Men Fourth, Women Fifth at Colorado College Invitational
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – During the third week of competition for the Northern Colorado men's and women's cross country teams, the Bears men placed fourth and the women were fifth at the 2010 Colorado College Invitational. The men's team tallied 98 points, while the women scored 139 points.
Colorado School of Mines won the men's championship with 20 points and the women's with 40 points.
"Progression wise, our top seven guys were faster than our second guy two years ago," said cross country coach John Gutierrez. "We're definitely getting stronger, the kids felt good and felt strong and we're looking forward to running in Boulder in a few weeks. We're coming out of our strength face and it was a good day for the Bears."
Freshman Jason Kearns finished 11th overall and ninth among scorers in the 8K race, posting a time of 26:53. Senior Danny Sojka placed 20th overall, timing a 27:27. Freshman John McCarthy was next across the finish line for the Bears, finishing 34th in 28:29. Senior Joe Pummer timed a 29:08 to place 47th and freshman Cameron McQueen was the fifth Bear scorer, running a 29:30 to take 53rd. Also competing for NC, but not scoring was Dylan Hedges (65th, 30:42).
For the women, freshman Nicole O'Dwyer was the top finisher, taking 21st place in 25:07. Senior Denise Kintzley finished just 14 seconds behind O'Dwyer, running a 25:21 to finish in 25th. In 32nd place was freshman Haley Hughes who ran a 25:44. Fellow freshman Samantha Pitchford finished in 44th place after timing a 26:39. Rounding out the scoring was freshman Sari Little who ran a 27:49 to finish 64th.
The Bears now take a break from competition until Oct. 2 when they run at the Rocky Mountain Shootout, hosted by the University of Colorado in Boulder.
