Women bring home CC Invitational title
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – All the pieces fell into place for the Northern Colorado women's cross country team during the third week of the season and the team won the title at the 2011 Colorado College Cross Country Invitational. All five scorers finished in the top 12 for 30 team points and the team victory. The men's team also had three runners place in the top 10 for a third-place finish.
Freshman Tanelle Berard was the first Bear to cross the finish line, running a 23:39 over the six-kilometer course for third place. Fellow freshman Ashley Atkin was right behind Berard, placing fourth with a time of 23:52. Sophomore Nicole O'Dwyer timed a 24:27 to finish in eighth place and senior Nicole Larson was right behind her in ninth with a time of 24:40. Freshman Cara Feldman rounded out the scoring finishing 15th overall in 25:00.
Sophomore Sammi Pitchford crossed the finish line 17 seconds behind Feldman, placing 19th and senior Sari Little timed a 25:44 for 24th position. Freshmen Leah Anderson and Amanda Cunningham crossed the finish line back-to-back with Anderson in 30th (26:06) and Cunningham in 31st (26:13). Sophomore Haley Hughes was just a few seconds behind the pair, taking 37th place in 26:26.
The men's team scored 60 points to finish in third place on Saturday. Adams State, the top-ranked team in the nation at Division II, swept the meet, but the Bears put up strong times to take third.
Sophomore John McCarthy again paced the team, running the eight-kilometer course in 27:41 for 13th place overall, but eighth in the scoring. Sophomore Cameron McQueen and freshman Evan Bekes were just behind him as McQueen ran a 27:59 for 15th and Bekes timed a 28:02 for 16th. Freshman Alex Holm and sophomore Kyle Kusmik also finished consecutively as Holm crossed in 28:29 and Kusmik 28:42 for 23rd and 24th, overall, to round out the scoring. Sophomore Derek Schneider took 34th position overall after running a 29:52 for the final spot.
The Bears take next week off from competition, returning to the course on Oct. 1 in Boulder for the annual Rocky Mountain Shootout.
