LAWRENCE, Kan.— Sophomore Clayton Wilson and senior Jordan Staniszewski both turned in sixth place individual finishes to lead the Colorado Mesa University cross country teams to solid team finishes at the NCAA Division II Pre-Nationals Meet on Sunday morning here at Rim Rock Farm.
 
The nation's 15^th-ranked Maverick women took sixth as a team in the field of 18 teams, including eight nationally-ranked squads after the Maverick men finished eighth in a field of 15 squads and ahead of one nationally-ranked squad in No. 27 Missouri Southern State.
 
Women's Recap
 
Battling against five teams ranked inside the top ten of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's National Coaches Poll, the Maverick women scored 174 team points while racking up head-to-head wins over 11 out of region teams that could prove important for selection to the NCAA Championships, which will be held here on the same 6K course on Dec. 4.  They were three points ahead of No. 23 Nebraska-Kearney and No. 28 Cal Poly Pomona, both scored 177 points, and were just nine points behind tenth-ranked Pittsburg State as all five of the top ten teams finished in the top five of Sunday's team standings.
 
Staniszewski ran to a career-best time of 21 minutes, 9.9 seconds as one of five Mavericks, who posted their fastest ever 6K time.
 
Freshman Addie Hollmann was the team's No. 2 runner and finished 33^rd in 22:13.5 while senior Autumn McQuitty was ten seconds and three places behind in 22:23.5, just off her career-best of 22:19.9.
 
Wehazit Kelati was the fourth Maverick finisher, taking 45^th in 22:32.2, which is a new career-best.
 
Quin Dedrick rounded out the Mavs' team score with a 55^th place overall finish— 54^th amongst team scorers— and time of 22:49.6.
 
Lily Nichols (57^th, 22:49.8), Daisy Lalonde (66^th, 22:59.0), Shirley Weaver (69^th, 23:05.9), Kate Linstedt (74^th, 23:10.8) and Chloe Swan (93^rd, 23:37.0) also ran for CMU.
 
Third-ranked Colorado School of Mines edged No.5 Western Colorado for the team win, 84-85, while No. 7 UCCS was third with 90 points as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams swept the top three spots.
 
Only two out-of-region foes in No. 9 Missouri Southern State (144) and Pittsburg State (165) finished ahead of the Mavs.
 
Men's Recap
 
In the earlier 8K men's race, Wilson posted a career-best time of 24:18.3 to record his best cross country finish of his 2-year collegiate career.
 
The four other Maverick scoring runners then finished within 15 seconds of one another between 43^rd and 57^th place.  Colton White led that group with a 43^rd place time of 25:15.5 and scored 42 team points.  Freshman Daxin Holtzen was 49^th overall in 25:21.3 and added 48 team points to the Mavs' score. 
 
Chase Brown was just behind in 52^nd place with a time of 25:23.8 while Owen Frank took 57^th in 25:30.0.  They scored 51 and 56 team points, respectively.
 
White, Holtzen and Frank all joined Wilson in setting career-bests.
 
Two other Mavericks also finished in the top 100 as Bode Klein finished 87^th in 26:01.8 while Dominick Muller was 99^th in 26:17.9.  Both of them also set new career-bests.
 
Dillon Elliott (117^th, 26:39.5), Ryan O'Loughlin (127^th, 26:52.3) and Nick Clark (137^th, 27:21.9) also ran for the Mavs.
 
The Maverick men scored 203 team points to beat No. 27 Missouri Southern State, which was ninth with 220 points.  The Mavs also defeated five other out-of-region teams.
 
Only Embry Riddle, which had 202 points, and six other nationally-ranked squads beat the Mavs.  Embry Riddle is also receiving votes in the USTFCCCA poll.
 
No. 19 Pittsburg State won the title with 51 points while No. 7 Western Colorado was well behind in second with 93. 
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will next run on Oct. 24 when they host the High Desert Dental Maverick XC Invitational Lincoln Park Golf Course in Grand Junction, Colorado.