DENVER, Colo. – The Regis women's cross country team got off to a fast start at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday. The Rangers finished in 14th with a cumulative points total of 461 points, three points ahead of Westminster University.
Their 14th place performance marks the first time the Regis women have defeated another RMAC team since 2018 when they beat New Mexico Highlands University.
"I was proud of the women's efforts today. When I'm looking at their times, four out of the five ran 6K PRs and improved throughout the season on a course that's pretty tough," said Regis head cross country coach, Evan Verbal. "I'm really excited that we were able to beat Westminster today and get a win in the RMAC. That's huge."
How It Happened: The Rangers' freshman Allie Braney paced all Rangers with a team-best 6:37 pace, resulting in a time of 24 minutes, 36.6 seconds and a placement of 79th.
"Allie's race plan was to get out pretty hard and try to just beat a lot of people in the RMAC. It was somewhat of a risky plan and I think she got out hard and did a good job and hung on the best that she could. I know it wasn't her best day, but I'm really proud of her," said Verbal.
Braney's time was the best 6K time for the Rangers since Sara Smagacz in 2019 (24:01.4).
Following Braney was redshirt freshman Julia Gerardo, finishing 110th with a time of 27:53.6. Hot on Gerrardo's heels with senior Grace McGettigan 111th with a time of 28:14.9.
Rounding out the five runners was junior Abigail Blanner and Adrianna Ventura Hill, finishing 119th and 120th respectively with times of 30:57.1 and 33:57.6.
Blanner, Gerardo, McGettigan, and Ventura Hill all posted personal bests in the 6K distance. Blanner bested her previous time by 41 seconds, Gerrardo beat hers by 2 minutes and 36 seconds, McGettigan bested her previous time by 14 seconds, and Ventura Hill beat her previous best by a margin of 1:47.
Up Next: The Rangers will be heading down to the lone star State on Nov. 4th for the NCAA South Central Region Championships.
"I think we're going to ride that wave of positivity and repeat this performance down in Texas. We want to get a couple of more teams in addition to the one we beat today," said Verbal.
