Lions take second at Boulder Shootout

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs menâ€^TMs cross country team earned a second-place finish in the Non-Division I bracket at the Rocky Mountain Shootout Saturday in Boulder, Colo.

The meet, hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder, featured three Division I teams and nine from non-Division I schools.

The Mountain Lions finished second to perennial powerhouse Western State. Among the teams CU-Colorado Springs defeated were the Colorado School of Mines and Fort Lewis, which was important because those are two of the tougher teams the Mountain Lions must beat at the regional meet in order to earn a berth at nationals.

Interestingly, CU-Colorado Springs would also have finished ahead of Division I Wyoming and an Air Force freshman team had the divisions not been split.

Levi Brathall finished fifth among non-Division I runners (12th overall) to lead CU-Colorado Springs, which is currently ranked 15th nationally. Moses Tum came in ninth in the division, while Aaron Rubalcaba-Lopez was 11th, Jay Luna was 18th and Jason Braun was 26th. Phil Harrison (30th) and Brian Zakavec (34th) also competed, but only the top five finishers count towards the team score.