Northwest Missouri State men’s and women’s track and field teams enter the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) regional polls as announced by the organization on Tuesday.

The Northwest men enter the first USTFCCCA poll ranked No. 6 and just 77 tenths behind No. 5 Pittsburg State. Missouri Southern claimed the top spot on the men’s side just ahead of Lincoln (Mo.), despite the Blue Tigers earning the No. 1 spot in the National Rankings.

Following them is Central Missouri at No. 3 and Abilene Christian at No. 4 with the Gorillas rounding out the top five.

Both men’s and women’s South Central polls are dominated by MIAA schools with only two Lone Star Conference teams ranked in the top 10. Behind the Bearcats is No. 7 Emporia State followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville at No. 8, Southwest Baptist at No. 9 as and Fort Hays State rounding out the men’s top 10.

On the women’s side the Bearcats stand at No. 8 as only two non-MIAA teams are ranked in the top 10. Lincoln, the No. 2 team nationally, checks in as the top team in the South Central Region followed by Central Missouri.

Missouri Southern stands at No. 3 with Abilene Christian at No. 4 and Fort Hays State rounding out the top five. Emporia State follows at No. 6 with Truman State checking in just ahead of the Bearcats at No. 7.

Lone Star Conference foe Angelo State enters the poll at No. 9 as Southwest Baptist rounds out the top 10.

Northwest returns to the track this weekend in Seward, Neb., at the Concordia Classic Friday and Saturday.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

For the fourth time this season, the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats held its opponent under the 50 point mark for a decisive 71-45 win over Emporia State on Sunday inside White Auditorium.

Northwest improved to 14-3 on the year and 8-3 to remain in a tie atop the MIAA standings. The Hornets fall to 8-9 overall and 4-7 in league action as the Bearcats held Emporia State to its lowest point total of the year.

The Bearcats jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they led by as many as 28.

Both teams traded three-pointers as Alex Sullivan nailed his only points of the night putting Northwest up 22-12 with 3:56 left in the half. From there, the Bearcats lead would not dip below double digits.

The Bearcats’ inside presence dominated the Hornets as they outscored ESU 26-16 in the paint. Northwest big man Dillon Starzl finished with a game high 15 points and six rebounds.

To start the game Northwest forced a shot clock violation for the home team and set the tone. Emporia State shot under 20 percent in the first half and only 26 percent for the game.

Senior Kyle Haake tallied 10 points as 13 different Bearcats scored in the game.

Northwest ends a three-game road trip on Wednesday as they travel to Washburn for a 7:30 p.m. tip.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

A cold start for Northwest Missouri State doomed the Bearcats as the 20th-ranked Emporia State Lady Hornets pulled away with a 63-50 win Sunday afternoon in MIAA action from White Auditorium.

The Bearcats fall to 4-14 and 2-9 in league play while ESU improves to 13-3 and 9-2 in the MIAA. Northwest closes out its three-game road swing on Wednesday when they travel to Washburn to face the 16th-ranked and MIAA leading Lady Blues.

After a cold start from the field senior guard Abby Henry would pick up the scoring for the Bearcats. Henry swished a half-court shot at the buzzer of the first half and finished with a game high 16 points.

Although the Bearcats turned the Lady Hornets over 21 times, Northwest would shoot a season low 22 percent from the field.

ESU would lead by as many as 28 late in the second half, but Northwest would chip back at the Lady Hornet lead. However, it would be too little too late as the 20th-ranked Hornets out-rebounded Northwest 56-45 and 42-17 on the defensive end of the floor.

Annie Mathews returned to the starting lineup and added 11 points while Candace Boeh also finished in double figures adding 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

All 10 players for ESU registered in the scoring column led by Heather Robben with 12 points.

Northwest Missouri State head coach Jessica Rinehart announced the signings of Janaya Fox and Dallas Gardner to National Letters of Intent on Friday as the duo will begin their Bearcat careers in the fall of 2012.

“I’m very excited about these two,” said Rinehart, who recently completed her second season at the helm of the Northwest program, “They’ve both experienced a large degree of success at the high school and club levels, and I expect that trend will continue for them as Bearcats.  They are both extremely consistent players and I feel they will make an immediate impact on our team.”

Gardner comes from St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kan., where she won three Kansas State Championships for the Thunder. She also helped the Thunder finish No. 1 in the nation her junior year and No. 4 this last fall. Gardner was also a three-time Academic All-State selection.

