As fall semester is getting into full swing, the Cowboys and Cowgirls cross country teams are preparing for the bulk of their seasons.
Both the teams competed at the Wyoming Invite back in August, and placed second and fourth respectively. The Cowgirls also competed at the Woody Greeno/ Jay Dirksen Invitational on Sept. 15 where they placed fifth overall.
“All of the freshmen have come in and been an awesome influence for us in these first meets,” junior Ashley Bock said.
Freshman Katelyn Mitchem was the Cowgirls’ top finisher at the Woody Greeno/ Jay Dirksen Invitational.
“Katelyn (Mitchem) has come in as a freshman and done phenomenal,” Bock said. “She’s really helped to push the team in practices and helped the team realize our potential and the paces we need to hit.”
The Cowgirls have yet to get a top-three finish, which is where they would like to be. Their next meet is the Roadrunner Invite hosted by Metro State in Denver on Saturday, October 6.
“I would have to say this next meet in Denver is the meet I’m most looking forward to,” Bock said.
After the Roadrunner Invitational, the Cowgirls have only one other meet before the Mountain West Championships in late October. The Cowgirls have some tough competition in the Mountain West whom they hope to best at the conference championships.
“CSU is probably our biggest competition because they’re our rival,” Bock said. “At conference we would really like to beat them. We’ve been neck-and-neck with them for the past couple of years so we’re really trying to gun for it and beat them.”
For the Cowboys, their first meet after the Wyoming Invite is this Friday in South Bend, Indiana at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. After finishing second at the Wyoming Invite, the Cowboys are hoping to carry that momentum into this weekend.
“We have the Notre Dame meet this week and then pre-nats (pre-nationals) in two weeks. So there we’re looking to beat some good teams to set us up to be in a good position going into regionals,” junior Chris Henry said.
The Cowboys are also focused on besting some of their rivals in the Mountain West by the time conference championships roll around.
“The Mountain West is a pretty strong region overall,” Henry said. “Definitely CSU and Air Force have been powerhouses, and they’re both ranked teams. Just getting anywhere close to them would be really cool.”
Both the Cowboys and Cowgirls have similar visions for their seasons that include being competitive in the Mountain West and qualifying for nationals.
“The big meet is going to be regionals,” Henry said. “The goal is to qualify for nationals and regionals is where we can get it all done.”
The Cowboys and Cowgirls will not compete at a meet together until the Mountain West Conference Championship in San Diego on October 26, where both teams hope to prove they are the top runners in the conference.
