Home > Sport

Metro finishes fourth at conference championship
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

Photo by Jeremy Billis • jbillis@mscd.edu Brice Young, left, and Todd Tolentino make a quick burst off the line at the University of Colorado Shootout Sept. 30 in Boulder. Tolentino and Young finished first and second, respectively, at the RMAC championship Oct. 21 at the Elmwood Golf Course in Pueblo. Metro finished fourth among the 10-team field, and the ‘Runners’ women’s team finished seventh among 12 teams in the conference.

Todd Tolentino finished in 11th place to lead the Metro men’s cross country team to a fourth place finish at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship Oct. 21 at Elmwood Golf Course in Pueblo.

The men tallied 116 points and finished behind Adams State (19 points), Western State (52) and Colorado School of Mines (57). The Roadrunners, with their second-year program, beat out New Mexico Highlands, Fort Lewis, Nebraska-Kearney, Western New Mexico, Regis and Colorado Christian.

"I was really, really pleased with our team’s performance today,” men’s and women’s head coach Peter Julian said. “We are making serious headway into where we want to be in a very good conference. I think we established ourselves today as part of the upper echelon of the RMAC.”

Tolentino finished the 8K race with a time of 25 minutes and 40.25 seconds and was followed by Brice Young (25th place, 26:32.70), Eiger Erickson (29th place, 26:46.40), Anthony Luna (33rd place, 26:56) and Zach Mares (34th place, 26:59.55).

The Metro women finished in seventh place out of the 12-team field. Desarae Gleason led the ’Runners in the 6K race with a time of 24:39.55 and finished 31st overall. She was followed by teammates Judy Jimenez (34th, 24:43.60), Mandi Hepworth (46th, 25:08.25), Natalia Haberl (61st, 25:58.10) and Therese Panian (65th, 26:36.35).

Adams State took the women’s race as well, and coach Damon Martin was named the men’s and women’s RMAC Coach of the Year. Following the Grizzlies were Western State, UC-Colorado Springs, Fort Lewis, Nebraska-Kearney and New Mexico Highlands. Highlands, Metro and Colorado School of Mines finished in a tight pack, with Highlands finishing just one point ahead of the ’Runners and the ’Diggers taking eighth place by only two points.

“The team ran incredibly well as a whole,” Julian said. “As tough as this conference is, we did very well.”

The ’Runners’ next race is at the NCAA North Region Championships Nov. 4.