UCCS Scores Rare Win Over Western State

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs scored a first in four years by defeating Western State en route to a second-place finish in the non-Division I portion of the University of Colorado Rocky Mountain Shootout Saturday in Boulder.

The win over the No. 3-ranked Mountaineers should positively impact the No. 17 Mountain Lionsâ€^TM national ranking in next weekâ€^TMs polls.

The UCCS women's cross country team hadn't beaten Western State since 2002. The Mountain Lions haven't beaten No. 1-ranked Adams State, which won Saturday's event, in five years.

"The strength of our conference always shows up at this meet," said UCCS coach Graeme Badger. "Adams State beat Colorado if they hadn't been scored separately, and Colorado won the Division I national championship last year."

Sarah Shepard was UCCS' top runner, covering the 5.8-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 52 seconds, good for sixth among non-Division I runners. Shannon Payne, who has won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference runner of the week award three times this season, was next, one second behind Shepard. Megan Lund was 13th (22:35), Ashley Birger was 17th (23:02) and freshman Addie Devine was 22nd (24:08).

Birger's sprint at the finish to overtake Adams State's Laura Zeigle by two seconds was crucial. Had their finishes been reversed, UCCS would have ended up in a tie with Western State. As it was, UCCS narrowly edges the Mountaineers 63-64.

"There were a couple of places where we edged Western and there were a couple of places where they edged us," said Badger. "There was a lot of potential for the places to be changed."

Western State had not lost to a Division II school other than Adams State in more than a year.