Three Lions Earn Provisional Times

When all three of your runners beat your conference's previous best time, it qualifies as a successful race. That being the case, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs women's 5,000-meter runners had a very successful race Friday at the Iowa State University Invitational at Ames, Iowa.

Shannon Payne (17 minutes, 32.95 seconds), Tina Gray (17:43.33) and Sarah Shepard (17:48.34) all beat the best time posted by any Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to date. The previous best was 17:54.70, run by Western State's Kim Jacques.

Payne, Gray and Shepard - along with all three CU-Colorado Springs men's competitors - ran personal best times.

"All six having personal lifetime bests, whether indoors or outdoors, is really special," said CU-Colorado Springs coach Graeme Badger. "That just doesn't happen."

The Division I-dominated meet featured many of the top collegiate runners in the nation. Payne wom her heat and finished 19th overall and second among non-Division I runners. She topped 37 Division I runners in the race. Gray was 26th overall and Shepard was 29th.

"We were dwarfs among the giants," said Badger, referring to the field that included most of the top Division I teams in the nation. "Our kids are no longer intimidated when they line up against big-time programs and compete."

Payne, Gray and Shepard all earned provisional qualifying times for the NCAA Indoor Track Championships which will be held March 11-12 at Boston, Mass.