Falcons Anxious To Improve Defense

Emily Durgin came to the 44th Bolder Boulder on Monday to try to defend her title. She had to tip her cap to Kenya’s Grace Loibach Nawowuna, however. The 20-year-old Nawowuna got off to a fast start and never let up in winning the women’s title of the International Pro Team Challenge.

Conner Mantz sure knows how to put on a show at Folsom Field. A year after a dramatic finish to win the Bolder Boulder, he did it again on Monday. Mantz surged past Yemane Haileselassie of Eritrea in the final 250 meters to claim the title in the International Pro Team Challenge for the second year in a row. Mantz, running for the USA Red team, finished the 10K race in 29 minutes, 12.51 seconds to outlast Haileselassie by just 1.8 seconds. “I think it’s a big deal for me just because this is such a prestigious race and getting the body to dig that deep is something I’m really trying to work on,” said Mantz, who had a strong final kick to win by only four seconds in 2023.

OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee, the Southeastern Conference regular-season and conference tournament champion and the consensus No. 1 team in the country for a month, on Monday was awarded the top national seed for the NCAA Tournament. The 64-team tournament opens Friday with 16 double-elimination regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals.

A sore arm has detoured a career run for Austin Gomber. The Rockies’ left-hander was scratched from his Monday afternoon start against Cleveland at Coors Field. Right-hander Anthony Molina, a Rule-5 draft pickup, was called on to fill in for Gomber. The preliminary plan calls for Gomber to skip Monday’s start and pitch this weekend against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. “I felt really good after my last start in Oakland, but then we flew back here and there was a little bit of swelling and inflammation near the back of my triceps where it meets the elbow,” said Gomber, adding that his arm was at about 85%.

Two years ago, Aidan Reed ran the Bolder Boulder for the first time but chose to take it easy and jog throughout the 10K race. On Monday, he came to win. The Helena, Mont., native who has lived in Boulder for nearly three years won the men’s citizen’s race at the 44th Bolder Boulder.

Molly Grabill wasn’t too thrilled with how she’s been running lately. Monday was a different story. At the 44th Bolder Boulder, the Superior resident and San Diego native won the women’s citizen’s race for the second consecutive year. A former six-time All-American at Oregon, Grabill, 31, is the first repeat champion — men or women — since Lilly Guerra won the women’s races in 2002-03. Grabill said she came in with the intent to win, but added, “I mean, there was Laura (Thweatt) and Gwen (Jorgensen) in the race and I’ve just kind of been in a little bit of a slump since the (U.