COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Competing in their first meet of the 2021 season, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's cross country team won the 14th annual UCCS Rust Buster meet, held Saturday morning at Monument Valley Park.  Afewerki Zeru won the individual title, besting all 93 finishers with a time of 24:19.7, nearly a full minute ahead of second place Willie Moore.
 
INSIDE THE 14^th ANNUAL UCCS RUST BUSTER

• Location: Monument Valley Park | Colorado Springs, Colo.
• Course Length: 8K

AROUND THE COURSE

• Six Mountain Lions finished in the top 10 among all racers, and seven finished in the top 10 among collegiate racers. 
• Finishing third overall and second for the Mountain Lions was Evan Graff in 25:27.3.  Branden Bohling and Matthew Schramm helped the Mountain Lions go 1-2-3-4 to cross the finish line among collegiate runners. 
• Bohling set a PR time of 25:38.7 as Schramm notched a time of 25:39.6.  Mark Simmons (25:46.1) and Gavin Harden's career best time of 25:52.5 were the eighth and 10th fastest times of the race, respectively.  Earning a scoring spot and finishing 12th overall in a PR time of 26:13.2 was Will Young.
• Tony Torres of Colorado Mesa University finished seventh overall and was the first runner to cross the finish line not from UCCS or the UCCS Alumni team.

TEAM SCORES
1          UCCS - 23
2          Colorado Mesa - 69
3          CSU-Pueblo - 83
4          UCCS Alumni - 92
5          MSU Denver - 142
6          Colorado College - 151
7          Southwestern (Texas) - 199
8          Regis - 249
 
RACE LEADERS

• Zeru's time of 24:19.7 was one second shy of the course record, set by Dylan Ko (24:18.4) from Colorado School of Mines at the 2020 RMAC Cross Country Championship Meet.
• Forty-six points separated the Mountain Lions (23 points) from second place Colorado Mesa (69 points).

 
BEYOND THE FINISH LINE

• The UCCS Alumni posted a team score, finishing fourth out of eight teams this morning.
• The Mountain Lions are ranked No. 25 in the USTFCCCA Division II national poll, and No. 7 in the South Central Region.
• Four Mountain Lions recorded PR times in an 8K race.  Joining Bohling, Harden and Young is Justin Banta, who competed in his first collegiate race with a time of 27:20.0 to finish 29th overall.

UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will return to competition Sept. 17 and 18.  A group of runners will head North to the MSU Denver 8K Invitational on Friday at Washington Park, while another group will travel to Kenosha, Wis. for the UWP Lucian Rosa 8K Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin Parkside at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course.

SOCIAL
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.