Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Mountain West Championships
Rams cross country fourth at MWC Championships
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 1, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Complete Release in PDF Format
Complete Release in PDF Format
Complete Release in PDF Format
By Josh Kruger
Athletic Media Relations
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Coming off of two great weeks of practice, cross country Head Coach Bryan Berryhill thought his teams were ready to challenge at the Mountain West Conference Championships. Unfortunately, while both the men’s and women’s teams ran better than they had in the previous two meets, it wasn’t enough as they both finished in fourth place in their respective races.
“We did run better today,” Berryhill said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get full team performances.”
The women’s team entered the race as defending conference champions. They left Mission Bay Park in fourth place, after scoring 121 points, well behind the 31 points posted by first-time conference champions New Mexico. BYU finished in second and Utah finished third. Wyoming (fifth), Air Force (sixth), UNLV (seventh), TCU (eighth), and San Diego State (ninth) rounded out the race.
“Some girls ran better today than they had in the last couple of weeks,” Berryhill said. “Unfortunately, the inconsistencies that come with a young team reared its ugly head. We now have two more weeks to salvage our season.”
One bright spot on the women’s side was redshirt freshman Ellie Rastall. She was named second team all-MWC by virtue of her 10th place finish in the women’s 6,000 meter race with a time of 21 minutes, 59 seconds. Sophomore Allison Gohl was the only other Ram to finish in the top 25.
“This was a very nice honor for Ellie,” Berryhill continued. “Being named all-conference in her first conference meet was awesome for her. I’m very happy for her. On the flip side, we definitely should have more representation on the all-conference teams. Last year we had four girls on either the first or second teams. We were more than capable of repeating that feat.”
On the men’s side, the team was led by junior Jeremy Freed who finished the 8,000 meter race in 15th place with a time of 25:07. Sophomore Daniel Wallis and junior Andrew Mauk also finished in the top 25, as the Rams scored 114 points. BYU won their ninth championship in 10 years with 36 team points. Air Force (62 points) finished just ahead of New Mexico (64) for second place. Wyoming and TCU finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
“A few of our guys ran better today,” Berryhill said. “We had two or three good days, one or two okay days and the rest didn’t get it done. That’s not acceptable.”
The teams now turn their focus to the Mountain Region championships taking place in Fort Collins on Nov. 15. This will be the last opportunity for the teams to show that they are better than they have shown so far this year.
“We have two more weeks,” Berryhill said. “We took a minor step in the right direction today compared to our last two races. We’re hosting the regional meet in two weeks. I can’t think of a better reason to start getting things done. We’ll head back to practice and make sure that we’re ready. Overall, I haven’t been too happy this season. But our teams are young and the future is very bright. We’re all learning a lot. Right now it is definitely frustrating, hard and disappointing. But the future is definitely bright.”
Women’s times (overall finish): Ellie Rastall 21:59 (10), Allison Gohl 22:38 (24), Marissa Saunders 22:52 (28), Nicole Peters 22:58 (30), Kirsten Anthony 22:59 (32), Lauren Kleppin 23:04 (35), Michelle Dettmann 23:05 (36), Crystal Pitney 23:36 (46), Kendra Gerk 23:50 (49)
Men’s times (overall finish): Jeremy Freed 25:07 (15), Dan Wallis 25:24 (21), Andrew Mauk 25:50 (25), Ryan Friese 25:57 (29), Jake Keyser 26:06 (31), Kip Taylor 26:48 (39), Jeff Holt 26:50 (40), Shea Phelan 27:48 (43), Wil Buchanan 28:25 (46)
