Last weekend, the Missouri Southern women’s cross country team traveled to Stillwater, Okla., to take part in the OSU Jamboree.

The Lions placed eighth overall in the competition, earning a spot as the fourth-highest team in Division-II.

Junior Rachel Schrader from Bolivar, Mo,. placed 28 overall, setting the pace and finishing with a Division-II fourth-highest time of 18:55.44.

Kaitlyn Belisle, junior from Enid, Okla., received 35th place with a time of 19:01.78.

“It was hard for all of us to come together without having some of our top runners running because they’re injured.

“I think the course was pretty hard too, one of the hardest ones that we’ll go to,” Belisle said. “We don’t really practice on straight-up hills. We do some hill workouts, but it was still pretty difficult.”

Sophomore distance runner Lauren Baehr from Owensville, Mo., finished with a time of 19:40.87 earning 53rd place.

Baer was followed by senior Cassy Kendrick at No. 65 with a time of 20:12.07 and freshmen Jet Hovis and Addie Mengwasser placed 73th and 78th with times of 20:22.93 and 20:36.18, respectively.

“Our team really ran well because they’re starting to close up the gap a little bit,” Head Coach Patty Vavra said.

“I think the ladies are beginning to come together and focus, realizing that conference and the national meet are not too far in the future,” she said.