Cross country defies regional expectations

By Lennon McCarthy
lmccart5@mscd.edu

The upstart Metro men and women's cross country teams ran in the NCAA North Central Regional meet Nov. 5 in Fort Hays, Kan., finishing ninth and 19th respectively.

The 315 points scored by the men's team tied the Roadrunners with Wayne State for ninth place. The performance was more than head coach Peter Julian expected.

"Being a first year team, the first meets we went to, we were either last or second to last," Julian said. "We were gearing ourselves for this meet all year long. Out of 27 teams, for the men to finish ninth was beyond my expectations."

Joshua Tate was the top finisher for Metro, finishing 46th in the men's 10,000-meter run with a time of 34:23.10. Todd Tolentino and Juan Soto also had strong showings, finishing 50th and 57th respectively.

"We went in not knowing, which I think was a good thing," said Tate. "We were able to just go out and run as hard as we possibly could."

"He showed tremendous leadership at the regional meet. Tate did most of the hard work upfront and it paid off in the end," Julian said.

The women's team ran well, too, according to Julian. Powered by Meagan Martinez's 34th place finish, the Roadrunner women finished 19th with 487 points, just 16 points behind Minnesota-Moorhead.

"On the women's side, our goal was just to get through the season and try to learn how to race-learn to train at this level," Julian said.

Martinez finished the women's 6,000-meter run with a time of 23:13.78. Jessica Hackbart finished 91st and Therese Panian finished 105th.

"Meagan is a true freshman. It's not very often a true freshman runs as well as she does," Julian said. "She'll be running for that All-American status here in the next few years. She'll lead the way for this team in the future."

The future looks bright for cross country running at Metro, according to Julian. Cross country is a brand new program; returning after a more than two-decade hiatus. It is basically the inaugural year for the program.

While Julian said he's proud of the 'Runners' success at the regional meet, by no means is he content with moral victories.

"We have the same expectations as every other sport here at Metro," said Julian. "I think every sport here wants to win a national title. That's our goal as well.

"When you build something from scratch, it's much easier to build a culture of winning," Julian said.

Julian said he believes that, with the right support and by recruiting the right athletes, within three or four years the Roadrunners can compete with the powerhouses of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Adams State, Western State, and Colorado School of Mines took places one through three on both the men and women's side. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs women's team finished fifth.

The men and women's teams from Adams State, Western State, and Mines qualified for the NCAA championships.

"Just to make it to the NCAAs is not a goal of ours-to go to the NCAAs and win it someday is," Julian said. "I just have to believe we're going to be exponentially better in the next few years."