Kaymarie Jones
The Paw Print
Lauren Martin, daughter of Coach Damon Martin, created history on Saturday, October 26, when she crossed the finish line ahead of the field in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championship. The red-shirt freshman from Alamosa, Colorado, faced countless struggles this cross country season and has made her team, town, and her parents extremely proud after her win in 21:20.4 seconds.
“It was a great experience to lead the team to win the RMAC title. The RMAC is one of the toughest conferences in the nation when it comes to cross country, and as a team, we have high goals for the championship season and we got the job done at conference. When you have a great group of girls on the team, it makes it easy to keep fighting when you are not at your best!” Martin celebrates.
The nine-member team, comprised of young Martin, Kelly Lamb, Maura O’Brien, Mellissa Roberts, Jenna Thurman, Taylor Warren, Alyssa Selve, Jesse Brunette, and Kelsey Corbin, all exceeded the efforts of the female athletes from Western State College of Colorado to steal the overall team title. Lamb, who finished third at the meet in 21:34.6 seconds, pulled the other Grizzly women with her as they followed the trend already set by Martin. O’Brien finished fifth in 21:52.9, Roberts was thirteenth in 22:35.3, Thurman and Warren were fifteenth and sixteenth in 22:39.7 and 22:41.4, while Selve, Brunett and Corbin rounded off the Grizzlies in 22:48.7, 22:55.5, and 23:11.6 respectively. The women scored 37 quality points while the Western women scored 45. Metro State University, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and Colorado School of Mines rounded off the top five teams at the meet.
Western State’s Mountaineers claimed the men’s title, finishing with a score of 26 over the Grizzlies’ 45. It was Vegard Olstad who took the championship crown for Western State in 23:56.5 seconds, while Kevin Batt took second in 23:58.8 and Tabor Stevens third in 24:06.7.
“We did not have a big tape for this race so a few of the guys went in the race tired because the end goal is on the NCAA Cross Country National Championship. But we’ve all learned a lot after this race and are much hungrier to get back on top, where we belong, defending our title” the NCAA champion, Kevin Batt, concedes.
Following the top three men closely, seven Mountaineers ran shoulder to shoulder, but one Colorado Mines athlete squeezed through for fifth. For the Grizzlies, Jovanny Godinez finished twelfth in a time of 25:06.2. His teammates, Naseem Haje (25:10.4), Kyle Masterson (25:13.8), Julian Florez (25:31.7), Quin Ralston (25:56.2), and John Slater (26:31.5), all finished fourteenth, seventeenth, twentieth, twenty-ninth, and forty-third.
“We’ve done all the hard work that it takes to be physically prepared, but now, getting mentally right is our next goal. Losing to Western State was harder than losing at the Roy Griak Invitational because the RMAC is our home and so when you lose closer to home it stings a lot more” Godinez explained.
This weekend, the Grizzlies will travel to Canyon, Texas for the NCAA Division II South Central Regionals on November 9th.
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