SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri Baptist Men's and Women's Track and Field hosted the American Midwest Conference Track and Field Championships last week (4/30 – 5/1) and both teams finished third in their respective divisions.
 
The Spartans women's team finished the two-day event with 157 points, trailing only William Woods University (Mo.) (176) and Columbia College (Mo.) (162) in the nine-team field.
 
The Spartans had a couple of standout individual achievements, led by Mia Reed. The junior from Washington, Mo. was named the Female Track Athlete of the Meet as she alone accounted for 20 of the Spartans points in the meet. Reed finished first in the Women's 400 Meter Hurdles with a time of 1:05.49. Reed also met the "B" standard by outpacing the field in the Women's 3000 Meter Steeplechase with a time of 11:22.48. She previously qualified for nationals by besting the "A" standard of 11:18. Incidentally Reed also set the pace for teammate Adrienne Rockette, who finished second while also meeting the "B" standard in her first time ever running the race, with a time of 11:23.78.
 
In the women's field events, MBU's Alaina Scott set a new AMC record in the pole vault with a jump of 3.40 meters, breaking her own record set last year of 3.30. She has already qualified for nationals having beaten the "A" standard of 3.65 meters earlier this season.
 
The Spartan men finished third overall with 116 points, behind the 257 of William Woods and 227 of Columbia. There were nine teams that competed in the men's competition.
 
Leading the way individually for MBU were a couple of the usual suspects. Pole vaulter Mayson DeRousse literally raised the bar by breaking his own AMC record and topping the "A" standard with a leap of 5.01 meters. On the track, Donovan Denslow completed the one-two punch of finishing first in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. The senior from Eolia, Mo. finished the 5,000 meters in just under 15 minutes and finished the 10,000 meters in 32:39.36. Neither time pushed the qualifying standards for the events, but Denslow has previously beaten the "A" standard for the 5000 meters and has qualified for nationals.
 
The American Midwest Conference also announced their regular season awards, and the Spartans were well-represented. In addition to Reed's honor as Outstanding Women's Track Athlete, Angela Ward was named Freshman of the Year. As for the NAIA Champions of Character Team, Laine Cottrell and Brayden Bauman were chosen by their teammates to represent MBU.