THE RUNDOWN
No. 27 DBU traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas to compete in the Chile Pepper Festival, taking third place in the Women's 5k. Their score of 130 points was just 7 shy of Division I Southern Mississippi, who finished second. The University of Arkansas won on their home course convincingly with 27 points.

Across the line first for the Lady Patriots and 10th overall was Madison Brown, running her career-best cross country 5k mark of 16:47.5. She was the first Division II runner to finish, competing with some of the best female runners Division I has to offer. Marissa Insinna also ran her personal-best XC 5k time of 17:11.1, placing 16th overall as the second Division II runner in the race. Crossing the finish line next in 22nd was Emme O'Donnell, a huge bounce-back race to continue the career-day performances with a time of 17:24.1. KayCee Keller followed that up with her best 5k mark, running 17:38.8, placing 42nd. Rylee Cristan wrapped up the scoring with yet another personal-best 5k time, finishing in 63rd with a time of 17:57.9.

Unlike any race DBU will run all season, the gun went off at 4:30 in the afternoon, setting up what would be a dusty stampede under the Arkansas sun. Through 1 mile, Brown was already up in the front of the race, keeping pace with the best runners of No. 13 University of Arkansas, but Pueblo had their five scorers in a bunch, all in front of DBU's third. However, by the 3.5k mark, the Lady Patriots had made up serious ground to break up the Thunderwolves' pack, jumping them in the scoring. That separation only grew as the race came to a close. Insinna's progress was most significant, moving up the entire race from as far back as 67th to finish 16th.

MEASURING UP
This was a "prove-it" race for a team that had been slowly pushed down the rankings, even after sweeping the Orville Rogers Home Opener and finishing third while racing a 6k at altitude. Though they started the season projected to finish first in the Lone Star Conference and 19th in the nation, they have only dropped in the rankings behind regional foe No. 16 CSU Pueblo and LSC rival No. 23 West Texas A&M. Beating all the Texas schools present, no matter the size or division, is an exciting feat on its own, but outscoring the Thunderwolves by 112 points is what should shoot them up in the next set of rankings.

The back and forth between the 5th-10th teams in the South-Central Region should make for an exciting regional race in November. Though the national rankings are constantly moving after each competition, the race that matters most will be back on the course that CSU Pueblo already proved they can win on. There are seven weeks until that day for every team to improve their stock in the hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Division II National Meet.

DBU HEAD COACH JACOB PHILLIPS ON THE THIRD PLACE FINISH
"This was a statement race from our women. We feel like we've been overlooked in the rankings all season and knew that we had to come out and show it with a performance! Our Ladies did just that. Madi led us at the front and then we had a very tight spread with Marissa, Emme, KayCee, and Rylee coming through in those scoring positions."
"We proved today that we can be a team finishing in the top 10 at nationals! Now, we just got to keep getting better, stay healthy, and make it happen on that day."

Women's Results

UP NEXT
DBU will send those who did not race the Chili Pepper Festival to Wichita Falls, Texas to compete at the Lone Star Conference Preview Meet, hosted by Midwestern State on October 8.