UCCS women take second, men third at Metro State Invitational

DENVER - On the same course as the all-important regional race will be held next month, both University of Colorado Colorado Springs cross country teams ran their best team races for the 2011 season on Saturday morning. The men's team placed third out of five with a score of 50, while the women's team placed second out of six with a score of 59 at the Metro State Invitational.

"On the whole they did well," said UCCS coach Mark Misch. "The races served their purpose. We showed we can compete."

There was lots of rain and even some slushy snow at Washington Park, but in cross country you ran in everything except lightening.  Also in cross country, the team score is the total of the placing finish of the top five runners for each team. This fact could be very valuable for the Mountain Lion men next month. Metro State won the Metro State Invitational with a score of 33 and New Mexico Highlands was second with a score of 38. However, UCCS had six runners finish in front of the fifth runner from Metro State. Plus, the UCCS's first five runners finished within 59 seconds of each other where the spread for the top five runners for the Highlands men was one minute and 30 seconds. Those are important factors that move teams up in the team standings when there is a bigger race field like what the regional field will be on Nov. 5. The field at the regional will be in the area of 5-6 times larger than the Metro State Invitational.

The top men's finisher in the 8,000-meter race for UCCS Saturday was Ryan Derrick at fifth overall with a time of 26:08 followed by Mike English at seventh overall with a time of 26:36. The other three team scorers for the Mountain Lion men were Oliver Williams at 11th overall in a time of 26:58, Sam Feldotto at 13th overall with a time of 27:06 and Ted Schultz at 14th overall and a time of 27:07. The other two UCCS men, who could come in big at later races by displacing the fifth runner from other teams, were Michael Johnson at 15th overall with a time of 27:08 and Matt Winfrey at 18th overall with a time of 27:26.

The UCCS women easily had their best team race for this season at the Metro State Invitational. The top lady Mountain Lion in the 6,000-meter race was freshman Samantha Bauer at eighth overall in a time of 24:54 and one place after was Veronica Sandoval in a time of 25:07. The next three Mountain Lions came in together with Alexa Urban at 13th overall in a time of 25:45, Sarah Tresse in 14th overall in a time of 25:49 and Amber McAfee in 15th overall in a time of 25:52. The other UCCS women finishers were Sara Kettelkamp at 17th overall in a time of 26:08 and Kim Fitzgerald at 31ts overall and a time of 27:41.

The next races for UCCS cross-country make up the championship stretch of the 2011 season. Oct. 22 will be the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship at Willis Golf Course in Denver. Then on Nov. 5, UCCS will be back at Washington Park in Denver for the regional cross country meet. The regional is where a team qualifies for the 2011 National Championship on November 18 in Spokane, Wash.