Kaymarie Jones
The Paw Print
Jovanny Godinez and Lauren Martin led the Grizzly men and women cross country teams to South Central Region Championship titles on Saturday, November 9th in Canyon, Texas.
The Adams State University men ran 10K miles, averaged a time of 30:31, and scored 31 points to finish ahead of twenty schools in the region, a remarkable team effort which led the Grizzlies to their sixth regional crown. Godinez, the senior from Pacoima, Calif., claimed second overall and defeated his teammates Kevin Batt; Sydney, Australia, and Tabor Stevens; Canyon City, Colo., the two top men in the entire division. In a time of 30:17, Godinez averaged 4:52 per mile with Batt and Stevens averaging the same time per mile and finishing in 30:20. The fourth Grizzly to cross the tape was Kyle Masterson, the sophomore from Louisville, Ohio. Masterson stopped the clock at 30:41 and junior Julian Florez, senior Naseem Haje, and Quin Ralston, the red-shirt freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., finished in 30:54, 30:59, and 31:19 respectively.
In their previous season, the men had an impressive team score of 26 points and claimed their tenth regional title. The team was brought to the line by Batt, the Grizzlies’ sixth individual champion of all-time, but was the first since Brian Medigovich in 2009. Six of those men from the regional team received the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s all-region team honors and two of those men returned this season to improve their efforts. The Grizzlies have now won 11 regional titles in their 22 years at the NCAA Division II level.
It took a noteworthy team effort from seven Grizzly women to capture the championship title on Saturday morning. Martin, Alamosa, Colo., paced her six teammates to a great finish, wheeling in the tape at 21:14. The 6k miles run was completed by a second place finish from Kelly, Lamb; Creede, Colo., and a third place finish from Alyssa Selve; Santa Clarita, Calif. Sophomore Melissa Roberts, Boulder, Colo.; clocked 21:42, red-shirt freshman Maura O’Brien, Evergreen, Colo.; finished in 21:57 freshman Jenna, Thurman, Albuquerque, New Mexico; 22:07 and Taylor Warren, Evergreen, Colo.; 22:14. All seven women finished in the top twenty. Roberts, O’Brien, Thurman, and Warren finished ninth, thirteen, sixteen, and nineteenth respectively.
Last season, Alicia Nelson, Craig, Colo., led the team to a dominating win at the regional championships. Martin, returning from last year’s sixth place finish, is now the 12th champion for the Grizzlies. The team was ranked second in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s NCAA Division II rankings and tallied 28 team points, a score that was historically recorded as the lowest regional total since posting the same score in 2007. The title was the Grizzlies’ 16th regional crown in their 21 attempts at the NCAA Division II level. It was also their fifth in the last six years and Nelson was ASU’s 11th individual regional champion.
The Grizzlies are looking forward to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Washington on November 23rd.
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