COLBY, Kan. – Led by a seventh-place individual finish from Abi Read, the MSU Denver women's cross country team placed third Saturday at the Trojan Invitational.
 
Read ran the 5-kilometer course in 18 minutes, 29.61 seconds and finished second among NCAA Division II competitors.
 
The Roadrunners finished with 67 points to place behind Division I Air Force and Fort Hays State (Kan.). Audrey Orstead was 13^th overall, Caitlin Cornell was 15^th, Tanis Chavez was 21^st and Audrynn Street 26^th.
 
"The ladies had some great performances today," said Amanda Rego, MSU Denver's associate head coach. "Although it was lower elevation, it ended up being a fairly challenging course with some long hills."
 
Read, Orstead (19:01.45) and Chavez (19:23.41) all ran personal bests, as did Heidi Yagen (31^st in 20:01.85).
 
"This being a tougher course made that even more impressive," Rego said. "Abi, Audrey and Caitlin really established themselves as some of the top runners in the field early on, and I feel like today was a big breakthrough for Abi and Audrey especially."


The men didn't field a full team, but Noel Lopez placed 15^th and JJ Ramey was 25^th, running 8K in 24:50.59 and 25:30.14, respectively.
 
"On the men's side, since we weren't running our full squad, Noel and JJ took a risk and ran a more aggressive race tactic," Rego said. "Although it wasn't a perfectly-executed race, they still managed to run PRs on an honest course.
 
"This season has been about finding their limits. They're on another level than they were a year ago and today we learned more about where their fitness is at going into conference."
 
Ty Schauer and Cory Shea also ran personal bests in placing 45^th and 66^th, respectively.
 
"To have this many of our athletes PR on an honest course tells me we're ready to peak at the right time as we head into the championship season soon," Rego said.