GUNNISON, Colo.— Kirstin Williams took fourth in the women's race for the seconds straight year as five Colorado Mesa University cross country runners placed in the top ten of their respective races at the 16
th annual Mountaineer/Cowboy Invite, the Mavericks' season-opening meet on Saturday here, held here at the Gunnison Community School.
Williams finished the women's 5,000 meter race in 18 minutes, 35.98 seconds as she,
Kate Linstedt (8
th, 19:44.35) and
Autumn McQuitty (10
th, 19:46.89) led the CMU women.
Meanwhile,
Kevin DeGree led the Maverick men with a ninth place finish in the earlier 8K race, finishing in 26:59.66. Teammate
Triston Charles was right behind, taking tenth in 27:02.61 to claim his fourth straight top-10 finish in the meet. He was third last year, eighth in 2022 and tenth in 2021.
DeGree also had a tenth place finish last year.
The Mavericks and host Western Colorado University Mountaineers were the only teams in the small meet, that also included a handful of unattached runners.
The Mountaineer men, ranked eighth in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's NCAA Division II Preseason Poll, won the meet, 19-58 over the Mavericks.
Western's women, ranked third nationally, won that race, 17-50 over the Mavs, who had a partial squad of eight runners representing the team. Three other CMU athletes ran unattached, a group led by freshman
Shirley Weaver, who finished 13
th in 20:27.2
The Mountaineers had the first three runners across the line as Leah Taylor claimed the women's win in 18:18.3. Peyton Weiss was second in 18:25.7 while Lauren Wilson was third in 18:30.4.
Jordan Staniszewski (15
th, 20:34.0) and
Jayna Boonstra (19
th, 20:51.8) also contributed to the Mavs' team scores as the fourth and fifth finishers.
Western's Tyler Nord won the men's race in 26:20.7 while unattached Mountaineer Oliver Diaz was second in 26:34.4. The Mountaineers also had the next six finishers before DeGree led the Mavs for the first time in his career.
CMU redshirt sophomore
Jackson Baker placed 17
th in 27:34.7, was CMU's third finisher while running in his hometown.
Drexel Cox (19
th, 27:51.6) and South Dakota Mines transfer
Ryan O'Loughlin (20
th, 28:07.0) rounded out the top 20 and CMU's team score.
Ten other Maverick men also ran for the team on Saturday.
The Mavs will continue their season next Saturday, competing at MSU Denver's Roadrunners Invitational at Washington Park in Denver, which will later play host to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships in November.
