LUBBOCK, Texas – MSU Denver's men's and women's cross country teams competed in the most difficult region in the nation on Saturday.
Yonatan Kefle led the way for the Roadrunners' men with a solid 42
nd-place finish in the men's race, running 10,000 meters in 31 minutes, 40.66 seconds, leading MSU Denver to ninth among 26 men's teams.
The MSU women, ranked 19
th in NCAA Division II, slipped to ninth in the regional race that included five teams ranked in the national top 13 (No. 1 Adams State, No. 4 Colorado School of Mines, No. 6 UCCS, No. 10 CSU-Pueblo and No. 13 Western Colorado) and 10 in the top 26 (Dallas Baptist is No. 21, West Texas A&M No. 25 and Colorado Christian No. 26).
Alliyah Molina led MSU Denver in the 6K race with a 34
th-place finish in 21 minutes, 47.90 seconds, while
Anna Swanson was 40
th in 21:54.80 and
Erin Norton was 42
nd in 21:56.60.
Vanessa Kort was 55
th and
Abi Read 59
th.
MSU Denver had 218 points, putting it six points behind CSU-Pueblo (the 10
th-ranked team in the country finished eighth in the region) and 16 points behind seventh-place West Texas A&M.
Due to the results, it will be difficult for MSU Denver to qualify for one of the 34 team positions to the National Championships – only the top three teams in each of eight regions qualify automatically, and there are only 10 other spots available.
Earning one of the handful of individual invitations also seems unlikely.
In the men's race, also stacked with nationally-ranked teams (three of the top eight and six of the top 27), MSU Denver finished ninth with 337 points. The Roadrunners were ranked 10
th in the region prior to the competition.
Behind Kefle,
Noel Lopez was 52nd in 31:59.3,
Justin McDaniel was 73rd,
JJ Ramey 79th and
Oticio Herrera was 95th.
