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Katie Fankhouser
Junior Katie Fankhouser was crowned the 1500m champion at the RMAC Championships, the program's first-ever event champion

Fankhouser takes home title, Minor earns All-Conference on final day of RMAC Championships

4/30/2023 6:53:00 PM

By: Angela Roberts, Assistant AD - Communications
CHADRON, Neb. – The third and final day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships came to a close with the Skyhawks bringing home their first-ever individual title to go along with the first All-Conference honor for the men's team in program history.

"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."

Junior Katie Fankhouser was responsible for the individual title, running an awe-inspiring race in the women's 1500m to bring home the 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. 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," said Jakubowski.

She knocked off the defending champion, Westminster's Courtney McAlindon, with a 65-second clip in the final 400m. The women's 1500m field was represented by 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.

In the men's 1500m race, sophomore Brady Burrough came away with a 10th-place finish, improving on his prelim time with a 4:00.89 to wrap up his season. "Brady put himself in the mix, going into the race ranked 23rd and finishing in 10th," recognized Jakubowski."

The Skyhawks saw more success in the 5000m races, first with the men's 5k which had four Fort Lewis athletes in the field. Freshman Bean Minor, the top-ranked Skyhawk, capped off his impressive 2023 campaign with a time of 14:59.18, good for a sixth-place finish to earn Second Team All-Conference accolades. The All-Conference mark is the first for the men's outdoor track program in school history.

"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. The future is bright for the men's team, and I couldn't be more proud," said Jakubowski."

Freshman Elijah Smith followed with a time of 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.

For the Skyhawks, the championships ended 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 back-to-back in 18th and 19th-place, respectively.

"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," said Jakubowski. "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."

Fankhouser will look ahead to the 2023 NCAA Division II Championships, hosted by CSU Pueblo at the Thunderbowl. Competition will span from Friday, May 25-27 with the women's 1500m prelims on the 25th at 5:10 p.m.
 
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