Bearcats race in MIAA Championships
By ANTHONY CRANE
The Forum
Northwest freshman Bradley Deering runs at the MIAA Championships on Saturday morning in St. Joseph. (ANTHONY CRANE/THE FORUM)
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Olivia Bakker led the way for Northwest Missouri State at the MIAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, earning a top-10 finish at Missouri Western State University.
“I wanted to finish top five, but fell a little bit short,” Bakker said. “But I have two weeks until regionals, so today was kind of a learning experience for me overall and I hope to come back better in two weeks.
Bakker finished eighth in the women’s 6K with a time of 21:25, earning first team All-MIAA honors. The junior has finished top-10 in nine of the Bearcats 10 races in 2026.
With two weeks to prepare, Bakker said she has some things she can work on ahead of the NCAA Regional in a few weeks.
“I think I need to work on my mid-race a little bit, I let some girls get a few steps ahead of me and just couldn’t really reel them back in towards the end,” Bakker said. “I think just staying connected during that 3K-4K part of the race is something I’ll be focusing on in the next race.”
Northwest finished sixth in the women’s team standings with 170 points. Jessa Cassity was the next Bearcat across the finish line, placing 25th with a PR time of 22:29.10. Ava Campbell also recorded a personal best, finishing 40th in 23:00.60.
“I really wasn’t expecting a top-25 finish, but you know, I felt fine and just went,” Cassity said. “I try to go into every race with zero expectations and just listen to whatever my coach tells me. His message is to execute the race plan, do what you do, and just trust the training.”
Marissa Roberts (23:13.60) and Chloe Heckman (23:23.50) rounded out Northwest’s top five, finishing 49th and 56th. Both runners also recorded personal-best times as five of the Bearcats nine racers recorded personal records on Saturday.
“I thought we did really good and had a lot of younger girls really step up,” Bakker said. “Some of the seniors in their last conference meet all did really good, and so I think overall we had a pretty good day.”
On the men’s side, Northwest finished ninth with 269 points. The Bearcats didn’t quite have the same day as the women’s team, but saw three of its six racers finish with personal records.
Caden Scalfaro led the Bearcats in the 8K, placing 46th with a personal-best time of 25:52.40.
“I thought I executed my race plan well,” Scalfaro said. “It just wasn’t the result I wanted time-wise. There were a couple of mud slips here and there, but it’s just things you ultimately can’t control, and you just have to face them.”
Grayson Tapp followed closely in 47th at 25:54, while Bradley Deering finished 61st in 26:17.30, also setting a personal best. The Maryville native said he came into the meet just hoping to race his best.
“The only plan today was to go out slow towards the end of the pack and just work through it,” Deering said. “Honestly, I had no goal set for today. I just wanted to follow the plan, trust it, and just see what happens.”
After redshirting last season, Deering says he is starting to feel more comfortable at the college level.
“I redshirted last year and only had one race last year, so first season with multiple races and I feel like some of the pressure and anxiety of college racing really went away this year,” Deering said.
Ian Schram placed 80th in 26:52.80, followed by Paxton Bloom in 84th at 27:01.60 to complete Northwest’s top five. Northwest will race again on Nov. 21 at the NCAA Central Regional Championships in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
