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TSR's 2024 Preseason D2 XC Top 10 Team Rankings (Women): #6 UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions
- Marissa Kuik
- Sep 8, 2024
- 7 min read
Written by Marissa Kuik, edits & additional commentary via Gavin Struve & Garrett Zatlin
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
In some ways, a 12th-place finish for this team at the 2023 cross country national meet felt like a bit of a letdown, especially after an incredible 4th-place podium performance the year prior.
However, the Mountain Lions had lost two of their top-four runners from 2022, which forced others to step up and stretched their scoring lineup a bit thin when not everything went to plan.
Now that another year has gone by, this roster has gained valuable additional national meet experience. With two stellar low-sticks leading the way, UC-Colorado Springs (UCCS) should leap back into the top-10 and perhaps even the top-five if everything falls in their favor.
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As always, the Mountain Lions kicked off the season at their home opener, the UCCS XC Rust-Buster. Low-stick standouts Anna Fauske and Kate Hedlund went 1-2, and they secured the team win on their home course as well.
Conference rival CSU-Pueblo put forth a worthy challenge, finishing only eight points behind the Mountain Lions. That was an encouraging result against a squad that's been used as a measuring stick for UCCS in recent seasons and will be again this season.
After a few more in-state meets for some of their underclassmen, UC-Colorado Springs took to the skies, flying over to Kentucky for the loaded Live in Lou XC Classic.
That meet was the first true test for this team to see how they'd fare against big Division Two competition. Overall, they performed quite well, even if they lost to one solid team who we didn't expect them to. UCCS ended up 7th overall, losing to three Division One teams as well as D2 title contenders Grand Valley State and Adams State. The surprise loss was to Lee (Tenn).
On the flip side, the Mountain Lions landed ahead of West Texas A&M, Cedarville, and Mississippi College, which made for a solid showing. They were led once again by the impressive performances from Hedlund (13th) and Fauske (14th). Rounding out the rest of the scorers were Rachel Richtman (71st), Molly Breuer (84th) and Rachel Goodrich (126th).
The front-end scoring potency was present, but there was too big of a gap between them and UCCS' respectable back-end scorers.
Moving into the championship season, the Mountain Lions were looking to quiet any doubts. Division Two's most difficult conference meet, the RMAC XC Championships, was a great place to do just that.
Unfortunately, after pushing herself to her limits, Hedlund fell and stumbled for the last 100 meters to the finish line, going from the top-10 all the way back to 53rd place. Fauske still finished 5th overall, and the lineup was cohesive behind her -- Richtman was 21st, Nadine Almasri placed 29th, Goodrich finished 35th, and Breuer rounded out the scoring in 39th -- but the Mountain Lions could not recover from Hedlund's absence as a scorer.
In the end, UCCS fell to 5th in the team standings, losing to Adams State, Colorado Mines, Western Colorado, and CSU-Pueblo.
The Mountain Lions still entered the South Central Regional XC Championships with the confidence that they could perform better and perhaps go head-to-head with the Mountaineers, who had finished 3rd at their conference meet.
The biggest addition to the competition on the regional stage was West Texas A&M. The Mountain Lions got the performance that they needed out of Hedlund (who placed 11th), but they still finished 5th overall, right behind the Lady Buffaloes.
While the 4th-place finish by West Texas A&M perhaps came as a surprise, the Mountain Lions were only seven points behind them. So if they could get their fifth runner (freshman Emma Montoya in that setting) just a little closer to the rest of the pack, they definitely had a chance to return to the top-10 at the NCAA XC Championships.
The season finale took place in Joplin, Missouri, where Fauske put on an incredible showing by finishing an astonishing 9th overall. Hedlund was right with her for the majority of the race. However, similar to what happened at the RMAC XC Championships, Hedlund faded back to 77th place.
Hedlund was still their second scorer, and Breuer, Nadine Almasri and Richtman all finished in the top-125 as well. Unfortunately, the lack of a low-stick result to complement Fauske's effort put the nail in the coffin for this team. They ended up finishing 12th overall on the national stage, knowing that they left dozens of points on the table as well as several places in the team standings.
