Grizzlies Women’s Cross Country Team Finishes Third at NCAAs

Lauren Martin
The Paw Print

The Adams State Women’s Cross Country team place third in the team competition at the NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championships held in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, December 4, 2010.
The women’s effort was lead by senior Kristen McGlynn from Bailey, Colorado. McGlynn has consistently been the lead runner for this year’s Grizzly women and finished the 6,000 meter course in 21:17 to take sixth place and earn All-American honors.
Head coach Damon Martin said of McGlynn, “Kristen is a great runner, she has worked hard during her time at Adams and given her best efforts. I am happy to see her finish in sixth this year.”
Next up for the ASC women was sophomore Alicia Nelson of Craig, Colorado. Nelson finished the race in 19 place followed closely by senior Cassie Mitchell from Tustin, California in 20. They completed the course in 21:50, with the official results giving a slight edge to Nelson.  Both received All-American honors for their efforts.
Finishing the meet as Adams fourth runner was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, Kelly Lamb.
Lamb heralds from Creede, Colorado and picked up her first All American honor finishing 39th place in a time of 22:18. Martin commented on Lamb’s season, “It is really hard to be an All-American as a true freshman; Kelly did a great job this year.”
Ashley Quintana, a senior from Pecos, New Mexico completed her college cross country career with a 47th place finish. She completed the race in 22:31. “Ashley is a wonderful competitor,” said Martin, “she has worked so hard and had to face a foot injury as the season progressed. I know that Ashley is a tough competitor, I will miss not having her on teams in the future”.
Completing the top seven for the Grizzly women was Addison LeMaster from Tulia, Texas and Sarah Lange from Battleboro, Vermont. LeMaster finished 58 in a time of 22:46 and Lange was 64 in a time of 22:50.
The ASC women finished behind Grand Valley State who won the meet with 66 points, finishing in second place was Western State College with 95 points. The lady Grizzlies completed the meet with 98 points.
The Grizzly team was coming off a National Championship title run of seven straight national titles; the team has won 15 total titles since joining the NCAA Division II in 1992. This year marks the first time a non-RMAC school has won the event since the Adams and Western joined the Division II.
Martin complimented the women’s team, “our team fought hard today, we didn’t finish with a title which was clearly our goal, but that does not diminish the effort these young women gave today.
I am proud of them and how hard they have worked. Injuries have plagued a few of the girls all season, but they have battled through and brought home a trophy for our college and community. Our future looks very bright; we have three returners and an enthusiastic pack of young freshman that will be back and hungry to compete.”