NEW ORLEANS, La. Western Colorado's Men's and Women's Cross-Country programs continue to stay in the top ten in the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association top-30 polls. This week the women have stayed at No. 4 and the men moved down one spot to No. 7.
The Mountaineers put up a strong performance at the NCAA South Central Regional Meet, where the women's team earned a third-place team finish and an automatic bid to nationals, while the men's team placed fourth and received an at-large bid to the national meet.
Beasley led the women with a time of 20:38.9, followed by Leah Taylor who finished in 14th place. The Mountaineers were efficient as the spread between Beasley and Lauren Willson who was fifth runner, to cross the finish line for Western Colorado was one minute and 38 seconds.
Tyler Nord finished in 12th leading the Mountaineers to their fourth-place finish with a time of 30:23.2. He was followed by Kyle Partin who placed 17th while Michael Grabowski and John Houdeshell also placed within the top-30. Albert Hesse rounded out the scoring for the Mountaineers with a time of 31:18.4, giving the men's squad a spread of 55 seconds.
The Mountaineers will now conclude their season in Joplin, Mo. as they compete at the NCAA DII Championship Meet.