Joining Gardner is Janaya Fox from Bellevue East in Bellevue, Neb. Fox holds school records for career kills (605), season kills (449) and digs in a match with 29. She was a First-Team All-State selection and named All-Metro while earning Player of the Year accolades from the Bellevue Leader. She competed at the national tournament four times with her club team and won a Nebraska state championship in basketball.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest Missouri State junior Will Haer improved on his NCAA provisional mark Friday in the pole vault as both men and women competed for the second straight weekend at the Devaney Center.

This weekend’s meet was hosted by Nebraska-Wesleyan, but still saw plenty of strong performances for both men’s and women’s squads.

The highlight of the day was Will Haer taking home the pole vault title and improving on his NCAA provisional mark. Haer had a vault of 4.85m taking home first-place in the pole vault.

Porter Groves also earned a top five finish for Northwest in the long jump. The junior recorded a jump of 6.42m, as Ronnie Taylor of Hastings College earned the title with a jump of 7.50m.

Also picking up a top five finish was the Northwest 4×400 meter relay team. Zach Dixon, Rashaad Scott, Eli Smith and Kellen Schroeder who raced to a fifth place finish, just six second behind Concordia University.

On the women’s side Lekiesha McKnight who nabbed a NCAA provisional last week at the Husker Holiday Invite, narrowly missed a first-place finish. McKnight had a top throw of 13.27m just .13m of the NCAA provisional mark and .48m behind Abby Griffith of Hastings College’s first-place finish.

Distance runners for the Northwest women were able to bring home five top five finishes on the afternoon.

Northwest was paced by Brittany Poole’s third-place finish in the 3,000 meter run and Madison Marshman in the 5000 meter run who also ran to a third-place finish. Poole recorded a time of 10:22.99 while Marshman covered the 5k in 18:26.78.

Brianna Evans and Samantha Fender finished back-to-back, in third and fourth-place as the top sprinters of the day for the Bearcats. Evans raced to a third-place finish narrowly missing a NCAA provisional with a tie of 7.97. The NCAA provisional mark in the in the 60 meter dash is 7.75.

Both Northwest squads will return to Nebraska next weekend as they travel to Concordia University Invitational next Friday and Saturday.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Chad Kilgore headlines a quartet of Bearcats that were named All-America by D2Football.com Thursday giving the senior his fourth honor of the season.

Kilgore was the lone First-Team selection for Northwest Missouri State has the Orrick, Mo., native led the No. 5 Bearcats in tackles for a third straight season, finishing with 123 stops — 11 for loss. The 230-pound weak-side backer makes his first appearance on the AFCA squad during the off-season while also earning First-Team AP All-America and Second-Team CoSIDA accolades.

Running back and return man Jordan Simmons earned Second-Team honors as the junior returned two kickoffs and one punt for a touchdown. Simmons also raced for over 900 yards out of the backfield and added another 450 yards receiving.

A pair of linemen was tabbed Honorable Mention selections for the Bearcats as senior Cody Johnson and junior Rod Williams earned a place on the All-America team as well. The duo helped anchor an offensive line that led the nation in scoring and averaged over 50 points per game during the regular season. The offense was also just 22 yards shy of posting two 1,000 yard rushers in the same season.

Johnson finished his career adding Second-Team CoSIDA All-America honors to his resume while Williams picked up his third All-America honor.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

The good news is Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team has a share of first place in the MIAA.

The bad news is the Bearcats lost sole possession of the top spot after falling 84-76 to Missouri Southern Wednesday night at Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Northwest, which dropped to 13-3 overall, fell to 7-3 in the MIAA and is now tied with Southern, which is 15-3 overall. Central Missouri and Washburn are also 7-3, creating an intriguing logjam as the MIAA teams head into the second half of conference play.

“We are still hungry,” said Northwest junior DeShaun Cooper. “It’s not about sharing first place. We want first place by ourselves. We are going to come out on Saturday against Emporia State because they are the only team in the way. We are going to take our anger out on them.”

The Bearcats showed plenty of fight against a talented Southern team picked to win the MIAA in the preseason poll.

Northwest held just two brief leads in the second half against Southern.  A basket by Justin Clark gave the Bearcats a 65-64 lead with 7 minutes remaining. Less than a minute later, Northwest took its last lead at 67-66 on a field goal by DeAngelo Hailey.

Southern regained the lead for good on a three-pointer by Jason Adams. After he knocked down the long three-pointer for a 70-67 lead, he raced down the court, pumping his chest.

Adams had an all-star caliber game, finishing with 31 points.

“What hurts you, but doesn’t hurt you is the tough shots he hits,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “It’s the layups in transitions, the back-cut lobs and the easy buckets he gets that really hurts you.

