BOULDER — Last fall, American Jen Rhines hopped into a cross country workout at the urging of her husband and coach Terrence Mahon — with some of her younger teammates.
Something clicked that day, and the 40-year-old runner set a goal of trying to make one more world team — adding to the 14 others she had made between the Olympics and track and field in her long career. Saturday at the USA cross country championships, she finished third.
“My goal was just to make top six, I didn’t really care what place,” Rhines said, “but I think the strength of all my years of training just kind of paid off over the last lap.”
CU goes 1-2. CU freshmen Kaitlyn Benner and Val Constien had the best runs of their young collegiate careers, finishing 1-2 in the junior women’s race to make the world team.
“To be able to do what we love and travel to China to represent our country is just an incredible opportunity,” said Benner, who raced for Monarch High School in Louisville.
Said Constien: “It doesn’t really seem real. I’ve never run that well in my life, I don’t think.”
