Nov. 12, 2005
Columbia, Mo. - Senior Matt Noonan (Baldwin City, Kan.) ran the best race of his career and finished third overall (30:58) at the 67th annual 10K NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Championships today on Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City, Iowa. Earning All-Region honors for his performance, Noonan helped Missouri's men to a sixth place team finish (188 points), while Valerie Lauver's (Allen, Texas) 12th place All-Region showing (21:22) on the 6K course landed Missouri's women in seventh with 204 points. Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State swept both the men's (49 points) and women's (71 points) team titles. All five Big 12 Conference schools in attendance at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship finished among the top-15 teams.
Running among the top-15 competitors throughout the entire race, Noonan exchanged the lead with eventual first place finisher Antonio Vega (Minnesota) and second place finisher Kiel Uhl (Iowa State) after passing the 8K mark on the course. Noonan's third place finish ties with Nate Smith (2000) for highest Missouri individual finish at an NCAA Regional Meet on the men's side in over 10 years and is his sixth top-10 finish since joining the program in 2002.
"Matt ran exceptional race today," Head Coach Jared Wilmes said. "He really pushed himself and gave everything he had. It was truly fun to watch and I'm proud of his performance."
Finishing second for the Tigers and 33rd overall was freshman Garrett Jeffries (Clarkson Valley, Mo.) in 32:12. Junior Colten Green (Roach, Mo.) finished 37th (32:34). Rounding out Missouri's top-five scorers were sophomore Billy Bell (Chesterfield, Mo.) in 57th (32:49) and freshman Tim Cornell (Columbia, Mo.) in 63rd (32:56). Redshirt freshman Michael Barrows (Flint, Mich.) and senior Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo.) finished 86th and 87th, respectively.
Lauver stayed with the lead pack for the entire race with senior Kristin Hansen (Milford, Iowa) starting out strong before slowly slipping back to 34th (22:17). Redshirt freshman Summer Owens (Dix, Ill.) finished the day in 49th and was the third Tiger to cross the finish line (22:44), with senior Ashley Patten (Clarkston, Mich.) taking 54th (22:49) and sophomore Maddie Schueler (Louisville, Mo.) finishing 55th. Sophomore Kasey Kimball (Eureka, Mo.) and freshman Ellen Ries (Ryan, Iowa) finished 61st and 88th, respectively.
Noonan will run in the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, Monday, Nov. 21, at Terre Haute, Ind., and is the second straight Missouri individual to qualify for the Championship meet on the men's side. Lauver has a chance to qualify for Nationals but an official entry list will be made available tomorrow at 6 p.m. (CST) on the NCAA website (www.ncaa.com).
Men's Team Results (Top Five and Missouri) 1 Oklahoma State-49 points 2 Iowa-72 pionts 3 Kansas-74 points 4 Minnesota-77 points 5 Loyola-Chicago-182 points 6 Missouri-188 points 7 Men's Reults (Top Five and Missouri) Finish Name (School) Time 1 Antonio Vega (Minnesota) 30:52 2 Kiel Uhl (Iowa State) 30:55 3 Matt Noonan (Missouri) 30:58 4 Joe Gray (Oklahoma State) 31:01 5 Ryan Malmin (Minneota) 31:03 33 Garrett Jeffries 32:12 37 Colten Green 32:23 55 Billy Bell 32:49 60 Tim Cornell 32:56 79 Michael Barrows 33:30 80 Neville Miller 33:30Women's Team Results (Top Five and Missouri) 1 Oklahoma State-71 points 2 Illinois-90 points 3 Minnesota-90 points 4 Wichita State-125 points 5 Nebraska-142 points 7 Missouri-204 points
Women's Results (Top Five and Missouri) Finish Name (School) Time 1 Desiraye Osburn (Wichita St) 20:43 2 Ladia Alertson-Junk (Minnesota) 20:52 3 Emily Brown (Minnesota) 20:55 4 Lauren Williams (Minnesota) 21:01 5 Mary Davies (Oklahoma State) 21:01 12 Valerie Lauver 21:22 34 Kristin Hansen 22:17 49 Summer Owens 22:44 54 Ashley Patten 22:49 55 Maddie Schueler 22:49 61 Kasey Kimball 23:02 88 Ellen Ries 23:41