Grizzly Women Begin Championships at RMAC Meet

Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports
Information Director

NEW ORLEANS – Entering the championships portion of the 2011 season, the ASC women’s XC team continues to be ranked among the top five teams in Division II according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) as they head to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championship this weekend in Denver.
The Grizzly women who finished third at last year’s Division II Championships, ending a streak of seven straight national crowns, were ranked fourth at last the beginning of the fall. In the weeks since, ASC has dropped to fifth despite only having fallen to the division’s top-ranked Mountaineers at the season-opening Joe I. Vigil Open and at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree.
ASC and Western State exchanged blows at the two meets prior to the DII Championships last season. Western State dethroned the Grizzlies as conference champs before Adams State finishes on top at the Central Regional Championships.
The Grizzlies will be led by junior Alicia Nelson (Craig, Colo.) and sophomore Kelly Lamb (Creede, Colo.). The owners of the last two RMAC Freshman of the Year honors, Nelson and Lamb were also both All-American performers during their freshman seasons in the steeplechase and have three combined cross country all-American honors between them.
Nelson is the Grizzlies top returning harrier from last season, having finished as the second Grizzly and 19th overall at the DII Championships, while Lamb placed 39th in the national meet last year.
Lamb finished as the top Grizzly at this year’s Vigil meet, placing second overall behind Western State’s Lauren Kleppin, a favorite for the RMAC and national title. Lamb was 13 second behind Kleppin and one second of Nelson.
Nelson was then the Grizzlies top finisher at the Cowboy Jamboree where she finished third overall behind Kleppin and Texas Christian’s Agnes Kemboi.
Leading candidates to join the Grizzly squad behind Nelson and Lamb at the RMAC meet are a group of rookie runners including redshirt-freshmen Jessie Brunett (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.), Lauren Martin (Alamosa, Colo.) and Tayler Warren (Evergreen, Colo.) as well as junior Sarah Lange (Brattleboro, Vt.) and freshman Melissa Roberts (Boulder, Colo.).
Saturday’s RMAC XC Championships will be hosted by Regis University and will be held at the Willis Case Golf Course in Denver.