Hamer, Hume lead No. 14 Rams men to fourth-place finish at NCAA Mountain Regional

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PROVO, Utah – The 14th-ranked Colorado State men's cross country team cemented its case for a ticket to the NCAA Cross Country Championships with a fourth-place team finish at the loaded NCAA Mountain Regional on Friday from the East Bay Golf Course.

The No. 14 CSU men tallied 114 points to upend Southern Utah (fifth – 146 points), No. 18 Wyoming (sixth- 149 points) and No. 13 Air Force (seventh – 167 points) in the men's 10k despite having All-American Cole Rockhold unavailable for the race. After leading the Rams at the Mountain West Championships, seniors Eric Hamer and Carson Hume once again paced the Rams, finishing fifth and 13th, respectively, to earn All-Region honors. Hamer crossed the line in 29:24.1, while Hume stopped the clock in 29:32.3. Between its performances during the regular season and its finish in regional action on Friday, Colorado State is anticipated to receive an at-large bid when the NCAA Championships field is announced on Saturday.

Next across the line for the Rams' men after Hume was senior Trent Powell, who clocked a time of 30:04.1 for a 30th-place finish. Freshman Maximilliano Martinez placed 32nd with a time of 20:08.0, while junior Forrest Barton completed the race as the Rams' No. 5 scorer with a 34th-place finish and a time of 30:11.4. The Rams placed behind only No. 1 Northern Arizona (42 points), No. 2 BYU (56 points) and No. 8 Colorado (71 points) on Friday.

On the women's side, Colorado State (280 points) finished ninth of 20 teams in regional action. Senior Bailey Ness was once again the top individual finisher for the Rams, placing 27th of 136 runners with a 6k time of 20:52.3. Lily Tomasula-Martin was second across the line for the Rams, clocking a time of 21:03.6 for a 38th-place finish. Seniors Ali Kallner (59th – 21:24.5) and Roxy Trotter (66th – 21:30.6) were across the line, followed by freshman Ivy Gonzales (90th - 21:57.0).

Junior Macy Kreutz (22:00.5) placed 94th, while junior Jenna Anderson took 106th to round out the Rams' top seven in the women's 6k. On the men's side, the Rams' No. 6 and 7 were junior Satchel Caldwell (47th – 30:36.3) and sophomore Jacob Brueckman (51st - 30:43.8), respectively.

STAT OF THE MEET
According to NCAA records dating back to 1997, only two Rams have finished as high as Eric Hamer in an NCAA regional meet. Jefferson Abbey also placed in the top five at the NCAA Mountain Regional in 2015, while Bryan Berryhill placed second in 2000.

IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State cross country head coach Art Siemers
On the team performance:
"We always talk about how a good team is better than one or two star runners. Our mentality is always going to be that when someone goes down, there's always someone that's going to step up. We've proved it before in big meets and we carried that same mentality all week when we found out Cole (Rockhold) couldn't run. Those were big-time races from Trent (Powell), Forrest (Barton) and Max (Martinez) today, and that's what we had to have. It could have gone poorly today if those guys didn't step up and believe in how fit they are. It was a great performance across the board, one through seven today. It's a testament to the character of the team."

On Eric Hamer and Carson Hume:
"Eric and Carson knew that we had to press a little bit today, just because we knew they'd have to have All-Region-type finishes since we had two low sticks today instead of our usual three (Cole Rockhold). They led almost the entire race until the 'big dogs' decided to put the pressure on. I was just really happy with how they responded when the peloton caught them, because a lot of times you get spit out the back and the race finishes poorly. They didn't panic. They relaxed in the middle of the pack and fought all the way."

NOTES

Eric Hamer and Carson Hume each earn their first All-Region honors in their respective careers. Hamer improved from a 39th-place finish in 2017, while Hume improved upon a 56th-place finish.
Lily Tomasula-Martin's 38th-place finish was second-best among all freshmen competing in the women's 6k on Friday.
Only five freshmen on the men's side placed ahead of Maximilliano Martinez (32nd place) on Friday.
No team that finished ahead of Colorado State on the women's side had multiple scorers that were freshmen, while only four had one among their top five. CSU had two freshman scorers on Friday.

UP NEXT
The Colorado State cross country team will await NCAA selection results, which are to be revealed through a selection show live on Saturday on NCAA.com. The NCAA Cross Country Championships are contested from the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 17.

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