HASTINGS, Neb. -- Led by Lorena Ramirez, the Bellevue University women's cross country team finished in eighth place in the 11-team Bronco Stampede hosted by Hastings College Saturday morning on the 5K course.
Fort Hays State won the meet with a team score of 34. Concordia (Neb.) was the top NAIA team, finishing second at 45 points.
Ramirez was BU's top runner, finishing in 24th with a time of 20:49.61. Ramirez showed much improvement over last season when she ran 22:47 at this same meet. Another big improvement came from Dayana Montano-Salama who ran 26:56 last year and today broke 24 minutes for the first time with her time 23:54. Sister Diana Montano-Salama went from 30:25 a year ago to 25:20.73 today. The Montano-Salama sisters are a testament to consistent year-round running and hard work.
"Our teams finished in last place a year ago so I feel like we are getting better," said head coach Craig Christians. This was not our best race today but we don't want our best race coming in September, we want that in November. We are working very hard right now so we are all running a bit fatigued and dealing with some minor injuries so I was pleased with the overall group effort today. If we are racing hard and giving it a maximum effort, that's all I can ask for."
The Bruins will compete in the Graceland Yellow Jacket Invitational next Saturday, Sept. 21 at 10:30 a.m.
