San Diego State may have given it their all, but their all was nomatch to the unstoppable force that is BYU cross country.
Juniors Alicia Stewart and Jennifer Stakiw both placed in the top35, as SDSU finished seventh in the Mountain West ConferenceChampionship on Saturday in Albuquerque with a total score of 172.Stewart finished in the No. 32 spot (23:24), out of a field of 61,and Stakiw was a very close No. 34 (23:25). Despite the low finish,the team felt it did well considering the high level of competition.
“Everybody went out and ran well,” coach Jennifer Nanista said.”Not one person slacked off. We had some good performances andpersonal records set. Everybody went out and did what they weresupposed to do.”
Those personal bests were senior Amanda Vielbaum’s time of 23:57,good for No. 42, and freshman Tina Foder’s finish in 25:40, takingthe No. 54 spot. Sophomore Allison Brown missed her personal 6K bestby just two seconds after running the course in 23:51 en route totaking No. 40.
Junior Laura Preston was the sixth Aztec to cross the finish lineat No. 55 (26:07) and felt the team did all that it could.
“Everyone ran with a lot of heart,” she said. “This year was alearning experience and everyone did their best. I thought everyonedid well for personal goals, even though they didn’t place as high.”
BYU continued its dominance of the conference by winning the eventwith a score of 17. The Cougars have won every MWC title since itsinception. Seven of the top 10 finishers belonged to the school fromProvo, including the top three. Senior Tara Northcutt won the eventby finishing in 21 minutes even. Defending champ junior LindseyThomsen finished third with a time of 21:04.
Colorado State took second in the event with a score of 45. TheRams had the other three runners in the top 10, highest among themwas Marget Larson who took the No. 4 spot (21:09). Air Force had thethird-best score at 113.
Rounding out the rest of the competition was Utah in fourth (124points), followed by New Mexico (139), Wyoming (168), SDSU and UNLV(214).
The meet was the Aztecs first at a high altitude this year, and itseems it had an effect on their times.
“It was a little harder being at this altitude,” Stakiw said. “Forthe amount of energy it took, I think we did good.”
Nanista felt the best way to prepare the team was to have themexperience it first hand, rather than dwell on its effects intraining. She felt it was best if the team had no negative thoughtsabout the thin air going into the meet.
“I really tried to not focus on the altitude, I didn’t reallymention it to them at all,” she said. “It’s there and there’s nothingyou can do about it. It takes a lot out of your legs.”
For SDSU as a team, the season is now over. However, four runners,Brown, Stakiw, Stewart and Vielbaum, will compete in the DistrictEight Championships in Tucson Nov. 11 for a chance to compete in theNCAA Championship in Greenville, S.C.
