15 October 2019
Derek Lee
Following their top-3 finish in Minneapolis at the Roy Griak Invite 6K, the women’s cross country team came home and geared up for the UCCS Open 5K. The 5K took place at Monument Valley Park on Oct. 12.
“The race is pretty lowkey,” said head coach Corey Kubatzky about the UCCS Open. “It’s not a scored meet. It’s just kind of training through and working on the process. But right now, [Roy Griak) just allowed us to get back to training and put in another big training block before the championships season.”
At Roy Griak, standout performers were seniors Kayla Wooten and Marissa Kuik, as well as redshirt sophomore Layla Almasri.
Wooten, a psychology major, competed in her first meet since returning from injury and finished in the top 3 with a time of 22:34.4.
Almasri, a health science major, finished No. 8 overall and set a new career time of 22:53.3.
Kuik finished No. 25 overall with a 23:20.1 time. The history graduate student competed in her first meet ever as a Mountain Lion.
Almasri’s No. 8 finish was a large jump over her previous placing at Roy Griak, according to Kubatzky, Kubatzky said that the goal was to finish top 3 at Roy Griak, and since they achieved that goal they believe it will help them in their national championship qualification.
The Mountain Lions now set all of their focus on the upcoming championship season. First is the RMAC Championship 8K, which will be held in Grand Junction on Oct. 26.
“At this point we’re in a really tough conference,” said Kubatzky.
Kubatzi said that the team wants to finish top three or four in the conference, top three in the region, and to better their No. 11 place finish at nationals last year.
The regional championship will be hosted by West Texas A&M in Canyon, TX on Nov. 9, and the NCAA Division II National Championship 10K will take place on Nov. 23 in Sacramento, CA.