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Adams sweeps Joe Vigil Invite
FLC men 3rd, women 4th
Reuben Mwei finished first for the Grizzlies in 24:27.
Brian Medigovich finished second in 24:30.
Ryan McNiff finished third in 24:40.
Aaron Braun finished fourth in 24:44.
Edwin Cruz finished fifth in 25:07.
"They're the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, and deservedly so," Fort Lewis College cross country coach Ken Flint said.
Western State, the second-ranked team in the nation, finished second with 48 points, and Fort Lewis finished third with 80 points.
"Western State has a tendency not to run their top guys early in the season, so I doubt they were at full strength," said Flint, trying to explain the points gap between the two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference powerhouses.
Alex Troncoso, a senior, led the Skyhawks with a 26th-place finish in 26:25.
"He had a solid performance," Flint said.
Dylan Peterson, a senior who redshirted a year ago, finished 29th in 26:37, a personal best while at Fort Lewis.
Shane Kersten, a sophomore, finished 34th in 27:12.
"That's a nice race for his first race in six years," Flint said of the military man who ran for one season years ago at Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga.
Kiprono Mutai, a freshman from Bomet, Kenya, finished 36th in 27:35.
"He's only been here less than two weeks, so there's an adjustment going on there," Flint said. "I know he can go faster."
Michael Birgen, a sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya, finished 37th in 27:50.
Logan Ott, a junior from Mancos High School, finished 38th and tied his personal best with a 27:54 in the 8-kilometer race.
Adams State's women's program, also ranked first nationally, won its race with 26 team points.
Mesa State, ranked 21st in the nation, finished second with 56 points, and Western State, ranked sixth in the nation, finished third with 75 points.
Western State didn't run its top two runners, Flint said.
Fort Lewis finished fourth with 79 points.
Adams' Kristen McGlynn finished first overall in the women's 5K in 17:53.
Kenzie Grant, a sophomore from Battle Mountain High School in Vail, led the Skyhawks with a fifth-place effort in 19:05, a personal best.
"She decided she's going to be a good Division II runner this offseason, so she put in the work, and it's paid off," Flint said.
Kaydee McCray, a senior, finished 10th in 19:05.
Ashley Kelly, a junior from Brighton, finished 14th in 19:13.
"She rolled her ankle in August, but she's coming on strong," Flint said.
Jourdan Baldwin, a junior from Heritage High in Littleton, finished 35th in 20:46, and Tamara Hardy, a freshman from Navajo, N.M., finished 38th in 20:52 in her first collegiate race.
Hardy placed fourth for Navajo Pine High School in the New Mexico State High School Championships last year.
"It was a good start to our season," said Flint, who mentioned a pair of Kenyans on his female roster that have yet to peak.
"We have the potential to be better than we've been in the past, a lot more competitive.
"We're a lot deeper," he said. "We'll go seven or eight deep this year. That's looking better. We should have two strong teams this year."
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
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