PITTSBURG, Kan. Simon Kelati secured a national title for Western Colorado in the 3,000-meter run with a personal-best time of seven minutes, 57.62 seconds. In the team standings, the Mountaineers finished 10th in the men's standings with 18 points while the women's team tied for 20th place with 8 points.  

Kelati was in eighth place through the first 300m of the race but kept a pace of 49 seconds throughout the next 300m to move up two places at 600m. The junior then worked his way into the top-three by making a move on the outside then by 2,100m he was in second place with a spread of 49 seconds.  

From the 2,400m mark on, Kelati stayed in first place but it was not a run away race as Adams State's Miguel Coca, Colorado School of Mines' Loic Scomparin and Wingate's Hamza Chahid on his tail but Kelati was able to walk away with the national title. Kelati was just .24 seconds in front of Coca, who finished second in the race. Tyler Nord also finished within the top-10 for the Mountaineers in seventh place with a time of 8:04.35 in the 3k.  

Leah Taylor kicked off day two for the Mountaineers placing sixth in the women's mile with a time of four minutes, 45.09 seconds. Taylor's time in the finals was two second faster than her time in Friday's preliminaries (4:47.63) and is a personal best. Taylor then competed in the 3,000 meter where she finished with a time of 10:05.33.  

The Mountaineers will now prepare for their outdoor season which begins in two weeks in Pueblo, Colo., at the Spank Blasing Invite hosted by CSU Pueblo on March 22nd and 23rd.