4 runners, top 4 finishers, net women 1st place
Stealing the top four places at the first meet of the season, the women of the Eagle’s cross country team won the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers Open Meet Saturday by 30 points.
Beating her time from last year’s meet by 23 seconds, Rebecca Volf, senior of Wood River, completed the three-mile long course in 18 minutes, 37 seconds. Volf also won this meet last year.
Alyse Henry, freshman of Rock Springs, Wyoming, was the second Eagle to cross the finish line in a time of 18:44. Close behind her and finishing the race nine seconds ahead of her time last year, Jayme Nunes, senior of Alliance, finished in 18:58. Finishing out the top four places was junior of Chadron, Nicky Banzhaf, who crossed at the 19:04 mark, which was 15 seconds better than last season.
“Our team did so well because we had a strong pack,” Banzhaf said. “If we can keep practicing to motivate each other, and if we continue to encourage each other in races, we can keep the momentum going.”
In 13th place, as the fifth Eagle to cross the line, Maggie Vinton, junior of North Platte, finished in 20:07. Two other Eagles finished in the top 20 runners—Sarah Townsend, senior of Douglas, Wyoming, in 15th place with a time of 20:21, and Sandra Palayo, junior of Cozad, in 17th place with a time of 20:31.
The CSC women took the meet with 23 points. The second place team, the host, the Hardrockers, were 30 points behind with 53. Gillette College, with 70 points, was third, and Black Hills State University finished in fourth place with 79 points.
The men’s team didn’t finish as high up on the charts as the women. CSC men finished the meet with 78 points in fourth place. Black Hills State University took the men’s race with 32 points, followed by Gillette College, 74 points, and South Dakota School of Mines, also with 74 points.
Dylan Stansbury, junior of Crawford, was the first Eagle to finish the five-mile race in fourth place with a time of 26:30. Stansbury beat his previous time at this race from last year by 50 seconds.
Phil Duncan, sophomore of Chadron, and Kyle Dietsch, junior of Sheridan, Wyoming, were the other two Eagles to finish in the top 20, with times of 27:40 and 28:06, respectively. Duncan crossed in 12th place, while Dietsch was in 17th.
The cross country team will hit the home turf this weekend with its annual home meet beginning at 9 a.m., Saturday. The race will start at the practice football field.
“Since this week’s race isn’t one of our top priority races, we’re kind of training through it,” Volf said. “So I’m just trying to focus on putting the effort into every practice. Holding back in practice in fear of being sore for the race is only going to hurt us later in the season. We put in 75 miles a week and practice everyday twice a day, so it’s really important to stay positive and keep each other motivated; not just in practice but with classes and our personal lives as well.”
“This weekend I hope to stay closer to Becca and Alyse,” Nunes said. “We run strong when we run together. I hope we can push each other throughout the entire race. We have been training hard as team all week and we hold each other accountable. We can’t expect our teammates to give their best if we don’t do the same.”
Volf shared Nunes sentiments.
“I’m very blessed to have been able to call such an inspiring group of girls family for the past five years,” Volf said. “I can’t wait to see all of our hard work pay off this year and in the years to come.”