Katie Fankhouser and Bean Minor joined Brandy Ray in writing their names in the Fort Lewis College outdoor track team’s history books on Sunday.
On the third and final day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Fankhouser won the team’s first-ever individual title and Minor scored the first All-Conference honor for the men's team in its history. Ray had previously placed fourth in the 10K in 37:38.74 to earn the program’s first All-Conference recognition.
“Overall, this was a great weekend for us. We left Nebraska with two All-Conference performances and a conference champion,” said head coach Shawn Jakubowski. “We battled a lot of adversity, but the team pulled it together and performed well. Both programs are catching attention and turning heads.”
Fankhouser ran an awe-inspiring race in the women's 1,500 to bring home the gold hardware. Fankhouser, who ran for a time of 4:39.33 in the prelims, unthinkably shaved off 12 seconds in the finals for a personal best time of 4:27.22 to take home the title.
“Katie, once again, showed that she is one of the best in the RMAC,” Jakubowski said. “Going into the race, I had no doubt that she had the tools to win but seeing her race like a veteran and win was one of my proudest coaching moments.”
Fankhouser knocked off the defending champion, Westminster's Courtney McAlindon, with a 65-second clip in the final 400 meters. The women's 1,500 field featured eight athletes with NCAA provisional times, and Fankhouser has propelled to ninth in NCAA Division II with an altitude converted time of 4:23.77 – punching her ticket to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.
The men's 5K had four Fort Lewis athletes in the field. Freshman Bean Minor, the top-ranked Skyhawk, capped off an impressive 2023 campaign with a time of 14:59.18, good for a sixth-place finish to earn Second Team All-Conference accolades.
“To not have any runners make the 5K last year to having four qualify and three finish top-12 shows that the men are responding well to the training,” Jakubowski said. “The future is bright for the men's team, and I couldn't be more proud.”
Freshman Elijah Smith followed in 15:06.32 which placed him ninth overall. Junior Ethan Bartlett pulled in a 12th-place finish at 15:09.87, followed by senior Max Robinson's 18th-place mark at 15:36.43.
In the men's 1,500, sophomore Brady Burrough entered the race ranked 23rd and came away with a 10th-place finish, improving on his prelim time with a 4:00.89 to wrap up his season.
The championships ended for FLC with the women's 5k. Senior Angel Curley wrapped up her career with a 13th-place race at 17:55.35. Junior Katherine Gaughan (18:34.22) and freshman Mikenna Hoffman (18:34.68) crossed the line in 18th and 19th-place.
“It was a fantastic weekend, but it's always bittersweet to watch your senior student-athletes put their Skyhawks jerseys on for the last time,” Jakubowski said. “I want to thank all of the seniors for their hard work over their time here. I hope that they can look back and be proud to say that they are one of the reasons that this program took off.”
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs won both the men’s and women’s team titles.
Fankhouser will look ahead to the 2023 NCAA Division II Championships, hosted by CSU Pueblo at the Thunderbowl. The national meet will take place May 25-27, with the women's 1,500 prelims at 5:10 p.m. on May 25.
