By Paxton Ritchey- CSC Sports Information
LAS VEGAS, N.M. – Chadron State’s cross country programs will compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship races this Saturday at the Gene Torres Golf Course in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The men’s 8K race will take place at 10:45 a.m., followed by the women’s 6K at 11:35 a.m.
The Eagles will be looking to improve on last season’s 13th-place finishes by both the men’s and women’s programs. Colorado School of Mines is the defending conference champion on the men’s side. The Oredigger men also went on to win a national championship last year. Adams State are the defending women’s champions, and the Grizzlies women are currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
The RMAC meet, like usual, figures to be one of the most competitive conference meets in the nation. The men’s race will feature six teams ranked in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s top 30 while the women’s race will feature eight top-30 programs.
Chadron State has competed in three meets so far this season. The Eagles raced at the Gage McSpadden Invitational hosted by Black Hills State on September 6, but that was a shorter meet, with the men running 6K and the women running a 4K.
The Eagles have competed twice at the championship distances, racing at the Roadrunners Invitational in Denver on September 21 and the Colorado Springs XC Open hosted by UCCS on October 11.
On the men’s side, sophomore Wyatt Bly has been the first Eagle across the line in two of those three meets. Bly’s time of 26:42.35 from the Roadrunner Invitational is the fastest 8K run by a Chadron State athlete this season.
Graduate student Kyle Shirley is CSC’s top returning athlete from last year’s RMAC Championships, finishing 88th and fifth among Eagle runners with a time of 27:50.7 at the RMAC meet in 2023. Shirley has beaten that time in both of his 8K’s so far this season, running 26:57.30 in Denver and 27:13.9 in Colorado Springs.
Junior Blaine Johnson, who was Chadron State’s top 8K finisher in Colorado Springs with a time of 26:51.1, junior Miles Mitchell(season best of 28:43.82) and sophomore Adam Beard (season best of 29:41.9) have been CSC’s top five finishers all season alongside Bly and Shirley.
For the Eagle women, sophomore Samantha Rodewald and junior Lydia Peters have been neck-and-neck all season at the 6K distance. Rodewald has the fastest 6K by an Eagle women’s runner so far this season, pacing Chadron State with a mark of 23:33.60 in Denver. She also cracked 25 minutes in Colorado Springs, running 24:54.0.
Peters, from Sidney, Nebraska, led the Eagles in Colorado Springs with a time of 23:55.1, but her season-best was also in Denver, where she finished just behind Rodewald in 23:49.36. Senior Alissa Wieman (season-best 24:19.3), freshman Kyndall Carnahan(season-best 24:37.51) and sophomore Katelyn Beshara (season-best 25:06.38) also figure to place.
Unlike the men’s side, the CSC women have plenty of runners with returning RMAC meet experience. In last season’s meet, Peters finished 74th in a time of 25:02.7 while Rodewald was three seconds behind in 76th. Beshara (77th) and Wieman (78th) ran last year’s course in 25:15 and 25:25, respectively.
Teams and individuals will hope to qualify for the South Central Regional XC Championships, which will take place in Denver on November 9, and eventually the NCAA Division II National Championships in Sacramento, California on November 23.