CANYON, Texas --- Another strong team and individual performance for Western Colorado cross country at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships on Saturday. The Mountaineer men placed second, as the Western Colorado women finished third.
 
With both team finishing in the top three, they each punch their ticket to the NCAA National Championships, to be held on Saturday, November 23rd in Sacramento, California.
 
The Western Colorado men had their top two runners finish second and third as Charlie Sweeney crossed the line just three seconds behind the leader in a time of 30:42.19. Following Sweeney was fellow teammate Taylor Stack, two seconds back in 30:44.17 to complete the 10k race.
 
Evan Sutherland and Gage Mayo grinded to finish within the top 20 as Sutherland finished 14th in 31:45.61, while Mayo placed 17th in 32:03.78.
 
Max Sawyer was Western Colorado's fifth scorer, finishing in 32:41.77, which earned him a 33rd place finish.
 
The Mountaineer men finished with 69 team points, one point ahead of Adams State, while Colorado Mines took home the title with 41 team points.
 
In the women's 6k race the Mountaineers had all five scoring runners finish in the top 21 places. Alexia Thiros was the first for Western Colorado to cross the line as she finished sixth overall in a blazing time of 21:39.88.
 
Bailey Sharon and Katie Doucette made it three Mountaineers to finish in the top 15. Sharon finished 13th in 22:09.71, while Doucette placed 14th in 22:09.95. Doucette was also the first freshman to cross the line.
 
As a true freshman, Alexa Rodriguez was the first true freshman across the line as she clocked a time of 22:13.72 to finish 16th overall.
 
Coming in as the fifth scoring runner for the Mountaineers, Alyssa Tatum finished 20th  in 22:32.27.
 
The Western Colorado women finished with 69 team points, while Adams State came away with the victory scoring 24 team points after placing their top five in the top nine.
 
The fifth ranked Mountaineer men and sixth ranked Western Colorado women will race for a national title on Saturday, November 23rd in Sacramento, California.