Cross Country to Finish Season at Division I Independent Championships

Oct. 25, 2005

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2005 Division I Independent Championships
Hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Saturday, October 29, 2005 - 9:00 a.m. MT
Corpus Christi, Texas (West Guth Park Course)

This Week
The University of Northern Colorado women's cross country team completes the 2005 season, its third in the reclassification process to Division I, by competing at the Division I Independent Championships on Saturday in Corpus Christ, Texas.

The Bears have competed at the event the last two years, finishing third in 2003 (behind the host Islanders and Utah Valley State) and seventh a year ago (behind UC Davis, TAMUCC, North Dakota State, Utah Valley State, South Dakota State and Texas-Pan American). The same field is expected for this year's meet.

The Bears top finisher in 2003 was 15th (Mandy Bedosky) while that improved to fifth a year ago (Lauren Dunsmoor).

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado finished fourth at the Fort Hays State Tiger Invitational held at the FHSU Course on Oct. 8.

After missing the past two races with an injury, senior Lacey Darien returned to race and led the Bears with a 20th place finish overall (19:50.98). Freshman Amy Brons was 23rd (19:58.66) and senior Ashley Grams was 26th (20:06.36). Junior Chantelle Erickson was two seconds behind Grams in 27th place, junior Angela Kitchens was 39th (20:36.84), senior Tara Hettler was 40th (20:37.13) and sophomore Emily Watz was 70th (24:09.60).

Butler County Community College's Diane Nukuri won the individual title, finishing with a time of 17:31.06.

Colorado School of Mines was the team champion, running away from the field after having runners finishing 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8th. Butler County and Colorado College also finished ahead of the Bears.

Bears to Join Big Sky Conference
Northern Colorado will officially become a member of the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2006 and will begin to compete in Big Sky Championships beginning in the 2007-08 season. Part of joining the Big Sky involves the athletics department adding men's cross country (as well as men's and women's indoor track) after joining the conference.

Next Up
Season complete.