JOPLIN, Mo.   The Western Colorado Men's and Women's Cross Country teams placed fifth and fourth, respectively, at the NCAA Championship Meet Saturday morning in Joplin, Mo. 

The Mountaineers had six student athletes earn All-American honors. On the men's side Simon Kelati, Tyler Nord and Kyle Partin all received All-American distinctions, while Allison Beasley, Leah Taylor and Peyton Weiss all received honors.  

 
JUST THE FACTS 
Event: NCAA Divison II Championship Meet 
Location: Joplin, Mo. 
Final scores, men's 10K: 1. Wingate – 70 points 2. Colorado School of Mines - 79 3. East Central – 108 points 
Final scores, women's 6K: 1. Grand Valley State - 59, 2. Adams State - 89 points 3. Colorado School of Mines – 121 points  
Top 3, men: 1. William Amponsah, West Texas A&M (29:04.3), 2. Simon Kelati, Western Colorado (29:13.2) 3. Matthew Storer, Colorado Christian (29:14.5) 

Top 3, women: 1. Lindsay Cunningham, Winona State (19:30.1), 2. Eleonora Curtabbi, West Texas A&M (19:45.2), 3. Natalie Graber, Grand Valley State (19:50.3) 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Simon Kelati led the Mountaineers with a second-place finish with a time of 29 minutes, 13.2 seconds, which was only nine seconds behind the first-place finisher. He had an average mile time of 4:42, while at the 3-kilometer mark he was less than a second behind race winner William Amponsah.  

• Tyler Nord placed 15th at the national meet with a time of 29:46.4, which was only 33 seconds behind Kelati. Kyle Partin was the Mountaineers third finisher and final All-American on the men's side, finishing the race with a time of 30:19.8. Branden Davis and John Houdeshell rounded out the Mountaineers five scoring runners in 68th and 74th place, respectively. The spread between Kelati and Houdeshell was one minute and 39 seconds. 

• On the women's side, Allison Beasley was the first Mountaineer to finish with a 10th-place time of 20:10.3 with an average mile time of five minutes and 24 seconds. The junior completed the first kilometer of the race in three minutes and 11 seconds. Beasley was also only a minute and 20 seconds behind the first-place finisher.  

• Leah Taylor placed 13th and was the second Mountaineer to finish, crossing the finish line with a time of 20:13.9, only three seconds behind Beasley. Peyton Weiss was the Mountaineers third runner to finish in the women's race finishing in 26th place. Gretchen Slattum placed 54th (20:57.7) while Lauren Willson finished 78th (21:23.1) in a competitive 6k race.