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The biggest positive for this team entering 2024 is their experience, as everyone returns from last year’s national meet squad aside from fourth scorer Nadine Almasri. That's a difficult departure, but Coach Corey Kubatzky's team should be able to backfill the varsity lineup quite nicely.
Up front, UCCS will once again rely on the 1-2 punch of Anna Fauske and Kate Hedlund. The sky's the limit for these two stellar athletes, and barring any health issues, they could both very well finish in the top-10 at the cross country national meet.
Fauske has continued to improve with each season that she has toed the line for. Earlier this year, she ran huge PRs of 4:27 over 1500 meters as well as 16:18 over 5k and competed in both of those events at the outdoor national meet. With her improvement in speed and endurance, she will likely repeat in the top-10 with another fast cross country national meet course awaiting her (this time in Sacramento).
While Hedlund's 2023 cross country season was a little up and down, she bounced back with a fantastic pair of track seasons, running a mile PR of 4:46 and finishing 8th overall in that event at the indoor national meet.
Hedlund continued to shine in the middle distance events, reaching the 1500-meter final at the 2024 outdoor national meet. All of that suggests she'll finish closer to where she did at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships (20th), but we won't know for sure until the season's endpoint.
On top of those experienced women, Emma Montoya is a name we really like. She was incredible during her high school career in New Mexico, is no longer a true freshman, and has the opportunity to really step up for her team after a strong first year on the grass. She's the leading candidate to fill Almasri's place in the scoring lineup.
Both Molly Breuer and Rachel Richtman saw huge growth on the track in 2023-24, especially in the 3000-meter steeplechase, where Breuer was painfully close to making the outdoor national meet after running a personal best of 10:42. She has been a solid member of the scoring five the past couple of seasons, so seeing her make huge improvements in the steeplechase suggests that her fitness base is growing.
Richtman competed unattached during the outdoor track season, but fared quite well in her own right. Both of those women who placed in the top-125 at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships appear in line to further close the gap to their team’s low-stick stars.
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In terms of newcomers, one runner who could make a splash as a true freshman is Sydney Fauske. And yes, you read that last name correctly. Anna Fauske’s younger sister has signed with the Mountain Lions, and she has a very similar high school resume to her sister's, with personal best times of 5:00 (1600) and 10:53 (3200).
Sydney Fauske may not be favored to make her way into the team’s lineup in her first year, although her sister's pedigree suggests there's a chance. If anything, she provides the kind of further insurance through depth that the Mountain Lions always seem to have.
Her incoming classmate, Reese Landis, has run 10:50 (3200) and under 18:00 over 5000 meters on the grass. Kseniya Nikanorav and Kaya Pillivant have more collegiate experience and both ran 17:56 or faster over 5000 meters on the track this past spring.
There's an abundance of qualified options for UCCS' final varsity spot behind Rachel Goodrich (who's now a senior after placing 169th at the 2023 cross country national meet).
UCCS also has a key transfer who could really make some noise: Pittsburg State convert Lara Murdock. She placed 13th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships and has PRs of 36:21 (10k) and 16:53 (5k). However, she also dealt with injuries all of last fall and winter and ran no faster than 39:20 (10k) when she returned in the spring.
We'll admit, that's not necessarily the most encouraging sign even though she has entire summer to righten the ship and get back to top form.
At her best, Murdock gives UCCS a third high-octane star to push for the podium. However, nothing that we saw from her over the past year suggests that she's in that kind of fitness. Of course, even a somewhat healthy version of Murdock could be a valuable backend scorer for the Mountain Lions and that could end up being the difference between being a podium and non-podium team.
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This definitely feels like a year in which the Mountain Lions are set up to improve immensely from last season's 12th-place finish at the cross country national meet.
A podium placement isn't impossible for Coach Corey Kubatzky's squad, but it likely requires Murdock rediscovering her All-American form. A performance more reflective of Hedlund's true talent should push them toward the top-five.
At any rate, UCCS' returning production makes them feel like a shoo-in for the top-10.
