The Missouri Southern women’s cross country team earned a position as the highest scoring Division-II team at the Southern Stampede Saturday.

The women’s team took third place out of 24 schools.

With a score of 115, the Lions placed behind two Division-I schools, the University of Tulsa with 19 points, followed by Arkansas, scoring 72 points.

The Lions’ most outstanding runner was Emily Harris, a freshman from Farmington, Mo., placing 14th with a time of 18:10.14.

Junior distance runner Rachel Schrader from Bolivar, Mo., finished with a 16th place time of 18:18.18. While senior Marlee Tegenkamp from Lee’s Summit, Mo., and junior Kaitlyn Belisle from Enid, Okla., placed 26th and 30th. Lauren Baehr, sophomore from Owensville, Mo., earned 49th place, followed by freshman Jet Hovis, from Farmington and senior Cassy Kendrick from Ponca City, Okla., in 61st and 65th place.

“It went really well, especially for the team, with the conditions, and the way it was,” Tegenkamp said.

“I’ve never ran when it was that muddy or wet. Teamwise, it was great seeing that line of yellow right in front of me, because we were all almost one behind another.”

The Lions conquered 11th seeded Midwestern State and Pittsburg State, ranked 12th in the nation, earning the women a spot as the 14th ranked team nationally.

“I feel like we’ve improved immensely, and the other thing that we’ve gained is that cohesive bond as a team,” women’s Head Coach Patty Vavra said.

“We still got a ways to go, but we’re really coming together.”

After taking a week off on Sept. 29, the Lions will travel to Stillwater, Okla., for the Oklahoma State Jamboree.