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NCAA barely out of 'Runners reach
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

In just their second year of competition, the Metro men’s cross country team came a stress fracture away from their first NCAA national championship appearance.

The Roadrunners finished sixth overall at the NCAA North Central Regional Championships, just 12 points behind Augustana and the fifth, and final, championship slot.

“We found out on our way over (to the meet) that our number two or three man, Anthony Luna, had a stress fracture,” head coach Peter Julian said. “That was a pretty big hit on the team, but the other guys really stepped up and ran an incredible race.”

The ’Runners finished sixth with 205 points behind Augustana’s 193 points. Regional powerhouse Adams State won the title with 26 points, followed by Western State (55 points), Colorado School of Mines (71) and Minnesota State (138).

“(The team’s) been around for about 12 months, really, and for them to make a run at the NCAA championships is amazing,” Julian said.

Todd Tolentino led the men with a 17th place finish and a time of 32 minutes and 5.4 seconds at the 10K course. Rounding out the pack for the ’Runners was Brice Young (30th, 32:31.2), Eiger Erickson (33rd, 32:51.1), Gabe Luna (61st, 33:48.8) and Jacob Schuman (64th, 33:55.4).

“You’re swapping out a lot of points,” Julian said regarding losing Anthony Luna. “Schuman and (Greg) Luna ran 30 spots higher than they should have and really stepped up and ran incredible races.”

Western State’s Kim Hogarth won the women’s individual race with a time of 30:33.

The ’Runners women’s team finished in 14th place with 382 points. Western State took the women’s regional team title with 40 points, followed by Adams State (48 points), UC-Colorado Springs (107), Augustana (127), North Dakota (152) and Fort Lewis (228).

Deserae Gleason led the Metro women with a 49th place finish and a time of 23:37.8 in the 6K run. Judy Jimenez (51st place, 27:39) and Mandi Hepworth (77th, 24:33.8) rounded out the women’s efforts.

Julian applauded the young team’s efforts this season and noted that all his runners will be returning next year.

“The future’s really exciting,” Julian said. “We’re really moving in the right direction.

“I can’t see any way these men and women could’ve run any better this season,” Julian added. “They did everything I asked them to do, and we’re really developing into a good team.”

Julian will also be coaching Metro’s new track and field team, which will begin competing in spring 2007 at Jeffco Stadium.