Cowboys take fourth at Mountain West Championship
Kendyll Ferrall
Kferral1@uwyo.edu
Finishing four points shy of their lowest point total in the program’s history, the University of Wyoming men’s cross country team made school history after placing fourth at the Mountain West Championships last weekend at the Montreux Golf Club in Reno, Nevada.
Placing fourth at the 2010 MW Championships, the Cowboys performance marked the second time the team has ever ranked that highly.
Led by senior Aaron Derner, the Cowboys totaled 89 points with four runners finishing in the top 20 of the 8-kilometer run. Derner’s performance nabbed him an All-MW First Team honor. Coming in fourth individually out of a field of 61 runners, Derner’s 26:37 finish was 21 seconds behind race-winner No. 30 Colorado State’s Jerrell Mock. Derner improved by 40 positions from his 2014 performance at the MW Championships.
Senior Amos Bowen added nearly four minutes onto his time from last year’s MW Champion after being the 18th runner to cross the finish line this year. Bowen ran the course in in 27:30, two seconds ahead of senior Dylan Morin and sophomore Jonah Henry who came in 19th and 20th, respectively.
“I thought the men ran great today,” head coach Bryan Berryhill said in a press release. “I thought Aaron Derner had a phenomenal race and behind that to see Dylan Morin, Amos Bowen and Jonah Henry pack up together. Overall, I thought they showed they take pride in this program.”
No. 26 Air Force took home the men’s title with 49 points and a total time of 2:14:42, followed closely by Colorado State with 53 points and No. 16 Boise State rounded out the top three with 56 points.
Following up their historic 79-point showing at the MW Championships last year, the Cowgirls finished fifth with 129 points.
Sophomore Kerry White ran the fastest 6-kilometer time for Wyoming with her 19th-place finish. White ran the course in 23:50, coming in about 30 seconds before junior Megan Brunette. Brunette came in 19th-place with a time of 23:59.
Running her best race of the 2015 season, sophomore Lauren Hamilton came in 22nd place, about 18 seconds behind Brunette with a time of 24:17.
“I’m really proud of our women,” Berryhill said. “They fought hard on a tough course at elevation. I thought we had some sophomores and true freshmen that stepped up at 3-4-5 and I couldn’t be more proud. We’ve had a lot adversity this season, so for them to come out and fight and get fifth place in a deep conference is something I’m proud of. That is something we can build on.”
Boise’s Allie Ostrander took home the individual title, finishing the course in 21:49, followed by New Mexico’s Courtney Frerichs with a time of 22:05 and Air Force’s Hannah Everson rounded out the top three with a time of 22:12.
No. 1 New Mexico won the women’s MW title for the third year in row with a total of 24 points, followed by No. 9 Boise with 71 points, Air Force with 98 points and Colorado State with 106 points.
Wyoming will travel to the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships on Nov. 13 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
