COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The MSU Denver women had five runners place between 20
th and 36
th on Saturday, leading to a third-place finish in the six-team UCCS Rust Buster cross country race.
Meanwhile, a 15
th-place individual finish by
Noel Lopez led the Roadrunners' men's team as they finished fifth overall and fourth among collegiate teams.
"Overall it was a good start for both our men and women," MSU Denver associate head coach
Amanda Rego said. "We are a young team on both sides, so today was a great opportunity for our newcomers to gain experience."
For the women,
Abi Read was 20th in the 5-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 52.90 seconds,
Caitlin Cornell placed 22
nd in 19:00.53,
Audrey Orstead was 24
th in 19:08.72,
Audrynn Street finished 27
th in 19:14.17, and
Caitlin Hunt was 36
th in 19:36.44.
MSU Denver had 86 points, while host UCCS was first with 17 and CSU-Pueblo placed second with 42.
"Abi and
Caitlin Cornell ran strong up front, with Audrey and Audrynn close behind, which makes me excited that we can have a strong pack this year," Rego said. "Our freshmen all got great experience, and that's only going to help us."
Lopez ran 8 kilometers in 26:17.60. Ten spots back,
Nick Nowlen was 25
th in 26:55.28.
"Noel and Nick were solid leaders for the team today and I know they still have more to come," Rego said.
Shota Yabuuchi finished 29
th in his collegiate debut in 29:13.79.
"I was really impressed with how well Shota ran," Rego said. "As a true freshman, that was a really great start to the season."
Corey Shea was 50
th and
Elijah Garcia 69
th for the Roadrunners, who had 76 points. UCCS was first with 37 and CSU-Pueblo second with 40.
"From our returners, we saw some huge improvements from what we ran at this meet last year," Rego said. "Nick dropped minutes off his time, and Abi dropped almost a minute, so there were some huge positive takeaways.
"That being said, we still have work to do and they're hungry to get after it in training for the next two weeks before our home meet."
The annual Roadrunners Invitational is Sept. 17 at Washington Park.
