(Pictured: Trinity Anderson of Paradise, UT)
This past Saturday, September 29th, the Dawson Community College Cross Country team competed in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the first time at the historic Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. Dawson runners competed against strong Division II, III, and community college competition. Under awesome cross country conditions with a cool crisp morning and light drizzle, the Buccaneers all set personal bests.
In her very first cross country meet with almost 200 women, Trinity Anderson completed the 6K race (3.7 miles) in a time of 28:50. DCC Coach Ben Sandy said, “She is only beginning, and with her performance this weekend, I am really excited to see how much she keeps improving. She raced tough and handled the rolling course very well.”
On the men’s side, in a field of almost 200 men, Kolte Copp finished first for Dawson in the men’s 8K race (5 miles) in 35:26, three minutes faster than his performance in Rapid City a few weeks ago. Kolte credits his patience at the beginning of the race for his improvement. Coach Sandy noted, “Kolte ran a smart race, and continued to chase down runners in front of him throughout the course. He is getting stronger with each week of training and I am eager to see what he does this week in Jamestown.” Also finishing strong for the Buccaneers was Austin Rysavy with a five minute personal best time of 38:07. Over the past few weeks of training, Coach Sandy could tell Austin was in for a breakthrough race as he has been showing drastic improvement in practice each week. Austin credits his great race to his ability to push the hills; something he and the team have been working on in practice.
Coach Sandy commented, “The training we have been doing is working beautifully. The runners are all continuing to improve and seeing the benefits of the hard work they are putting in each day. I know we will continue to do well in the coming weeks as the runners keep getting fitter and stronger.” He shared he knows good racing is still to come as the Buccaneers head to Jamestown this Friday, October 5th for the race starting at 4 p.m.