By John Cusick
The CMU men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Fort Collins this past Friday for their season opener at the CSU Invite. The men’s team finished 6 with 186 points and the women’s team finished 8 with 224 points.$
The men were led by senior Danny Vavrik, who placed 50 overall and covered the five kilometer course in 15:48.
“We trained through the race, which means we did a speed workout the day before racing,” Vavrik said. “For the first meet of the season we did fairly well. We finished with a good pace time, and lots of room for improvement. I think everyone was hurting in the race, either from being sore or unaccustomed to racing again.”
He was followed by junior Blake Graf who was 64 in a time of 15:58. Guillermo Cuevas was third for the Mavs in 69 place running 16:04. Mako Watanabe was fourth for Mesa and finished in 16:14. Rounding out the scoring for the Mavs was freshman Luke Spitz who ran 16:20 and finished 83.
Dominic Brevig (90, 16:27), Seth Knighton (97, 16:31), Zak Kennison (103, 16:35) and Mike Fera (108, 16:46) rounded out the rest of the Mavs in the evening.
The women were led by senior Alexia Chapman who maneuvered the course in 19:30 and finished 41.
“I was excited to see some of the other teams and how we stack up against them at this point,” Chapman said. “The important thing is that we are tracking with the rest of the teams in the conference so that we will be competitive when it matters. I think we are all coming away from this weekend with a good perspective and ready to work hard.”
Right behind her was junior Lauren Lipski who finished 44, seven seconds back at 19:37. Sophomore Melissa Anderson was next in 64 and a time of 20:25. Two freshmen followed her to round out the scoring for the Mavs. Maya Wilson finished 69 in 20:55 and Kaila Green finished 70 in 21:00.
Reanna Jereb (71, 21:02), and Maritza Ruelas (82, 22:37) were the last of the Mavs on the women’s side.
“This was our first time racing at CSU and it was a good change of pace for us,” head Coach Matt Canterbury said. “The race itself played out almost exactly as we expected. I know both [of] our teams want to get back to Nationals and after watching this race I think we have a legit chance to make it.”
When asked about some athletes who have impressed him thus far, Canterbury was quick to mention both Blake Graf and Melissa Anderson.
“Blake Graf had a good race. He ran smart and controlled. He gets overlooked sometimes but he is the heart and soul of this team,” Canterbury said. “For the women, a few of them had good races but Melissa Anderson, who is coming off a femoral stress fracture, raced very well considering she is on limited training.”
The teams will take off the upcoming weekend before heading to Gunnison, Colo. for the Mountaineer Invite on Sept. 17.
