DENVER, Colo. – Another strong individual and team performance for Western Colorado University Cross Country highlighted the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships on Saturday. The Mountaineer men placed third, while the Western women finished second, one point from a team title.
 
The Western women had all five scoring runners finish in the top 15 of the 6k race. Alicja Konieczek earned her first regional title, blowing away the competition in 21:25.37. Sophie Seward was the next runner to cross the finish line, placing second with a time of 21:28.72.
 
The next closest competitor to Western's top two was Adams State University's Eilish Flannigan at 21:36.63. Her third place finish was eight seconds behind Seward's second-place finish.
 
Aneta Konieczek and Kennedy Rufener made it four Mountaineers to finish in the top 10. Aneta finished sixth in 21:53.99, while Rufener placed eighth in 21:58.55.
 
Cassidy Ahrens was Western's fifth scorer, finishing in 22:18.52, which was good enough for 14^th place.
 
The Mountaineer women finished with 31 team points in the race. The only team to score fewer points was Adams State with 30 points.
 
In the men's 10k race, Taylor Stack was the first Mountaineer to cross the finish line. Stack placed seventh with a time of 31:03.9. Charlie Sweeney finished 11^th in a time of 31:21.3, while Ross Husch placed 15^th in 31:37.9. Kyle Lewis crossed the line in 32:05 to place 24^th and Albert Hesse finished 27^th in 32:11.9.
 
The Western men finished with 84 team points, while Colorado School of Mines took home the title with 49 team points.
 
The 2^nd-ranked Western women and 5^th-ranked Mountaineer men will race for a national title on Dec. 1 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.