“The other stuff you have to live with it. He’s going to make it or miss it and you don’t have anything to say about that. But you do about the other stuff. We didn’t do a good job of limiting his easy opportunities.”

Northwest never backed down. They stayed within striking distance until Southern pushed its advantage to 80-73 with 1:20 left.

Cooper said a lack of concentration hurt the Bearcats down the stretch.

“I felt we didn’t concentrate,” said Copper, who finished with 12 points and seven assists. “Near the end I wasn’t where I was supposed to be with the ball and the team wasn’t where it was supposed to be with the ball. I felt we weren’t concentrating as a team. It was a team loss.”

But there were so many encouraging signs that it is inevitable that Northwest will begin to pick up some road conference wins. The Bearcats want it to begin in earnest on Saturday at Emporia State.

Other than the opening 6-0 lead, Northwest trailed the rest of the first half. But the Bearcats sure played an entertaining 20 minutes. They trailed only 38-36 at the break.

“I thought we started very well,” McCollum said. “We’ve started slow in the past. Once we got off to a good start, our defense usually picks up in the second half generally. We just didn’t get stops when we needed to get them.”

A big reason why the Bearcats stayed close was the hot shooting of Clark, who drained a couple of three-pointers and added a few mid-range jumpers that helped Northwest trim a 23-15 deficit to 29-25.

“I’m just trying to get wins,” Clark said. “That’s all I know. Scoring will come. I’m just trying to win.”

The Bearcats shot very well from the field in the first half, hitting 15 of 29 shots for 51.7 percent. Southern was almost as hot, shooting 45 percent from the field.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Of all the close losses Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team has suffered through this season, the 83-75 setback against Missouri Southern Wednesday evening might be the toughest one to swallow.

The Bearcats showed plenty of grit to force overtime on the road at Leggett & Platt Athletic Center, but just could not get the one crucial basket in overtime to get a lead.

The loss was costly for Northwest. The Bearcats dropped to 4-13 overall and 2-8 in the MIAA. They are tied with Southern, who improved to 6-10 and 2-8.

Still, there were bright spots.

Freshman Maggie Marnin played like a senior in the closing seconds of regulation.

Marnin hit two important free throws with 30 seconds left and then blocked a shot near the basket with a second left in regulation that sent the game into overtime tied 65-65.

Marnin finished with a game-high 24 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. She was 8-for-9 from the line.

“Maggie came out and really had a big game,” Northwest coach Gene Steinmeyer said.

It was amazing the Bearcats got the game to overtime. With about a minute left, Northwest gave up an offensive rebound that led to a field goal, giving the Lions a 62-59.

Southern followed with another bucket for a 64-59 lead with under 40 seconds. Northwest got the ball down court quickly for Shelly Martin. She knocked down a three-pointer.

After a free throw by the Lions, Marnin made her two free throws, and with 23 seconds remaining, Northwest tied the game at 65-65 on a free throw by Abby Henry.

Northwest played tough defense in the final 23 seconds.

“They did the right things down the stretch with clock management to get it to overtime,” Steinmeyer said of his players. “We hit crucial shots. To get it to overtime was big.”

Overtime was much like the rest of the game except the Bearcats didn’t have a comeback in them this time.

Southern scored the first basket. Northwest tied it at 67-67 on a 15-foot jumper by Martin. Martin played well and finished with 19 points.

“Shelly started showing life,” Steinmeyer said.

But other than Martin and Marnin, the Bearcats struggled to find consistent offense. It cost them in overtime.

“It’s a shame because if we had the same balance that we had against SBU, we would have probably had an easy win,” Steinmeyer said. “Some kids who hit some shots against SBU just couldn’t buy a bucket. I can’t fault their effort.”

A three-pointer by Haley Weathers gave Southern a 70-67 lead. The Lions slowly pushed their advantage to 76-71. They couldn’t find the same spark that they had late in the first half that kept Northwest in striking distance.

The bleakest moment in the first half for the Bearcats ignited their best period of basketball.

Northwest needed the late spurt to prevent a double-digit deficit at halftime. The Bearcats had every reason to feel good despite going into the locker room behind 30-27.

“We forced 15 turnovers in the first half and we still trailed by three,” Steinmeyer said.

For most of the first half, Northwest had trouble making shots. The only player with some success was Marnin. A blowout looked possible. The Bearcats trailed 25-13.

Something clicked after Weathers dropped a three-pointer to give the Lions a 12-point lead. Northwest scored the next 10 points and closed to 25-23.

After a free throw by Southern, Northwest tied the game at 26-26 on a three-pointer by freshman Ashleigh Nelson. The Bearcats were back in the game.

— NWMSU Sports Information —