NORMAL, Ill. – After finishing as runner-ups in the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships, Kelly McShea and Kim Christensen were named to the conference scholar-athlete team, along with Tyler Morse who helped his team to a fourth-place finish, following competition last weekend at the Southern Illinois Cross Country Course in Carbondale, Illinois, as announced by the league office Tuesday.
The trio earned the honor by placing in the top-20 at the conference championships, while holding a high academic standard of at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average (GPA).
McShea (3.38 | Elementary Education) clocked a personal-best 5,000-meter time of 17:10 for a third-place finish and placed 15 spots ahead of her 2013 MVC placement. The redshirt junior knocked 38 seconds off her personal-best time, pacing her team to a runner-up finish at the MVC Championships.
Christensen (3.54 | School Health Education) ran a personal-best 5K time of 17:26 to place eighth, shaving off 26 seconds from her former 5K best, also earning All-Valley honors.
Morse (3.33 | Finance) had very strong performances on the day, finishing the 8K in 24:44, placing 13th overall. The junior notched honorable mention honors for placing in the top-15, giving Morse his second-consecutive honorable mention accolade for his performance at the Valley meet.
The Redbirds return to action in two weeks, as they travel down I-74 to Peoria for the NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Meet hosted by Bradley Nov. 14.
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