There were many
great performances from the Missouri State track and
field and cross country teams and their athletes
over the past year. With the year coming to a
close here is a look at the top 10 accomplishments
of 2008...
#10 Missouri State
Hosts Unique Conference Championship
Hoping to draw the 2010 NCAA Division-I Cross
Country Championships to Springfield Missouri State
saw their chance to host the 2008 Missouri Valley
Conference Cross Country Championship as an
opportunity to show the strength of their local
running community.
One such strength is the now two-year-old Bass Pro
Shops Outdoor Fitness Festival who Missouri State
developed a partnership with which culminated into
one of the most unique conference championships ever
produced.
Partner events throughout the community saw over
3,400 runners take part in a wide variety of races
leading up to the MVC championship including youth
cross country races at the MSU cross country
facility. MSU runners also worked throughout the
fall semester as mentors as part of a youth cross
country program through local schools and parks. At
the championship banquet and races MSU runners were
also treated to a visit by American distance running
legends Dick Beardsley, Jeff Galloway, Jason Pyrah,
Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers. (More
on story)
#9 Vestal Closes
Out Improbable Career
When Carrie Vestal finished her freshman cross
country season for Missouri State in 2004 with a 58th
place conference meet finish she was not being
looked at as a future great. However, despite only
modest high school credentials (11:43 3200m) early
on Vestal had her mind set on being just that.
Over the next year this Springfield, Mo. native
(Parkview HS) used her exceptional work ethic and drive to change her place in the
conference and soon her place in MSU history. As a
sophomore Vestal finished ninth in that same
conference meet to earn all-MVC honors. She would
also become the Missouri Valley Conference
10,000-meter champion later that year in outdoor
track.
Vestal, a name no one initially expected to add to
the list of great MSU runners, now is firmly shown
on five lists of MSU all-time top performers
(indoor: 3000m, 5000m, outdoor: 5000m, 1000m, cross
country: 5000m). With career personal bests of 9:55
- 3,000-meters, 17:13 - 5,000-meters and 35:09 -
10,000-meters the hard working Vestal has six
all-Missouri Valley Conference plaques, an MVC team
championship watch and most impressive of all after
being 58th to start her career she
finishes it among a list of greats who have been
Missouri Valley Conference Champions.
#8 Tradition
Continues: Lady Bear 4x400 Not Giving Up Top Spot
Missouri State University plus 4x400-meter relay
equals dynasty in the Missouri Valley Conference.
However, there is one more important piece to that
equation – MSU Head Coach Ron Boyce. When Ron Boyce
took over the helm of the Missouri State track and
field program in 1997 the Lady Bears had never won a
4x400-meter relay. From 1997 to 2004 under Boyce the
Lady Bears never lost one in outdoor track and
field. Eight straight titles outdoors along with
seven more indoors during that period made Missouri
State the powerhouse of the long sprint relay. So
when the Lady Bears missed out on the MVC’s top spot
in the 4x400 at both 2005 and 2006 outdoor
championship Boyce’s sprint group knew they had to
regroup to protect the tradition that many former
MSU all-Americans and even Olympians had set before
them.
At the 2007 MVC championship the Lady Bears got back
on track as Angelique Stephens, Tanya Cyrus, Yaneika
Malcolm and Leander Ernest reclaimed the 4x400-meter
conference title. That renewed pride would not go to
waist in 2008 as the foursome of Jacqui Lindsey,
Renna Berry,
Malcolm
and Ernest captured Missouri State it's second
straight MVC outdoor 4x400 title and 10th title in
12 years under Boyce. That group not only kept
Missouri State in their traditional spot on the
podium, they did it in style setting a new McAndrews
Stadium record at host site Southern Illinois. Their
time of 3:40.45 included a 52-second anchor leg by
Ernest and the performance was also a NCAA
qualifying time.
Feeding off the energy of a MVC title Lindsey,
Malcolm, Ernest and this time Courntenee Boulard
teamed up at the NCAA Mideast Regional for a season
best and sub 3:40 run. The all underclassmen group
showed that MSU relays are only on the way up
finishing in 3:39.43
#7 Kyger Makes
Quick Impact
Local high school prep Asher Kyger’s (Ava HS)
decision to come back to her home turf for the
2007-08 seasons to compete for Missouri State proved
beneficial to not only her, but also to the entire
Lady Bear program. In her first season for MSU,
after three at Mid-American Nazarene University in
Kansas, Kyger did not waist any time putting her
name into the MSU record books.
