Govenor to honor XC team at Western State

Hickenlooper at basketball game Friday

Colorado governor John Hickenlooper will attend the Mountaineer men’s basketball game at Western Sate College on Friday, January 13 to recognize the Mountaineer NCAA Division II National Championship Men’s Cross Country Team.
“We’re very excited that Governor Hickenlooper will help us celebrate our cross country national championship,” said Western State athletic director Dr. Greg Waggoner. “We’re looking forward to welcoming the governor next Friday night.”
The Mountaineer men’s cross country team won their ninth national championship this fall with the fifth-lowest team score in Division II championship history. Ryan Haebe led Western State as the first individual men’s cross country national champion since 2001 as the Mountaineers placed all five scoring runners in the top 13 of the overall results. Tyler Pennel finished as the national runner-up; David Goodman placed fifth, Gabe Proctor in seventh and Trevor Blackman at No. 13. Adam Sinda also earned All-America honors as a displacer.
Head coach Jennifer Michel earned USTFCCCA National Men’s Coach of the Year honors for the second time in her career. She’s the only woman in NCAA history to earn the national coach of the year in a men’s sport. Haebe was the Division II runner of the year and the USA Track and Field National Runner of the Week after the championships.
Hickenlooper will take part in halftime activities along with the national championship team and Western State College president Dr. Jay Helman. It will be the first visit to campus by a sitting governor since Hickenlooper’s predecessor, Bill Ritter, delivered the spring commencement address in 2009.
The Mountaineers will also recognize the national runner-up women’s cross-country team during the women’s halftime. Western State finished with five All-Americans, led by third-place runner Lauren Kleppin, to lead the RMAC at the national championships.
Western State basketball will take on Colorado Mesa next Friday night in the halfway point of the conference schedule. The women, who are fourth in the RMAC standings, tip off at 6 p.m., with the men to follow at approximately 8 p.m.