THE RUNDOWN
The DBU Women's Cross Country team trekked up to Denver, Colorado, over the weekend, finishing thirdrd at the Roadrunner Invitational. Their score of 79 was 14 points shy of CSU Pueblo in second and far from catching Colorado School of Mines, who almost swept the meet with 17 points.
Senior Madison Brown prevented the School of Mines sweep, finishing 4th overall with a time of 21:47.4, setting a new school record for the course. Marissa Insinna placed 9th running a 22:19.8, a time that also broke the previous record. KayCee Keller and Rylee Cristan finished close to each other in 17th and 20th with times of 23:03.9 and 23:12.3. Megan Smith rounded out the scoring with a 23:39.4, good enough for 34th.
Though third place is great at face value, it is far from determining the regional finishes in nine weeks. Colorado School of Mines was by far the most dominant school in attendance, but they are not even ranked to finish first in their own conference, let alone the region, sitting behind Adams State. Schools like Colorado Christian and UCCS did not finish as well as DBU did, but it was clear they were not racing their best athletes. Furthermore, Western Colorado and West Texas A&M were not present, both of which will be difficult to beat down the stretch. On top of that, CSU Pueblo, who was ranked behind DBU to start the season, proved the recent regional ranking adjustment correct by edging out a second-place finish over the Patriots.
Not only did DBU gather important experience on the regional course, but they learned how important these next 9 weeks will be to prepare for the regional race. Brown showed she can run with some of the fastest girls in the nation while Insinna revealed the ability to finish as an All-American when all is said and done. This race functioned exactly as a mirror would, revealing that though this squad has a lot of work to do between now and November 19th, it has the foundation to be a national-caliber squad when it matters most.
JACOB PHILLIPS ON THE TEAM'S PERFORMANCE IN COLORADO
"This weekend was a great opportunity for both of our squads to check out the regional course and to see some great competition. We've got nine weeks until we are back here
in Denver racing for a spot to nationals. There's a lot of work to be done, but I like the two teams we have and can't wait to put in the work with them over these next few weeks."
UP NEXT
On September 30, DBU will travel to Fayeteville, Arkansas, to race in the Chile Pepper Festival. The race will be on Friday evening, slated to start at 5:00 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
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