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 was in the front of the pack for the whole race 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.
The women’s race featured six nationally ranked teams including unanimous No. 1 and defending national champion Adams State, No. 3 Colorado School of Mines, No. 4 University of Colorado Colorado Springs, No. 9 Western Colorado, No. 12 Colorado Christian and No. 22 CSU Pueblo.
The top 14 runners received first-team all-conference honors while finishers 15-28 received second-team nods.
Even with a stacked field, Adams had a huge pack up front that led the entire race. Stephanie Cotter pulled away from teammate Brianna Robles late win the conference 6K title in 20:45. After Robles crossed second in 20:50, Precious Robinson (21:3) and Emily Schoellkopf (21:34) finished third and fourth for the Grizzlies. Layla Almasri of UCCS (fifth, 21:40) and Katie Doucette of Western (sixth, 21:44), kept Adams from getting a perfect score, but Nicole Lawrence’s seventh-place finish wrapped up the team title for Adams with 17 points.
The Skyhawks finished ahead of No. 12 CCU and just behind Westminster after the rest of the ranked squads.
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), CCU (289), South Dakota Mines (355), New Mexico Highlands (373) and Chadron State (385).
Esther Beck finished 47th out of the 114 runners 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 the Skyhawks.
“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.”
The Skyhawks were picked to finish 11th in the conference’s preseason poll after placing ninth last year at the conference meet.
“I think everybody stayed engaged,” Fankhouser said. “This is the strongest team we’ve ever had. I’m so proud, and I think this sets us up pretty well for nationals.”
In the men’s race, five nationally ranked teams ran around Hillcrest, including No. 1 Colorado School of Mines, No. 2 Adams, No. 9 Western, No. 10. CCU and No. 16 UCCS.
The Skyhawks men also beat CCU en route to an eighth-place team finish.
Colorado School of Mines and Adams battled for the team title, but the Orediggers were able to pass some Grizzlies and had five runners finish in the top-nine to win the team title with 26 points. One of Mine’s scoring runners was Durango High School graduate Paul Knight, who placed eighth in 25:00 to earn a first-team all-conference nod. Knight’s teammate, Dillon Powell, won the individual title in 24:05, followed by Aferwerki Zeru of UCCS (24:19), Chris Cathcart of Colorado Mines (24:35), Cameron Allahan of Adams (24:41), Duncan Fuehne of Colorado Mines (24:43) and Simon Kelati of Western (24:57).
Ethan Bartlett led the FLC men with a 31st-place finish in 25:57. Caden Resendez placed 37th in 26:11, while Brady Burrough (60th, 27:02), Bean Minor (61st, 27:02) and Cebastian Marquez (65th, 27:11) also scored for the Skyhawks. Elijah Smith (73rd, 27:31), Connor Dossman (77th, 27:39), Ricardo Trejo (82nd, 27:56) and Max Robinson (99th, 28:33) also ran for FLC.
Adams finished second in the team race with 46, followed by 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).
“We had a mixed bag today, but overall, we improved quite a bit over last year,” said men’s head coach Joshua Coon. “We were picked 11th in the preseason ranking, so we stepped it up.”
While the meet wasn’t a national-qualifier, it will play an important role helping decide who gets at-large bids for the national championships Dec. 2 at University Place, Washington.
On Nov. 19, FLC will run in the South Central Regional championship at Washington Park in Denver and face the same teams plus more. The top three teams will automatically qualify for nationals while everyone else will have to have to wait and see if they receive an at-large bid.
Jakubowski said the region will get the most at-large bids.
“This is a great year for us, and this was a big meet,” Jakubowski said. “We’ve been ranked as high as 31st, and we’re hoping to earn our way into the national meet.”
“We’re still in good shape and will be aiming for a solid regional finish,” Coon said. “We have great guys with high character, and they’ve worked hard all fall. A few of them took a punch today, and I suspect in a few weeks they'll punch right back. Being at home today was awesome, and the guys felt the energy from the community’s support.”
“It was so awesome being at home,” Fankhouser said. “Having everybody here was special. It’s a once in a career opportunity to race in a championship at your home course.”
