Fankhouser earns all-conference honors for FLC

After running a school record 6K in California, Fort Lewis College’s Katie Fankhouser came down with COVID-19, meaning she had to sit out of five practices leading up the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference cross-country championships.

“Physically I was OK, but mentally it was hard not to go in (the race) confident after recovering from COVID,” she said.

After a group of runners from Adams State University, however, Fankhouser in the front of the pack for the whole race on Saturday at the Hillcrest Golf Club in Durango.

“I wanted to go with the front pack, latch on and then hold on for dear life,” she said.

During the race’s fourth kilometer, she said she felt like she was going to throw up. She didn’t, however, and in the race’s last kilometer she was able to pass four runners, including a 10,000-meter national champion from the Colorado School of Mines, to finish 13th in 22 minutes, 21 seconds and earn first-team all-conference honors.

“It was tough,” Fankhouser said. “The course looks flat, but it’s not. You have to stay engaged the whole time. It’s kind of brutal, but that’s a good thing; It shows who is the toughest.”

“Finishing (13th) in the RMAC, the toughest conference in the country, is very impressive,” said FLC head women’s coach Shawn Jakubowski.

Adams State, led by individual champion Stephanie Cotter (20:45), won the women’s team title with 17 points. The No. 1 ranked Grizzlies finished first through fourth while its fifth runner crossed seventh. Colorado School of Mines finished second with 76, followed by the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (88), Western Colorado (109), CSU-Pueblo (113), Westminster (221), FLC in seventh (231), Colorado Mesa (234), MSU Denver (243), Black Hills State (283), South Dakota Mines (355), New Mexico Highlands (373) and Chadron State (385).

Esther Beck finished 47th for FLC in 24:10, while Sophia Mena (56th 24:25), Carmella Wright (65th, 25:01), and Angel Curley (68th, 25:09) rounded out FLC’s team score.

Brandy Ray (72nd, 25:19), Taylor Murphy (75th, 25:31), Marisol Castilleja (76th, 25:33) and Peyton Burnside (82nd, 25:52) also ran for FLC.

“I’m proud of our pack running today; they ran for each other and it was awesome to watch,” Jakubowski said. “That tight gap is how we beat teams.”

In the men’s race, No. 1 ranked Colorado School of Mines took the team title with 26 points, followed by Adams (46), Western (91), UCCS (110), Colorado Mesa (150), CSU-Pueblo (176), MSU Denver (216), FLC (238), Colorado Christian (246), New Mexico Highlands (248), Black Hills State (268), South Dakota Mines (348), Chadron (379) and Westminster (436).

Ethan Bartlett led the FLC men with a 31st-place finish in 25:57.

Caden Resendez placed 37th in 26:11, followed by Brady Burrough (27:02), Bean Minor (27:02), Cebastian Marquez (65th, 27:11), Elijah Smith (73rd, 27:31), Connor Dossman (77th, 27:39) and Ricardo Trejo (82nd, 27:56).

Dillon Powell of Colorado School of Mines won the individual title in 24:05.

Former Durango Demon Paul Knight finished eighth in 25:00 for champion Orediggers.