COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Southwestern University Pirates finished sixth in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championships, finishing with a final score of 182 and a time of 2:32:34.
"I'm really proud of our guys and the way they battled this morning. We didn't use the altitude or cold as an excuse, we focused on the things we could control, and stuck our neck out there," Head Coach Steven Cary said. "The men went out aggressively. Probably the most aggressive we've been all season at the start of the race."
Host school Colorado College placed the top two finishers to win its second cross country conference championship in the past four years, scoring a 21 with a time of 2:11:30 to defeat Trinity (51, 2:15:14) by 30 points.
Colorado College senior Tony Calderon won the event with a time of 25:27.9.
The Pirates were paced as they were all season by first year Noah Dennis, who finished in 35th with a time of 29:02. Sophomore CP Shaulis followed closed behind in 38th with a time of 29:38.2 and Doug Ginsberg (31:12.6) and Nathan Botros (31:19.9) finished 49th and 50th.
First years Vincent Kim (31:21.3) and Alijah Ontiveros (32:56.4) finished 52nd and 59th, while senior Fred Baneulos ran a 33:44.3 to finish 66th.
"Our youth and lack of experience sort of played a role and our guys couldn't necessarily hang on today like we hoped but it wasn't for a lack of trying," Cary said. "Every guy put forth great effort and we're satisfied knowing we gave it our all this morning.
"But we're not content. This is just the start of really great things to come for the Southwestern men's cross country team. Our goal at the start of the season was to get better every week. We got better today and intend on continuing that trend in two weeks at the regional meet in Memphis."
The NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regionals in Memphis take place on Saturday, Nov. 16.