In the first significant test of the Cross Country Season some teams faltered, some rose to the occasion and some narrowly held off the challenges of rivals. The XC season is heating up and if this weekend was any indication there are going to be some great match ups as we move forward towards December. Much of the action took place at the Greater Louisville Classic at EP Tom Sawyer park as the D2 Nation saturated the meet to get a glance at the site which will hold Nationals on December 4th. If you noticed anything that I missed please let me know in the comments. 

2010 Rocky Mountain Shootout

• Note: The Elevation of Boulder is 5400ft. 

Adams State continued to prove why they are ranked No. 1 this weekend with a dominating performance in Boulder, CO. Led by Sr. Ryan McNiff, who took the individual honors in 25:11, the Grizzlies convincingly held of No. 2 ranked Western State (22-70) by placing 3 runners in the top 10. Sr. Luke Cragg and So. Craig Huffer were 2nd and 3rd respectively. The Western State Men were lead by Sr. Sean Brown who placed 8th overall in 25:50. The Metro State Men, ranked 17th Nationally, took 3rd overall. 

Led by Sr. Kristen McGlynn who finished 1st in the Non-Division 1 race in a time of 20:44 the Adam’s State Women were able to narrowly hold off the No. 8 ranked Western State Women (31-38). Led by Jr. Lauren Kleppin the Western State Women were able to put 3 runners in before Adams States 3 by capturing 4th, 5th and 6th spots respectively to give the Grizzlies a scare. This strong run by the Western State Women is sure to mix up the rankings and add an interesting dynamic to the RMAC as we progress farther into the season. * Note: The women’s race was 5.8K

2010 Greater Louisville Classic 

Meshack  Koyiaki, a Sr at Columbus St. U. was the top Division 2 performer in a time of 23:20.75. Sr. Michael Crouch of Queens showed that he is rounding back into shape nicely after a disappointing XC season last fall due to injury. Crouch placed 5th overall in 23:28. The Queens Men were 10th overall.  Jr. Daniel Kirwa was 6th overall in a time of 23:34. Which when you consider the fact that he raced last week at the Memphis Twilight Classic is an impressive performance. The Harding Men placed 12th overall respectively. 

Sr. Ben Zywicki, 24:03, led the Colorado School of Mines Men to a 2nd place overall finish at EP Tom Sawyer Park. The Mines Men were able to hold off a very strong run by the Grand Valley State Men, 155-172, who’s 7 man pack time was 56 seconds compared to the Mines Men who’s spread 1-7 was 1min 40 seconds. The GVSU Men were led by Jr. Tyler Emmorey in 24:10.  

Led by Bryan Beegle in 35th place with a time of 24:34 the Shippensburgh Men had a very impressive race placing 5th overall and beating No. 8 ranked Queens and No. 7 ranked Southern Indiana, both of whom were ranked ahead of them in last weeks USTFCCCA Poll.

Jr. Neely Spence of Shippensburgh University took the Individual honors in the Women’s Gold race with a time of 16:32. She led her team to a 4th place overall finish. Coming in 3rd place overall Sr. Sarah Porter ran a time of 16:57. She was joined by only one teammate in this race, Jr. Lauren Breihof who ran 17:46. The rest of the Western WA Women weren’t in action. 

The Grand Valley State Women very narrowly held of Vanderbilt University, 106-107, to win the Gold Race. The GVSU women were led by Katherine McCarthy with an 8th place finish of 17:23. Megan Maceratini and Monica Kinney placed 12th and 20th respectively. Interesting note. Vanderbilt’s Alexa Rodgers was their number 3 in 21st place in 17:39.57 to narrowly losing to Kinney’s 17:39.03. 

No. 10 ranked Ferris State placed 10th overall in the Gold race. The women were paced by Tina Muir in 15th place with a time of 17:32.

Charles Bowles Invitational:

Alaska Anchorages Marko Cheseto held of Portland’s Trevor Dunbar to take the individual honors in 23:18. The Chico State Men ran well placing 3 runners in the top 10 to take second place. Brent Honda led the way in 24:01 but was closely followed by Issac Chavez and Adrian Sherrod respectively. 

Alaska Anchorages Miriam Kipng’eno took 1st overall in 17:19 to lead her team to a 2nd place finish. The Chico Women made a strong run at Alaska Anchorage but came up short, 95-111, they were led by Kara Lubieniecki in a time of 17:49. 

South Dakota State Classic

The Minnesota Duluth women had an impressive showing led by Morgan Place who took the overall honors in 17:06. The Duluth Women finished second to the University of Minnesota. Bridget Hines ran number 2 for the Deluth Women in 18:01 respectively.