Sept. 21, 2005

Cross Country Weekly Release in PDF Format
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Colorado College Invitational
Hosted by Colorado College
Saturday, September 24, 2005 - 10:00 a.m. MT
Colorado Springs, Colo. (North Monument Valley Park)

This Week
The University of Northern Colorado cross country team heads south to compete at the Colorado College Invitational on Saturday at 10 a.m. The meet is being held at North Mounment Valley Park.

The field includes Colorado College, Cloud County C.C., CSU-Pueblo, Colorado Christian, Garden City C.C., Mesa State, Metro State, Regis and CU-Colorado Springs as well as some unattached runners.

Last Time Out
Northern Colorado finished 21st last Saturday at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational held at Pioneer's Park in Lincoln. Running in a field of both Division I and Division II teams that tallied 31 strong, the Bears were 21st overall. The host Huskers literally ran away from the competition finishing first by 31 points over Colorado School of Mines.

For the Bears, senior Lacey Darien was the top finisher, placing 55th overall with a time of 23:58. Junior Chantelle Erickson was 99th (24:53) and senior Tara Hettler was 126th (25:18) in the field of 202 individuals. Newcomer Amy Brons was 132nd (25:25), Angela Kitchens was 142nd (25:41) and Emily Watz placed 196th (30:11). Butler Community College's Diane Nukuri won the event with a time of 21:11.

"Overall it was a good day," head coach Kevin Galbraith said. "Of our three returners, everyone ran a faster time than a year ago when they were here. And because the field was bigger, it was hard to tell by the team finish compared to last year. We were also without our normal No. 3 runner (Ashley Grams) who was taking an exam today. But despite all of that I was pleased."

Bears to Join Big Sky Conference
Northern Colorado will officially become a member of the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2006 and will begin to compete in Big Sky Championships beginning in the 2007-08 season. Part of joining the Big Sky involves the athletics department adding men's cross country (as well as men's and women's indoor track) after joining the conference.

Next Up
The Bears head to Boulder next weekend to compete in the University of Colorado Rocky Mountain Shootout which begins at 10:15 a.m.