LARAMIE – The Wyoming cross country teams are off to a fast start to the season.
 
And Kylie Simshauser has been the leader of the pack.
 
The senior is the first Cowgirl to earn Mountain West athlete of the week twice in one season.
 
Simshauser opened the season by setting a course and program record with a time of 17 minutes, 14 seconds in the 5K while winning the Cheyenne Invitational.
 
At the highly competitive Roy Griak Invite in St. Paul, Minn., Simshauser finished third individually with a time of 21:25.4 on the 8K course to lead UW to a third-place finish behind host Minnesota and then-No. 25 Utah Valley and ahead of rival Colorado State.
 
"Amazing," UW head coach Scott Dahlberg said of Simshauser's performance. "She has been very consistent, and we talked about making another jump in her training going into this year. She bought into it and put in a tremendous amount of work this summer and it's paying off. For her going into this meet we didn't want her to sell herself short. We wanted her to find a reasonable place to guide her to her goal.
 
"Both (assistant) Coach (Nick) Costello and I thought that if she had a good day like she did in Cheyenne she could be in that top five. For her to go out there and take charge of the race and hold on was really fun to see. It's only going to generate more belief in what she's capable of doing."
 
Simshauser has been a steady contributor to the team throughout her career. The Florence, Colo., product credits the recent breakthroughs to her mentality this season.
 
"I've struggled with having confidence," Simshauser said. "I don't think I want to become too confident, but that meet in Cheyenne really helped knowing I can go out there and try to push myself to the limits and see what happens."
 
Abigail Whitman, a senior from Laramie, finished 8^th at the Roy Griak Invite with a time of 21:52.5. Eowyn Dalbec (21^st), Madelyn Blazo (22^nd) and Hailey Uhre (25^th) rounded out the scoring for UW's tight-knit squad.

"Once I finished, I turned around and here come my teammates and I can see them finishing and as soon as we heard we got third it was a big reward," Simshauser said. "Seeing the start of the season going the way it will push us forward. Our biggest goal is nationals and to do as well as we can in conference as well. Being successful now lets us know that when it comes time to push, we can push, and we can compete with those teams."
 
The Cowboys built on their victory in the Cheyenne Invitation by edging Navy to win the Roy Griak Invite with host Minnesota, CSU and Ohio State rounding out the top five in the 17-team field.
 
Mason Norman finished fifth individually in the 8K with a time of 25:7.7 seconds. Ryker Holtzen (25:11.3) and Jacob White (25:14.1) finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
 
"We had finished, and the girls went off and we weren't seeing the actual race, but we were seeing it on the big screen. We saw Kylie take an early lead and that was exciting," Norman said. "We saw her do that in Cheyenne as well. It's impressive she's able to run so strong from the front."
 
UW will compete in the Joe Piane Invite on Friday in South Bend, Ind.
 
The men's field includes No. 4 Northern Arizona, No. 9 Notre Dame , No. 29 Cal Baptist and No. 30 Michigan State. The women's field includes No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 5 BYU and No. 25 Michigan State. 
 
"Honestly, having that extra race is going to be so nice, especially getting to compete against some of those teams that we will see at nationals," Simshauser said. "It will help give us an extra little push."
 
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