UCCS Women Take Third at Woody Greeno Meet

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is hoping for an instant replay.

Buoyed by a second-place individual finish by sophomore Shannon Payne, the Mountain Lions took third place at the Woody Greeno Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, defeating six NCAA Division I programs in the process.

As impressive as that finish was, it was one of the two teams that beat UCCS that will be on the Mountain Lions' minds for the next month or so. That's because UCCS will see Colorado School of Mines, which finished second Saturday, again on Oct. 22 at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship where the two teams will wrestle for conference, and regional, positioning.

For UCCS, a little deja  vu would be a good thing. A year ago, the Orediggers took third at the Woody Greeno Invitational while the Mountain Lions finished fifth. It was UCCS, however, that beat Mines at the RMAC championships and finished the season ranked higher.

To repeat that performance, UCCS will be looking for two things: 1) Continued excellence from Payne and Sarah Shepard, who took ninth individually, and 2) The rest of the team to maintain their rate of improvement (Ashley Birger, Megan Lund and Lisa Short took 29th, 44th and 74th respectively).

That's typical of a Graeme Badger coached team, though. Training for UCCS cross country teams are designed to have Mountain Lion athletes achieving their peak performance when it matters most. That means the RMAC championship, the regionals and nationals.

Mines' second-place finish was a result of a strong team effort. Orediggers runners placed 10th, 13th, 23rd, 26th, and 27th.

Also running for UCCS but not factoring in the team score were freshmen Kristen Andersen and Leslie Bennett.

Division I Nebraska took first place.