After finishing third in the Rust Buster Invitational last fall, Jackson Brainerd approached this year's version with a different strategy – and it worked.

Brainerd, who earned All-America honors as a sophomore in 2009, picked up right where he left off on Saturday by winning the season-opening race hosted by CU-Colorado Springs in North Monument Valley Park. 

His 6K time of 19:03 was 14 seconds faster than the personal-record 19:17 he ran in the same event last September, as well as a course record. He remained second for much of the race, took the lead with about a mile to go and beat his nearest rival going away.

“I didn't go for a time today,” Brainerd said. “I just went for the win. I went a little too hard in our first meet last year, so I knew I had to be careful today. I wanted to feel it out first, then kick it in.”

Competing in a field of 85 student athletes from the Air Force Academy, Crown College (Minnesota), CSU-Pueblo, Metro State and UCCS, Brainerd paced a Colorado College contingent of 15 that claimed fourth place in the team standings while establishing 13 personal records altogether. 

Andrew Wagner claimed 14th place with a PR of 20:04, while Daniel Kraft was 20th with a 20:21 clocking. Rounding out CC's top eight were Max Gerken (20:36), Mike Dougan (20:38), Brad Dsida (20:50), Dave Wilder (20:54) and Sam Pratt-Otto (20:58).