Women's Cross Country Qualifies for Nationals

Shannon Payne, Tina Gray and Sarah Shepard were each among the top 21 finishers as the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs qualified for nationals with a fourth-place showing Saturday at the NCAA Division II North Central Regional Cross Country Meet at Vermillion, S.D.

The Mountain Lions will compete for a national championship on Nov. 20 at Evansville, Ind.

The victory completed an historic double for CU-Colorado Springs. The Mountain Lions men's team also qualified for nationals by taking third at regionals later Saturday, marking the first time in school history that both teams had qualified.

Payne covered the six kilometer course in22 minutes, 27 seconds to take 14th overall. Gray (22:56) took 20th and Shepard (23.01) was 21st. Also scoring for CU-Colorado Springs were Chelsea Cerrillo (23:54) and Kari Samuelson (24:26), who took 40th and 55th respectively.

Jessica Urban (25:12) and Megan Lund also ran for the Mountain Lions but did not count towards the team score. Lund did not finish the race after running in the top third of the pack for the first three kilometers. Details will be posted as they become available.

Adams State and Western State took first and second, respectively, continuing a streak of dominance that has extended for almost two decades. Host South Dakota took third with 144 point, just six points better than CU-Colorado Springs. North Dakota was fifth among the 24-school field.