The Colby men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Maine State Cross Country Championships, hosted by Husson, on Saturday. The Husson cross country course, located at Saxl Park in Bangor, is a particular favorite of many Colby runners, providing scenery of wide-open fields and large rotund hay bales, and is a fairly fast course with only one major hill. On this day, the course was slightly muddy but the Mules had impressive performances across the board.
Tyler Morris, a senior, led the men's team with a time of 24:15 for the 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) course, a staggering pace of 4:52 per mile. This is his 3rd state title, and there have been 3 state championships during his time at Colby, showing his dominance in the world of DIII Maine Cross Country. In sixth place was senior Ben Mellor, finishing with a time of 25:08. Right behind Mellor was James Boyle (SO, 7th, 25:27). These three runners from Colby captured All-State honors.
Completing Colby's top-5 scoring squad were Liam Carcich (SO, 9th, 25:36) and Nick Peterson (SR, 13th, 26:07), meaning all of Colby's scoring squad finished in the top-13.
The men grabbed a silver medal, finishing second place overall behind Bates (24-36). The next best team was Bowdoin, finishing with 81 points. A total of eleven teams competed.
The women's results were a testament to the depth of the team. Leading for the Mules was sophomore Claire Beebe, who finished in 13th place, covering the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course in 19:05. Right next to Beebe was first year Abby Steffler (14th, 19:07). In 16th and 17th were Meghan Garrett (SR, 19:13) and Penny King (JR, 19:14). Completing Colby's scoring 5 was Junior Jenna Denaver (21, 19:23). Notably, the spread between Colby's first and fifth runner was only 18 seconds, which is a very impressive team statistic in the world of competitive cross country. The Mules undoubtedly have a strong training group with their scoring squad from this meet.
The women earned podium status, finishing behind Bates (18) and Bowdoin (67) with 76 points. A total of nine teams competed.
Looking ahead, the Mules have a challenging high-volume and high-intensity week of training. The Mules will be back in action at the Connecticut College Invitational the Saturday after (10/15), where they will vie with out-of-region teams in order to achieve a national ranking. Beyond that is the NESCAC championship and DIII Regional Championships (the National Qualifying Meet).
Original source can be found here
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