COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Heidi Yagen finished in 30^th place in the women's race to lead MSU Denver cross country competitors Friday at the UCCS Open.
 
Yagen ran 5,000 meters in 19 minutes, 11.9 seconds, which was an improvement by more than two minutes from her time on the same course Sept. 2.
 
"Heidi had a great day," said Amanda Rego, MSU Denver's associate head coach. "She got out hard and competed well and walked away with a new 5K PR, and a massive improvement from the start of this season. Aubrie Nicholas also ran a huge PR. It was great to see all their hard work pay off."
 
Nicholas was 45^th in 20:06.1, while Lexi McAfee placed 54^th in 21:06.5, Payton Rusk was 56^th in 21:35.0,
 
For the men, Cory Shea was 67^th in 27:32.6, while Kai Batie was 88^th in 28:59.1.
 
MSU Denver will send its top runners into competition again Saturday at the Chargers Invitational hosted by Alabama-Huntsville.