It came as no surprise that Devin Nadar emerged as Colorado College's top finisher at Saturday's season-opening Rust Buster Open in North Monument Valley Park. 

Coach Ted Castaneda and his staff expect that Nadar, who claimed CC's "Most Improved Runner" award as a junior in 2010, will consistently share the spotlight with fellow senior Maggie Harkins this fall.

With Harkins and a pair of other veterans – juniors Charis Whitnah and Mary Wang – sitting out Saturday's 4K race hosted by CU-Colorado Springs, Nadar was left to set the pace for freshman teammates Alex Caplan, Betsie Hopper, Stephanie Wynn and Camille Febvre.

Nadar crossed the line with a clocking of 15:46.70. That was more than seven seconds faster than her time in the same event a year ago and good for 27th place in a field of 94 dominated by runners from Division I Colorado State University and Air Force Academy, as well as Division II Colorado School of Mines and Metro State College of Denver. 

Caplan claimed 57th place (16:58.28), Hopper 64th (17:11.18), Wynn 80th (18:26.99) and Febvre 81st (18:26.59) in their collegiate debuts.

"It's nice to see Devin ahead of last year," said Castaneda. "And we saw when Alex Caplan came in that she would be one of our top seven. We're seeing some good individual efforts – nothing spectacular. But this was just a tuneup for us. It's way too early in the season. We'll be ready come October."

The Tigers remain home next Saturday, competing again in Monument Valley Park at their own Colorado College Invitational before traveling to Oklahoma State University's Cowboy Jamboree two weeks later, on Oct. 1.

Saturday's fourth annual Rust Buster was won in 14:23.78 by Hannah Pensack-Rinehart, one of three CSU runners to shatter the previous course record of 14:28. Of the top 15 finishers, 13 were from CSU or Air Force.