Cross Country Opens Season at CSU with Freshman-Heavy Squad

Friday, September 4

Fort Collins, Colo.

All Day

University of Northern Colorado

Colorado State University Invitational

9/4/2015 10:52:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country

By: UNCBears.com

Men's Results
Women's Results

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The 2015 cross country season kicked off for the Northern Colorado Bears today as they made the short trip over to Fort Collins to compete in the Colorado State Invitational.

UNC saw two Top 25 finishes on the women's side from senior Caroline Braun and freshman Alicia Thompson.

"I felt this meet was a great learning tool," said first year cross country coach Trent Mack. "For me, it's new working with each and every one of them so early in the season, so I'm just trying to learn a lot about each one of them."

Braun completed her season-opener in 18:26.00, coming in 19th overall. Thompson came in eighteen seconds behind Braun with a time of 18:44.00, finishing in 25th place in her collegiate debut with the Bears.

Fellow freshman runner Erin Thomas had the third best finish on the women's side clocking in at 18:59.00, good for 31st overall.

"The majority of the group is freshman, so learning how to execute smart races and compete as a team is the focus right now," Mack said. "I thought the returners ran great season openers and very disciplined races. As we pull things together through the season we can make big gains as an overall team."

Other finishes on the women's side included senior McKayla Gray coming in 43rd (19:23.00), sophomore Katy East placed right behind Gray in 44^th (19:35.00), freshmen Cami Kennedy and Cammy Sargent also crossed the finish line in the Top 50, earning 46th (19:46.00) and 47th (19:46.00) overall.

Junior Carly Browning came in just outside the Top 50, in 51st, clocking in at 20.57.00, while freshmen Sally Filatova and Morgan Bloyer rounded out the women's team coming in 53rd (21:16.00) and 54th (22:13.00), respectively.

In the men's 8K race, veteran runners Kingston Wagner and Tim Corrie paced UNC. Wagner had the top finish for the Bears coming in 49th with a time of 16:26.00, while Corrie was just two spots behind in 51st, clocking a 16:30.00.

Newcomer Tristan Irish was not far off from the two vets, crossing the finish line in 16:43.00, good for 54th.

Freshmen Nick Bailey and Keaton Duncan finished back-to-back at 57th (17:04.00) and 58th (17:27.00), while sophomore Jacob Higa rounded out the men's squad taking 60th (18:10.00) overall.

The next meet for the XC team will be the Woody Greeno-Nebraska Invite on Sept. 19 in Lincoln, Nebraska.