The beginning of November brought the end of the 100 Missouri Miles Campus Challenge, and although the winner has not officially been announced, Missouri Southern finished the competition in first place. The competition had been extended to include the month of October, giving other schools the opportunity to catch up, but Southern remained in the lead for the duration of the challenge.

The Campus Challenge was issued at the beginning of September as part of the 100 Missouri Miles program put forth by Gov. Jay Nixon. The participating Missouri colleges and universities were split into tiers depending on campus size and each tier was given a goal. Students could run, walk, bike, swim, or convert other workouts into miles to log for the challenge, and the school that reached the largest percentage of their goal would be named champion.

Southern fell into tier three with a goal of 35,000 miles. At the end of the challenge, which was originally for the month of September, 53 percent of that goal has been reached, tallying 18,452 miles.

Director of Recreational Services Steven Benfield said that although the winner was supposed to be announced Monday, Nov. 3, he has not heard from the governor’s office. He said they may be gathering last minute tallies.

“I’d be surprised if anyone caught up with us,” said Benfield.

Recreational services offered incentives for those who participated in the Campus Challenge and gave out prizes at the beginning of October when the competition was originally set to finish. Benfield shirts were made for those who logged 50 miles or more during the challenge, but since there were some left over, other participants are welcome to claim a T-shirt as well.

Benfield said he would like to see some changes made to the Campus Challenge for next year, such as an easier registration process and a mobile app for participants.

“Having a mobile app where you could log in, stay logged in, and track your miles wherever you are would make it a lot easier,” he said.

Benfield also said he thought the goals for each school were lofty, and that even though they were based off of school size, it is hard to gauge how many students, faculty and staff will become involved.

“I think that if the goals weren’t so far out of sight it would create a good little competition between the universities,” he said, “if you could see that you were closer to your goal.”

According to Benfield, recreational services plans to continue the incentive program next year as part of the Campus Challenge.

“We’re in the business of trying to get people healthier and active, and that’s hard to do,” said Benfield. “We’ve learned that incentives really motivate people to get moving.”

Recreational services plans on notifying campus when Southern is officially announced the winner of the competition through email.