At
the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor championship
Kyger surprised the field in the One-Mile Run taking
down Wichita State’s Kellyn Johnson in a down to the
wire sprint finish. Kyger also anchored the Lady
Bears winning Distance Medley Relay team.
During the outdoor season Kyger carried on her
stellar first year breaking former MSU all-American
Casey Owens 1,500-meter school record. Her new
record of 4:26.20 at the Kansas Relays was a
nine-second improvement on her personal best. Kyger
also added her name to the MSU 800-meter list
running 2:09.21 outdoors during the American Miler’s
Club Series.
With eligibility remaining for the 2009 indoor
season it looks like Kyger's quick attack on MSU's
record books it not over.
#6 Championship
Record
Missouri State’s middle distance runners wanted to
make a statement at the Missouri Valley Conference
Indoor Championship. With a focus on taking back the
top spot in the Distance Medley Relay Missouri State
was in good hands considering the Lady Bears where
closing with the soon to be conference 800-meter and
One-Mile run champions handing off to each other.
Conference champions Asher Kyger (One-Mile) and Leander
Ernest (800-meters) teamed up with freshman Emily
Fletcher and sophomore Yaneika Malcolm to easily run
away from the field in the Distance Medley Relay.
The foursome’s 11:43.16 bettered the field by more
than 11-seconds to set the Missouri Valley
Conference Championship meet record. Fletcher and
Malcolm got the team within one-second of the lead
after the 1200-meter and 400-meter legs before
Ernest’s 800-meter leg broke open the race with a
2:10 split. Taking the baton from Ernest Kyger got
out quickly in the final 1600-meter leg to build on
the team’s lead. With the win tact the junior was
able to cruise the final 800-meters finishing with a
4:58 anchor. The relay’s time, while fastest in MVC
championship history, is the second fastest in
Missouri State history only behind the 2003 team's
11:39.84.
#5 Lady Bears Tops
in Missouri
Missouri State University has long been a track power in the
state of Missouri. However, 2008 was a year when the
Lady Bears showed their dominance on the track. At
the end of the collegiate outdoor season Missouri
State track runners stood atop the state of Missouri
in nine of 12 track events among Division-I schools,
the highest rank of collegiate athletics.
Highlighted by MSU’s state leads in the 4x100- and
4x400-meter relays Lady Bear runners also led the
100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, 1,500-, 10,000-meter and
3000-meter steeplechase events. In comparison
University of Missouri runners led just two events
while SEMO runners led one. In addition with three
of the fastest performers in the state in the 200-
and 400-meters and being ranked one-two in both the
3000-meter steeplechase and 1,500-meter events
Missouri State had more runners ranked among the top
three in their events than all other state of
Missouri schools combined. In 2008 Missouri State
University showed that they are the top track
program in the state of Missouri, and with only
two-seniors in 2008 it looks like 2009 will not be
any different. (See
Performance List)
#4 Bragging Rights
Go To Missouri State
At
the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Ok.
Missouri State University cross country runners toed
the line with many goals in mind. One of those goals
was to come home with in-state bragging rights. With
each of the state’s Division-I schools being members
of different conferences the Midwest Regional is
their only chance to go head-to-head in championship
competition.
In
Stillwater at the regional, led by Pasca Cheruiyot’s
third place finish and NCAA national qualifying
performance, Missouri State University out did all
of their in-state foes. Missouri State finished
eighth among the 31 Midwest region Universities,
University of Missouri took 10th, SEMO
took 24th while St. Louis University and
Missouri-Kansas City coming in next with incomplete
team scores.
Individually, Cheruiyot, Terry Phillips and Jamie
Vest also gave Missouri State University the states
top three runners during the 2008 cross country
season. Cheruiyot led the way as the states fastest
runner while Kansas City native and RS-freshman
Terry Phillips (St. Mary’s HS) finished 21st
to earn all-Region honors as the states number two
finisher. Jamie Vest (Lebanon, Mo.), Missouri Sate’s
only senior, took 27th to finish as the
state’s third fastest runner. The next runner from a
state of Missouri team was Kinsey Farren of the
University of Missouri (42nd place).
