COLORADO SPRINGS – The risk paid off.

Heading into the RMAC Championship race in one of the most unique training seasons anyone has ever encountered, the Colorado Christian men's cross country knew a top three team was a possibility. They just needed to run with a little bit of a reckless abandon. Mission accomplished.

Not only did the Cougars finish in the top five at the conference championship meet for the first time in school history, they notched a third place finish at Monument Valley Park on Saturday morning. Previously the best finish for the program was a seventh place team result.

HOW IT HAPPENED: With the 12 teams lined-up the Cougars race plan took shape during the early stages of the 8K race.

The top two racers for the squad went out with the top group and stayed with the main pack during the four-loop race. As they came down the finishing shoot, Josh Pierantoni finished ninth overall with a time of 24:41.5 with Ryder Searle just two spots behind him in 24:43.4.

Critical to the hopes of a top three finish were how the third, fourth and fifth runners for the Cougars placed in the overall standings. Trent Cochran ran a gutsy race as the sophomore clipped the finish line in the 17th overall position with a time of 25:19 while Alex Vance completed his freshman campaign with a 23rd place finish as he registered a time of 25:36.9. Robert Jordano clipped the tape in 26:00.9 to give the Cougars 89 team points.

Colorado Christian finished six points ahead of Adams State's 95 team points. Last season the Grizzles finished second to Colorado School of Mines at the NCAA National Championship race. 

RACE NOTES:

• Pierantoni and Searle earned first-team all-conference honors while Cochran and Vance were recognized with second-team accolades for their finishes; the Cougars never had an all-conference runner until Saturday morning
• Colorado School of Mines, the defending National Champions, won the race with 22 points with Western Colorado (60) coming in second.
• Dylan Ko, from Colorado School of Mines, won the race in 24:18.4
• Each RMAC had the option of opting out because of the health pandemic; as Regis, CSU Pueblo and N.M. Highlands decided not to compete.

QUOTEABLE

Trent Cochran

"I think the season has been awesome. This all started last year with how we finished at the National Championships and we weren't satisfied with that. This year we felt like we had a more talented squad and since there was no National Championships this year, the conference championship meet was the end goal. For years Adams State, Western and Mines have dominated and today we came in with the mindset of just 'why not us' and see if we could mess up that hierarchy. We really enjoy coming in here and changing that up. It means a lot to us and today was a total team effort."

Head Coach Jon Poag

"To be top three in the RMAC is a better result than our National Championship result like season. It doesn't compare apples to apples but the top three for the last decade has been Mines, Western and Adams State. To be the first team to break that up for the first time in a while says a lot about the guys belief in each other, their training and just their desire to become a top 10 finisher at the National Championship race."

UP NEXT: The Cougars will put together a track schedule in the coming weeks and get ready for the Indoor and Outdoor seasons.