern.

Bryan Lyons paced the Lions with a first place time of 25:10. Other top finishers include Petri Kykyri with a time of 25:11, Magnus Holmstrom 25:23, Paul Koehler 26:00 and Craig Rhoads 26:34.

Larry Boswell was sick and could not race as well as he normally does, but Coach Rutledge has faith in the rest of the team to still perform well in every competition.

I think its great that the other runners stepped up for the team and still raced well, Rutledge said. When Boswell returns, we should be able to have our 30-second pack time for the conference meet.

Team B traveled to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa and finished strong with third place. Michael Sutter led the team with a seventh place time of 27:00, followed by Thomas Quade, Michael Dorsey, Fredrick Amukonyi, Joel Standeford and Jeremiah Still. The team competed against five other teams and trailed the second place Pittsburg State University by 2 points and the first place ORU by 27 points.

Coach Rutledge was extremely pleased with the B team s performance, considering that a majority of the runners compete mainly in 800-meter races. The B team also competed against tougher competition and raced against other A teams.

All our guys are working well, and I know they have the capability to do well, Rutledge said. When you can split your teams and still have great meets, it shows you have a great team with lots of depth.

The team continues to train hard and focus on the conference championship Oct. 26, which is going to be held at Southern. Although Truman State is picked to win the conference, the men s team is not discouraged by the ranking. It still plans on winning its third consecutive conference title, advancing to the regional tournament and flying to Cleveland, Ohio for the national meet.

We are just going to work harder so other teams have to keep up with us, said Rutledge.