Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

XC

Fort Lewis College cross country competes at home course RMAC Championships, Fankhouser earns First Team All-Conference

11/5/2022 4:50:00 PM

By: Angela Roberts, Assistant AD - Communications
DURANGO, Colo. – Welcoming fifteen Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference institutions to Hillcrest Golf Course, the Fort Lewis College cross-country teams boasted a strong showing in the conference championships on their home course.

The men's 8k race saw 118 competitors while the women's 6k had 114 runners toe the line. Fans were in for a treat as the league boasts some of the top NCAA Division II talent on the men's and women's sides.

For the men, it was the nation's top team, Colorado School of Mines, that took home the team title with 26 points. Dillon Powell defended his RMAC Runner of the Year title with a first-place finish at 24:05.6. For the women, No. 1 Adams State ran away with the team title after notching a nearly perfect score of 17 points. The Grizzlies had the top-four runners in the 6k, including Stephanie Cotter who was named RMAC Runner of the Year with a time of 20:45.8.

Men's Results
Led by a 30th-place finish from junior Ethan Bartlett, the men's team earned an eighth-place finish as a team. The Skyhawks ran to an average time of 26:41 with a 1:14.9 spread and improved on a 12th-place showing at last year's championships. Bartlett's time of 25:57 marks a large improvement on his 27:05.7 time in last season's race.

"We had a mixed bag today, but overall, we improved quite a bit over last year," said head coach Joshua Coon. "We were picked 11th in the preseason ranking, so we stepped it up."

Sophomore Caden Resendez was not far behind and crossed the line in 34th place with a time of 26:11.2. Sophomore Brady Burrough and freshman Bean Minor followed with times of 27:02.5 and 27:11.8, good for 56th and 57th, respectively. Rounding out the pack was freshman Cebastian Marquez with a time of 27:11.8, good for 65th.

Additional finishers for the Skyhawks:
"We're still in good shape and will be aiming for a solid regional finish. We have great guys with high character, and they've worked hard all fall," acknowledged Coon. "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."

Women's Results
"The women executed the game plan well today, and I am excited about the direction that this program is heading," said head coach Shawn Jakubowski. "We were preseason ranked 11th and finished ninth last year, so our finish today was a huge step in the right direction."

Much like she has been all season, junior Katie Fankouser led the women's team in the 6k. Fankhouser ran for a time of 22:21 en route to First Team All-Conference honors with a 13th place finish. The All-Conference accolade was the first of Fankhouser's career. The Colorado native improved on a time of 24:01.3 at last year's championship which saw her in 42nd place.

"Katie was incredible today, and to finish First Team All-Conference in the RMAC is a huge honor," noted Jakubowski. "She was coming off a week of being out with illness and had to take a week off training. We hit this week hard to focus on regionals, so for her to have a race like today was very impressive."

Fankhouser's efforts led the team to a seventh-place finish with a team average time of 24:14. The Skyhawks' next finisher was senior Esther Beck who clocked a time of 24:10.1 for a 44th place finish. Freshman Sophia Mena and junior Carmella Wright followed with times of 24:25.5 and 25:01.6, good for 53rd and 59th, respectively. Rounding out the top-five for Fort Lewis was senior Angel Curley in 62nd at 25:09.1.

Additional finishers for the Skyhawks:
"We have a few things that we can clean up and work on as we move forward to regionals, and I am confident we will have another great performance there," said Jakubowski. "Top to bottom this is a great team to coach, and it was great to be home today with so much support from Fort Lewis College and the Durango Community."

Up Next
The teams will now turn their attention to the NCAA South Central Regional which takes place in two weeks at Washington Park in Denver.
 
 
Print Friendly Version