Tanner Elliot
The Paw Print
On Oct. 20, the Grizzly harriers once again showed, not only the Rocky Mountain Conference, but the entire NCAA that they have came to rock n’ roll this season.
The University of Colorado in Colorado Springs at Monument Valley Park held the conference championship. The course consisted of four 2k loops for the men with a fairly tough hill to ascend each loop, and for the women it was three 2k loops you had to cover. Both men and women’s teams were coming off a second place finish at the Stanford Invite when they crossed the line at RMAC cross-country championship.
The Grizzly women’s program defeated defending conference champions Western State 21-46. The team took four of the top five spots led by individual champion Alecia Nelson in a time 21:57.
Junior Kelly Lamb finished second in a time of 22:13, outkicking Western State’s top finisher in the final straight away. Sophomore Lauren Martin finished fourth in a time of 22:31, taking off 75 seconds from her previous year’s time at the conference championship. Alyssa Selve, junior colleges transfer from Glendale Community College, finished fifth with a time of 22:37. Tracee Van der Wyk, a junior college transfer as well from Pasadena City College, rounded out the Grizzly top five with a ninth place finish in a time of 22:57.
Number one ranked Grizzly men won the conference championship with a score of 30-44 over number two-ranked team Colorado School of the Mines. Tabor Stevens, RMAC pre-season runner of the year took the individual crown with a time of 25:06.
Freshman Kevin Batt took fourth place with a time of 25:21. Junior Jovanny Godinez finished sixth in 25:32 with a screaming kick passing the UCCS runner in the finishing straight away. “My fingers began to tingle in the end, but I could tell with about 2k to go the guy was beginning to hurt. Assistant Coach Nick Lara was yelling at me to go and get this guy,” said Godinez.
Senior Andrew Roberts had a huge race for the team with an eighth place finish in a time of 25:34. Senior David Sanchez rounded out the top five for the Grizzlies in an eleventh place finish with a 25:57.
Since the first RMAC Cross-Country championship back in 1972, the Adam’s State men’s team had won 30 conference championships. The women’s conference championship began in 1984 for cross-country, and the women’s program has won 22 championships.
“I am really proud in both the women’s and men’s team. I feel like there was a vast difference in the way they got the job done, but I was really proud of the outcome of both. In the guy’s race, some of the top guys were tired, but they gutted it out and got it done. In the end, they beat two or three really good teams. On the gal’s side it was pretty impressive on how they ran, the top four out of five places is pretty impressive to get in our conference. They look on top of their game,” said head coach Damon Martin.
On Nov. 3, the cross-country teams will be heading to Denver to run at the DII South Central Regional championship held by Regis. “The main goal for regionals is just to qualify to nationals. You want to do a good job, but at the same time you don’t want to kill yourself. It is a tough course and I will come up with a plan to accomplish the objective of running together and creating a good pack time.”
Six teams will qualify out of the South Central Region to the national championship, which will be held in Joplin, Missouri. The teams will both be expected to make the national championship in an easy and comfortable fashion.
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