COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 3, 2022) – Colorado State University Pueblo men's and women's cross country headed up north for the UCCS Rust Buster Saturday morning and each earned second place in their respective races. The men were led by junior Matthew Roberds while the no. 23 women's squad followed a strong first-outing by senior Claire Pauley.
 
Men's 8K | Results
 
The men led off the morning with an 8k run at the Monument Valley Park XC Course. The race was modestly spread out and UCCS's Afewerki Zeru represented the home team with a win in 23:56.44. For the ThunderWolves, Roberds was able to represent with a strong 25:41.48 finish on his way to claim the fifth-spot and a team-low five points.
 
Hot on his heels was teammate Kaleb Beloy in sixth. Beloy quickly followed Roberds with a 25:42.95 performance, good for six points. Five seconds separated Beloy from the next Pack runner, as freshman Mattisse Virey closed out the 8k in 25:47.72 to himself an eighth-place finish in his freshman debut race. 
 
Virey had some cushion before the next-best finisher and the next two Pack runners were grouped tight. Cole Muñoz and Daniel Beam came racing to the line toe-to-toe, but it was Muñoz who edged out his teammate in 25:55.09. Beam finished the race in 25:56.05 to round out the Pack's scoring efforts with 11 points. 
 
Although the Pack finished second as a team, they were the only team to finish all four of five scorers in the top-10 and they also had the tightest grouping in their teammates' finishes (fifth to 11^th). CSU Pueblo was also the only school to have six runners finish in under 26 minutes.
 
The impressive showing by the Pack did not end with simply their scorers. Richie Roberds crossed the line in 13th overall off a 25:58.89 effort. 
 
Jack Dickson crossed the line in 18th thanks to a 26:32.84 finish while Lucas Westbrook soon followed andclaimed the Pack's eighth top-20 finish off a 26:41.52 performance. The eight top-20 finishers was also a meet-best.
 
Reece Sharman-Newell, Kaleb Tipton and Joseph Harker rounded out the Pack's performance on the course. Sharman-Newell finished 33rd in 27:21.98, followed by Tipton in 42nd who crossed in 28:02.02 and then Harker closed the course in 28:21.31 to clinch 47th.
 
The men's team finished with 40 points, only three behind the victor, UCCS. 
 
Women's 8K | Results
 
On the women's side, the 23rd-ranked ThunderWolves raced to an impressive second-place thanks to a strong combination of performances. UCCS ran 1-2-3 and eventually took the crown with a combined 17 points. Claire Pauley broke up the Mountain Lions' straight and edged out the UCCS opponent by .39 seconds for a fourth-place finish, with a 18:04.25 final time.
 
Margot Thomas-Gatel was the next-best finisher for the ThunderWolves, as the sophomore finished in eighth with a final time of 18:18.12 followed by Yasmine Hernandez in ninth who crossed the line in 18:26.04. The top-three Pack finishers placing in the top-10 was only matched by UCCS. 
 
Bethany Donnelly crossed the line next in 14th off an 18:40.69 effort, less than three seconds ahead of the final scorer for the Pack. Donnelly was soon followed by Helen Braybrook, as the returner closed the ThunderWolves' scoring efforts with an 18:43.59 race. The top-five Pack runners all placed in the top-15, the only team other than UCCS able to accomplish that feat.
 
In 25th and 26th, respectively, Elodie Hebert and Jadyn Herron coupled together and crossed the line in succession. Hebert crossed first in 19:10.88 followed by Herron who finished in 19:13.21. 
 
Another coupled group of runners crossed the line next for the ThunderWolves. Taylor Holland completed her race in 19:27.46 followed by a 19:29.81 finish from Halle Schmitz. The pair placed 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Sarah Renberg rounded out the performance for the Pack with a 19:41.30 time, good enough for 38th.
 
The Pack's score of 42 was good enough for a solid second place in a meet dominated by the home runners from UCCS. CSU Pueblo was one of two teams to log five scorers all worth fewer than 15 points apiece. 
 
Up Next
 
Both programs look to keep the legs warm, as each has a week off before making the way to Denver for the Roadrunners Invitational, hosted by Metropolitan State University Denver on Sept. 17.