Rams Head to Las Vegas for Mountain West Cross Country Championships

Calendar

Show:/

Oct 3

TBA

Cross Country

at Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite

Oct 10

Men 9:00 a.m. / Women 9:45 a.m.

Cross Country

at UCCS XC Open

Oct 18

TBA

Cross Country

at Pre-National Invite

Oct 31

TBA

Cross Country

at Mountain West Championships

Nov 14

TBA

Cross Country

vs NCAA Mountain Region Championships

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Two weeks after competing at the Craig Ranch Regional Park, Colorado State will return to the same spot Friday for the 2021 Mountain West Cross Country Championships with the hope that it isn't their final race of the season.

Both the Ram men and women's teams aim for a strong finish to be in the conversation of earning a bid to the NCAA Championships, held in Stillwater, Okla. on March 15^th. The MW Championship races will start at 10 a.m. MT for the women's 6,000-meter followed by the men's 8K at 11:00 MT.

Last time out, the Rams competed against championship-level talent at the Battle Born Collegiate XC race that featured 14 total teams either nationally ranked or receiving votes. The women finished seventh behind all six of the national-ranked teams, resulting in a three-spot improvement in USTFCCCA's Mountain Region rankings to fifth. The men took a two-spot tumble to No. 8 after finishing seventh.

Leading the women, Lily Tomasula-Martin finished ninth overall, representing the fourth Mountain West runner behind New Mexico's Adva Cohen and Boise State's pair of Tyler Beling and Olivia Johnson, while another Lobo placed 10th. That matchup is the battle within the battle as it closely mirrors the teams with New Mexico, ranked third nationally in USTFCCCA, and No. 11 Boise State, while the Rams are in the receiving votes category along with Air Force.

At the same meet, the men's pack time – the time from the No. 1 and No. 5 scorer – was just around 30 seconds, which is what they will need to duplicate and improve on to compete against conference favorites 19^th-ranked Utah State and No. 23 Air Force. The Rams dropped out of the rankings this week, but still received votes along with Boise State.

Last season, the CSU men rebounded from a lackluster second-to-last meet to take second overall in the conference meet. From that crew, the Rams will have just two racing Friday in Jacob Brueckman and Brock Dykema.

On the other hand, the women return six runners including the top five from last year's fourth-place team. Within that group is Tomasula-Martin who earned All-MW honors for a sixth-place finish.

Roster
Women: Claudia Burgess, Sarah Carter, Emily Chaston, Ivy Gonzales, Ashlyn Hillyard, Lauren Neugeboren, Sarah Offerman, Sydney Petersen, Devon Peterson, Lily Tomasula-Martin
Men: Calvin Banta, Mason Brown, Noah Bodewes, Jacob Brueckman, Thomas Chaston, Brock Dykema, Dawson LaRance, Tanner Norman, Preston Norris, Tom Oates

Coaches' Perspective
Art Siemers, head cross country coach
On the men…
"We had an impressive race to start the season in the Wyoming meet, but did not replicate the same results in our last race, which can go either way for this weekend. It either woke our team up to be more focused and expect cross country to hurt early, which is what it does, or we do not adjust. Last year, we were in a similar position and we responded well by finishing second. That is probably what it is going to take to advance to nationals based on how Utah State and Air Force are nationally ranked. I think we are ready, but we got to do it. The training has been great as a unit."

On the women…
"We are looking for a strong third-place finish, which is impressive when you are going up against two top-10 ranked teams in the country while being under valued and not ranked. We have such great leadership with Lily [Tomasula-Martin]. It is the hardest working group I have ever worked with. They are day-in and day-out committed to excellence and that is what has gotten them to where they are this year, improving in the region. They are dialed in and not afraid of these top-10 teams. It'll be fun to see what they can do."

For More on Colorado State Track & Field and Cross Country follow: Twitter – CSUTrackFieldXC | Instagram – csutrackfieldXC | Facebook – Colorado State Track & Field/Cross Country

- CSURams.com -

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results