Tanner Elliot
The Paw Print
The Adams State men captured the prize on Saturday, Nov. 17 winning the National Championship. The Grizzly men demolished the field with a 68-point difference between them and the second place Colorado School of the Mines. They won the meet with an astonishing 34 points.
Sophomore Kevin Batt led the Grizzlies with a second place finish in 29:12.1 over the 10k course. He was followed quickly by fellow Sophomores Tabor Stevens and Matt Daniels. Stevens ran a time of 29:12.2 for third place and Daniels 29:16.2 for fourth place.
Daniels had a tremendous finishing kick down the final straight away flying by Lock Haven’s top runner. Senior David Sanchez was Adam’s fourth man finishing in twelfth place in a time of 29:46.6. Sophomore John Luterbauch rounded out the Grizzlies’ top five with a fifth place finish in a time of 29:57.0. Senior Andrew Roberts and Jovanny Godinez were the Grizzlies’ sixth and seventh men finishing in 30:09.6 and 30:10.1. All seven runners were All-Americans.
“The mindset going in was to re-establish a winning tradition at Adams State and get the national title back for the men. And I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do at the beginning of last summer which was to honor and glorify God in my performance and interactions, be an All-American and win a team national title. So I am glad to be able to finish out my cross-country career on a positive note and that I have left something for the coming runners to build and improve on,” said Senior Andrew Roberts.
Up until the final mile of the race, the thought of a 1-2-3 finish by three Grizzlies in the lead pack was the wish, but Micah Chelimo thought otherwise. Chelimo made a huge move with a mile to go, and eventually put a 15 second gap on the field. Chelimo is the first national champion to ever come out of the Alaska Anchorage program.
“The Race went just about perfect to plan. Everyone on the team put it together on the biggest and most important day of the Cross-Country season,” said Kevin Batt.
The Women of Adams were just 8 points away from winning the National Championship. They finished third with 109 points, Augustana (S.D.) finished second with 104 points, and Grand Valley State won with 101 points.
Alicia Nelson led the team with an individual national championship with a 6k time of 20:03.3. Kelly Lamb was the second runner on the team with a fourteenth place finish and time of 20:59.3. Lauren Martin finished 38th with a time of 21:17.8. Alyssa Selve finished 39th with a 21:12.2. Nelson, Lamb, Martin and Selve were the four All-Americans for the team. Jesse Brunette was the rounded out the top five runners’ from Adams with a 49th place finish and a time of 21:35.7. Tracee Van der Wyk finished in 71st place with a time of 21:53.6 and Tayler Warren finished in 112th in a 22:27.3.
Similar to the men’s race, Nelson sat behind the Anchorage, Alaska runner Susan Tanui until less than a mile to go before making her finishing surge. By the finish, Nelson had put 9 seconds on Tanui.
With the Men’s championship, Adams State set a record for the most DII National Cross Country Championships with nine. They broke the record that was previously tied with Adams and cross-state rival Western State.
It is known throughout the collegiate running world that Adams State is one of the premier running institutes in not only DII but in the entire country. Oklahoma State won the National Championship on Saturday for DI. One interesting stat is the comparison between the two team’s average times for their 10k races on Saturday. The Cowboy’s of Oklahoma State had an average time of 29:43, while the Grizzlies of Adams State had an average time of 29:29.
What’s Been Said…