Mens and women’s cross country compete in the 2021 NCAA Mountain Regional Championships
The men’s and women’s cross country team competed at the 2021 NCAA Mountain Regional Championships in Provo, Utah on Nov. 12. The men placed twelfth in the 10k and the women placed thirteenth in the 6k.
The men placed twelfth with a score of 353 in the 10k out of 17 teams and 119 racers. Andrew Ribeiro was the first Nevada athlete to cross the finish line. Ribeiro placed sixty-third with a time of 31:48.6. Daniel Sayo came right behind Ribeiro in sixty-fourth with a time of 31:52.6. The next three Nevada athletes took spots in the seventies. Adam Sjolund placed seventy-first with a time of 32:02.6. Jared Marchegger and Carson Leavitt came in back to back at seventy-seventh and seventy-eighth. Marchegger had a time of 32:17.1, while Leavitt was shortly behind at 32:17.7. The last two men of the team, Alexander Mendoza and Brian Kipchumba, placed in the nineties. Mendoza placed ninety-third with a time of 33:06.1, and Kipchumba was right behind in ninety-fourth with a time of 33:08.6.
The times for the Nevada men were only one to two minutes apart, although with the amount of talented athletes competing, even a small time gap lead to large differences in final placements. No one from the men’s team ranked to qualify for Nationals.
The women placed thirteenth in the 6k out of 19 teams and 131 racers, with a score of 363. Tierney Wolfgram had an outstanding race where she finished second overall with a time of 20:20.4. Tabatha Walford was the next fastest Nevada athlete, placing seventy-first with a time of 22:13.7. Two runners were in the nineties, and three were in the upper 100. Alexis Melendrez placed ninety-first with a time of 22:46.5. Kate Rye was next in line at ninety-eighth. Her time was 22:57.7. At one hundred-first place was Marena Middleton with a time of 23:08.8. Madelyn Shipman came in at one hundred and thirteenth with a time of 23:58.0. Finally, Kalia Pfeffer placed one hundred-eighteenth with a time of 24:28.0.
Tierney Wolfgram made history at this event-this is the first time a Nevada runner has qualified for Nationals in more than 40 years. She is the second runner in Wolf Pack history to get to Nationals. Wolfgram’s time made her the highest finisher from the Pack since the new format change.
The NCAA National Cross Country Championships will be held Nov. 20 in Tallahassee, Fla. Wolfgram will be representing Nevada in this event.
Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @kelsmiddleunr
Originally published at http://nevadasagebrush.com.
