UND senior Emily Emerson bolted out in front of everyone right from the start. Sioux freshman Erin Wysocki sat back early and chased down the pack of leaders late in the race.
The differing styles added up to a second-place finish for the UND women at the Great West Conference Cross Country Championship at Ray Richards golf course today.
Emerson and Wysocki both earned all-conference first team honors by placing fifth and sixth, respectively.
"I felt really strong at the beginning," Emerson said. "I was really excited to go out and lead. I usually don't do that. That was exciting. I wish I could've held the lead longer, but the other girls kind of took off at about the 2-mile mark. I started to get a side-ache and unfortunately I fell behind."
Emerson, a native of Lino Lakes, Minn., finished in 18 minutes, 14.86 seconds while Wysocki charted the course in 18:21.44.
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"I think Emily wanted to give it a shot and win," UND coach Dick Clay said. "That's what I told all of the girls. If you want to try to beat Utah Valley, you've got to do it right away at the beginning. We didn't beat Utah Valley, but everyone left it all out on the course."
Wysocki, a Grand Forks native, was named GWC Freshmen of the Year.
The Sioux recorded a team score of 67 points, which trailed only Utah Valley (37), which captured its fourth straight women's title.
"Overall, I'm so happy for our team," Emerson said. "Everyone started strong and got out right away with Utah Valley. That helped us take a strong second place."
Judith Chumba of Texas-Pan American won the race with a time of 17:47.26.
Two more Sioux freshmen cracked the top 20. Jessica Lynch placed 16th (19:05.90), while Grand Forks' Jessica Lindsay was 18th (19:14.10).
On the men's side, Utah Valley won its third consecutive conference title.
The Wolverines finished with 43 team points to defeat runner-up Texas-Pan American in the 8K race.
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Houston Baptist's Matt Perri took first place in the individual standings with a time of 25:12.66. The Sioux placed fifth with 103 points.
UND senior Tyler Rose, of Brainerd, Minn., earned all-conference second team honors with an eighth-place finish. Rose recorded a time of 25:49.93.
Rose was joined in the top 18 by a pair of teammates. Freshman Nick Lindstrom placed 17th, while sophomore James Dean was 18th.
"Rose had a great performance," Clay said. "He did what he needed to do and even passed some guys right at the end there to get eighth."
