Oct. 28, 2016 FULL RESULTS
RENO, Nev. - On a chilly day under cloud-covered skies, freshman Cora Gallop ran the cross country race of her life at the Mountain West Championships.
"Each time I saw a group in front of me, that was my goal," Gallop said.
Make it to the next group, make it to the next group, make it to the next group Gallop kept chanting in her head as she passed group after group of runners.
"I actually felt really good today. My whole goal was to just stay relaxed during the race. I'm really proud of my team."
Gallop, in just her first season running cross country, crossed the line in 14th with a time of 21:08 to earn second team All-Conference honors.
A triple jumper just a year ago, the Oakland, Ore. native has made an immediate impact in the Nevada history books, now third all-time in the 6000 meter in school history. Gallop also shattered the freshman 6K record by 26 seconds.
"Cora had a great race," said head coach Kirk Elias. "She finished 14th when I don't think anyone would have had her in their top 30."
Nevada had a block of runners in freshman Hiley Dobbs (43rd, 21:56), redshirt freshman Lindsey Adams (44th, 21:59) and sophomore McKenna Evans (48th, 22:04) finish in the middle of the field. Senior Sidney Root finished her final conference meet at 22:17, a 32 second personal record. As a team, Nevada finished seventh at the conference meet, beating out UNLV and earning three Governor's Series points.
"We ended up where we were selected to," Elias said. "That's kind of a disappointment. We had hoped to move up. We had a couple kids with illness this week and illness today, but that's part of the game."
Two weeks off lie ahead for Nevada before traveling to Logan, Utah for the Mountain Region Championships.