#3 Cheruiyot Caps
Off Unprecedented First Season
With two new Missouri State cross country records
(5K – 16:57, 6K – 20:27) under her belt Pasca
Cheruiyot capped off an unprecedented first season
as a Lady Bear cross country runner. The sophomore
transfer blazed through her first season in maroon
and white keeping company with the nation’s finest
runners each time she toed the line. At the NCAA
Midwest Regional at Oklahoma State on November 15th
Cheruiyot ignored the windy conditions choosing
rather to front run. The risky strategy did not pay
off in a win but she did hold strong for third
place, just two seconds behind Illinois’ Angela
Bizzari (13th place runner in 2008
Olympic Trials 5K). That finish also gave Cheruiyot
an automatic qualifying spot for the national meet
in Terre Haute, Ind. In doing so Cheruiyot became
the first Missouri State cross country runner to
reach nationals as a sophomore and the first overall
since Casey Owens did so back-to-back in 2003 and
2004.
At
the national meet Cheruiyot put more conservative
race plans aside once again. In the lead at 1K
(2:58) and the Mile (4:58) marks Cheruiyot got a
taste of what her future may hold. However, she
found that her turn at the front of a NCAA
championship will have to wait. By 4K Cheruiyot was
still running well in 18th but slowly
faded to 25th at 5K (16:55). With just
250-meters to go the fast starting Cheruiyot was
still among the top 40 who would earn all-American
honors but despite a strong effort fell to 66th
over the final stretch (20:55). Cheruiyot’s regional
meet running partners, both out at in approximately
5:10 at the Mile, finished in the top ten giving
Cheruiyot and her MSU cross country coach Greg Hipp
confidence that a more tactically sound race can put
her among the nations best in the future.
#2 Vest and Ernest
among Nations Top Athletes
While MSU had an outstanding eight athletes
qualify for NCAA regional competition two were among
the nations best competing at the NCAA Outdoor Track
and Field Championships in Des Moines, Ia. on June
11-14. Lebanon, Mo. native (Stoutland HS) Jamie Vest
and St. Lucian Leander Ernest represented MSU in the
3,000-meter steeplechase and the 800-meter run,
respectively, at the national meet.
Both Vest and Ernest earned their national
championship invites at the NCAA Mideast Regional
May 30-31 in Fayetteville, Ark. In additional to a
small number of at-large qualifiers athletes like
Vest and Ernest who finished among the top five of
their events at each of the four regional
championships around the country were given
automatic bids to the NCAA Championship.
Taking fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase the
invite is the first for Vest to the NCAA National
Championship. She needed a personal best 10:35.94 to
qualify in the close race where the second through
sixth place finishers were only separated by
0.12-seconds. National qualifiers are a rare breed,
but Vest’s path to the top of the sport is even
rarer. Vest, who left high school with only modest
personal bests of 5:29 for 1,600-meters and 11:32
for 3,200-meters, has had an unparallel improvement
in her first three years of collegiate running at
Missouri State.
Ernest’s performance in the final of the 800-meters
netted a fifth place finish and automatic bid to the
NCAA meet for the second straight year as she
crossed the line in a tactical 2:08.47. In
preliminary action, Ernest recorded a time of
2:06.97, just shy of her personal best and the
Missouri State school record held by Augustina
Charles (2:06.30).
In
Des Moines Vest finisher season as the 26th
best steeplechaser in the NCAA ranks while Ernest
was 19th in the 800-meter run nationally.
#1 Leander Ernest
Set’s National Record
At the Feb. 16th Iowa State Classic in Ames, Ia.
Missouri State sophomore Leander Ernest not only
improved her indoor 800-meter personal best by over
two-seconds she also broke her home country of St.
Lucia’s indoor national record. Her time of 2:07.90
also pushed her to the top of the MSU all-time list
indoors ahead of former MSU All-American Mashere
Harrison’s who ran 2:08.03 in 2001.
Since arriving at Missouri State just two years ago
Ernest has made quick improvements. Joining the
collegiate ranks with a best of 2:15.60 for
800-meter the focused and confident Ernest has
skyrocketed to the MSU indoor record and is the
second ranked outdoor performer at MSU all-time with
a current best of 2:06.33.
With two Missouri Valley Conference titles under her
belt as a freshman Ernest, in 2008, added indoor
tiles in the 800-meters and the Distance Medley
Relay and outdoors in the 400-meters and
4x400-meters as a sophomore. Ernest's young career
also already includes an astonishing eleven
all-Missouri Valley Conference honors.
