UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. The Western Colorado cross country teams finished near the top of the leaderboards Saturday at the NCAA Division II Pre-Nationals Meet, with the Mountaineer women placing second and the men placing third.
Katie Doucette and
Simon Kelati led their respective teams as Doucette finished second overall with a time of 20 minutes, 55.10 seconds in the women's 6-kilometer race, and Kelati finishing sixth in the men's 8K in a time of 23:55.50.
JUST THE FACTS
Event: NCAA D-II Pre-Nationals
Location: Chambers Creek Regional Park, University Place, Wash.
Top 3 teams, women's 6K: 1st – Colorado School of Mines (37 points), 2nd – Western Colorado (88), 3rd – Biola (151)
Top 3 teams, men's 8K: 1st – Colorado School of Mines (19), 2nd – Chico State (83), 3rd – Western Colorado (91)
HOW THEY FINISHED
- Doucette finished 11 seconds back of the race winner, Naomi Bailey (20:46.10) from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and edged out third-place Zoe Baker (Mines) by 9/10ths of a second.
- Also cracking the top 10 for Western was Allison Beasley (21:16.60) in ninth place. Not far behind Beasley was Leah Taylor in 13th place in a time of 21:28.30.
- Western's final two scoring runners were Gretchen Slattum (21:50.40) in 23rd and Emma Kjellsen (22:19.70) in 45th place.
- Kelati was 36 seconds behind race winner Dillon Powell of Mines (23:19.80) in the men's 8K.
- Cracking the top 20 for Western were Michael Grabowski (24:15.40) in 13th place and Jacob Hernandez (24:17.50) in 15th.
- Albert Hesse and Juan Diaz crossed the finish in nearly identical times. Hesse (30th) edged Diaz (31st) by 3/10ths of a second, 24:44.30 to 24:44.60.
NEXT UP
Western will host its annual W Mountain Race on Oct. 29. The postseason follows, starting with the Nov. 5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships in Durango, Colo.
