Women's team has solid performance at RMAC Championships

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) held its indoor conference track meet last weekend at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. With a limited track and field program, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Mountain Lions look towards individual performances for distinction rather than overall team scores.

"We simply have no competitors in many of the track and field events," explained women's captain, Kelly Smith. "We have three very capable sprinters, but no one to compete in the long jump, triple jump or discus among other events."

Tiffany Flint ran her best time of the year by over a second in the 400-meters with a time of 1 minute 2.14 seconds.

In the longer distances, the Mountain Lion women also had strong finishes to their indoor season. Racing Friday, Sarah Shepard ran an 18:51 in the 5,000 meters, while Tina Gray came in at 18:39.

Gray had a provisional national qualifying time in Iowa two weeks earlier with a time of 17 minutes, 48 seconds in the 5,000.

"I was running alone most of the race so it was hard to judge. Worse though, I got worked over by girls I've consistently beaten before," Gray said of her conference race. "It was actually my best time except for Iowa, which was at sea level. I was surprised how fast I ran because it didn't feel good."

On Saturday, Ashley Birger, Christi-Marie Butler, Chelsey Cerrillo, Shena Henderson and Karri Samuelson ran the 3000-meter race. Leading the pack with a personal record of 10:58 was Birger followed by Samuelson at 11:22, Cerrillo at 11:45, Butler with an 11:46 and Henderson at 12:14.

"I said I wanted to break eleven," Birger said. "But I was kind of joking since my best time up to today was 11:24. Maybe I should joke like that more often."

"Ashley looked great," Samuelson said of her teammate. "I tried to hold on to her, but at the mile mark she just took off. My time was alright, but I was tired and thought I could have done better."

Along with Gray and Birger, Butler and Henderson also ran their personal best times to date by one minute and one second respectively.

"I think I'll knock another 15 seconds off that time," Henderson said of her race.

"We looked good," said head Coach Graeme Badger. "We fell a little flat on Friday, but Saturday had stronger performances. This is a good position to be in going into the outdoor track season."