ROO DROPPINGS

By: David Cordill

Posted: 10/20/08

Guthrie on CLASS Award shortlist

Garret Guthrie, senior defender of the UMKC men's soccer team, got one step closer to a prestigious honor Oct. 16. Guthrie will be one of ten men's college soccer representatives selected for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.
The honor recognizes "the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student Athlete of the Year," according to the award's official Web site.
The acronym CLASS stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. The award spotlights individual for their performance in both athletics and academics.
Guthrie, a chemistry major, celebrated numerous accolades on and off the soccer pitch in 2007. He was a two time recipient of the Summit League Offensive Player of the Week and UMKC's Jack Gant Award winner.
The final selection process involves voting from coaches, media members and fans. Ballots may be cast through Nov. 19. Winners in Guthrie's particular category will be announced at the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championships Dec. 12-14.
To cast a ballot for Guthrie or any other collegiate soccer player please go to http://soccer.seniorclassaward.com/public/men/vote.aspx.

Mutai and Harkins top UMKC finishers
at Chile Pepper Invite

Sophomores Laban Matai and Alex Harkins turned in the best recorded times for their respective UMKC cross country squads at the 20th Annual Arkansas Chile Pepper Invitational held last Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
Matai finished in 81st place overall out of a field of 257 runners in the men's 10K run, with a time of 31:50.03. With 607 points, his men's team finished the event in 21st place out of 30 competing teams.
Alex Harkins' time of 23:18.60 was good enough for 137th place out of 306 runners for the Kangaroos in the women's 6K run. UMKC's women's team ended the competition with 879 points placing them 31st among 39 teams.

Men's tennis team out of Wilson/ITA Central Region Championship

The UMKC men's tennis team was forced to pack up their rackets Saturday at the Wilson/ITA Central Region Championship last Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., as competitors from singles and doubles competition could not get past the field on the second day of the event.
With three consecutive wins through the first two rounds of competition, sophomore Serge Ristivojevic advanced to the field of 16. He fell in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) to the University of Oklahoma's Sergey Avdeyev.
Ristivojevic also teamed up with freshman Gustavo Guerin in the doubles competition and they were able to play their way into the final 16 as well. But the pairing of Ristivojevic and Guerin was denied advancement in the tourney after facing the University of Arkansas's Blake Strode and Matt Hogan. They defeated the Roo duo 8-2.
dcordill@unews.com