Bluejay runners compete in Colorado
Men's team finishes fourth
Now might be the ideal time for the Bluejays to reach for the injury repellent.
Last week it was the men's team finding out its top runner, Pete Richert, is out for the year.
This week it was the women's turn to be bitten by the injury bug.
The Lady Bluejays had three runners out Saturday for the Colorado College Invitational in Colorado Springs, leaving them too short for a team score.
Kendra Raber is out with a broken arm, Jennie Throne had knee surgery, and Tiffany Stevens was sick.
The men's team finished fourth out of four teams with the Bluejays totaling 94 points.
Hosting Colorado College was the overall winner for both the men's and women's divisions with 32 and 25 points, respectively.
Competing in a six-kilometer race instead of a five, Angie Jost led the Lady Bluejays with a 12th place time of 25:26.
Heidi Schmidt was 19th in 26:38, two places ahead of teammate Amber Wiens, who finished in 27:01.
Rebekah Lockhart was 35th (31:03) of out of 41 finishers.
"The six-kilometer was a new experience for us and the women responded well," Bluejay coach Karol Hunt said. "Since this is the first time to run this distance, we don't have any times to compare our performances to. It was tough not being able to get a team score."
For the third race in a row, Anthony Bartlett posted the best time for the Bluejays, 31:00 for 15th, to earn an award.
In a heated race to stay in the top 20, Jeff Anenson edged teammates Kevin and Kyle Larson for 18th in 31:25 with Kevin 1/100th of a second behind him for 19th.
Kyle Larson rounded out the top 20 in 31:30.
Mike Norris rebounded from a sub-par performance a week earlier, taking 22nd in 31:43.
Matt Lynam was 25th in 32:42.
"I thought the men raced today instead of just running to finish," said Hunt. "We ran as a group and the top five all finished within 43 seconds.
"We made a lot of progress on our focus of consistency. Our times were slower this year on a revamped course," Hunt said.
"The winning time in the men's race was 27:38 which is slower than normal. With that in mind, the men were respectable in their fourth place team finish."
The Bluejays travel Saturday to Salina for the Kansas Wesleyan Invitational at Bill Burke Park.
The women begin at noon and the men start 30 minutes later.
