Central Wyoming College cross country team returned from their fifth meet of the fall season. The meet was in Billings, Mont. for the Montana State University-Billings invitational. There were six teams with 65 runners for the 8k.
“Our first four runners ran well,” said Al Lara, cross country coach. “And with some injured runners the team continued on and did well.”
For the men’s division, Clay Johnson freshman was the lead runner for CWC, placing 34th overall with a time of 28:22. Brion Riley, freshman finished 39th with a time of 28:51; a personal record. Freshman James Asmus also had a personal record placing 47th with a time of 29:40 followed by freshman Cameron Collamer with a time of 31:17.
The men’s division placed fifth overall.
Freshman Kianna WallowingBull was the lead runner for the women’s team, she placed 33rd with a time of 32:25. There were 37 runners competing in the women’s division. Freshman Kate Kling dropped out half way through the race do to an injury.
“Injuries have hurt us this season,” Lara said. “We have five runners out with some type of injuries but this was still one of our best outings.”
The team is preparing for regionals which will be in Gillette, Wyo. Oct. 31.
Unfortunately for the women’s team their season is over due to injuries, Lara said. For the men’s team five will be going to regionals which will be enough for the team to score. Seven runners make a team but only the top five running scores count.
“Hopefully the women’s team will heal up and then maybe by indoor track they will be ready to run again,” Lara said. “With the other guys being injured I’m counting on these guys to get us through regionals and hopefully nationals. We are running on weekends for about an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half; the runs are either long distance or hill repeats. We will do a 5k time trail, with regionals only three weeks away, just to stay sharp. Each day and each week is important for us to stay healthy and fit.”
