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Cross Country- 2020 season pre and regular season news and results (At Pre-Nationals Sat., 10/19, 9:00 AM MT)

AztecBuff

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As I like to do with all the "individual" sports, I wanted to create this thread, which will be used to accumulate all the cross country teams' (men's and women's) news and results until the Pac 12 and NCAA Championships, which will get their own thread. (Pac 12's are scheduled for November 1st.)

Typically, I like to wait until the formal schedule is posted on cubuffs.com, which hasn't happened yet. However, there has been some news and content already out I figured should go into this designated thread, so thought I'd start it now.

In addition, the article (https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/8/3/cross-country-prepped-for-exciting-2019-season.aspx?path=cross) accompanying Coach Wetmore's pre-season media day press conference does list what I assume are the key schedule races. From that article, the races that seem to be scheduled at this point:

  • September 6, The Wyoming Invitational, Cheyenne, WY (Edit - Wanted to add that, at least in prior seasons, the top established runners (those considered heavy favorites to be part of the 7 person NCAA Championships rosters) typically don't run in these season-opening races. Instead, it's used for freshmen to get their 1st races out of the way in a relatively low pressure environment (almost always not in CU uniform so redshirting them remains an option), and giving veterans (and occasionally a mature freshman) a 1st chance (in a formal race anyway) to get on the coaches' radar for possible inclusion on the men's or women's NCAA Championships' rosters.)

  • October 4, Joe Piane Invitational, Notre Dame, South Bend, IN

  • October 19, NCAA Pre-National Invitational, (Always on same course as NCAA Championships, so Terra Haute IN this year)

  • November 1, Pac-12 Championships, Corvallis, OR

  • November 14, NCAA Mountain Region Championships, Salt Lake City, Utah

  • November 23, NCAA Championships, Terre Haute, IN (For the 12th time in 16 years)
Note- I did want to add that, from what I've seen in past seasons for both cross country and track and field, this coaching staff has been willing and able to add and/ or drop races and meets even after the formal schedule has been posted on cubuffs.com so assume, at least for the regular season, there's at least a LITTLE chance different or additional races MIGHT end up being run by the team(s).

 
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A couple things I've already noted about the teams I wanted to move here, both of which can be seen in more detail in the https://www.allbuffs.com/threads/in...ason-news-benner-pac-12-woman-of-year.139282/ :

  • In post #27 of that thread, I noted that in its pre-season GUESStimate of the Top 50 women's and men's individual runners for the coming season, 8 Buffs (5 women (#'s 45, 40, 13, 12 and 10) & 3 men (#'s 40, 13 and 4)) were named in thestridereport.com's (https://www.thestridereport.com/xc-individuals) analysis. (This is my favorite college running site, and definitely recommend it to any Buff and/ or cross country and distance running fans.)
  • For convenience, figured I'd also re-paste here the tweet containing Coach Wetmore's media day press conference-

________________________________________________________________________________

Also (Again, as I always like to mention, I consider all pre-season lists and rankings pretty much meaningless, but for fan entertainment purposes only):
  • Flotrack (https://www.flotrack.org/) has begun its Top 25 countdown of their guesstimates as to which individuals and teams will excel in 2019. (They're going from 25 to 1, and are currently at #23 top individuals and teams, counting down one each per day.) So far, one Buff has been listed, as they have ranked incoming junior transfer (from Boise State) Emily Venters their #25 D1 woman cross country runner going into the season. (My guess will be they'll be ranking the women somewhere in the Top 3-4, the men somewhere in the top 10, and 2 men and 2 more women somewhere in the individual top 25 lists.)
  • Also, thestridereport is starting their Top 25 team countdown. (So far, they have only posted a couple articles listing their honorable mention men's and women's teams.)
I will post to this thread as any Buff individual teams or individuals get referenced in either of these pre-season rankings (if I don't get lazy and wait until all the rankings are out for the Buffs).
 
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A couple things -

Not cross country-related (since she's out of eligibility), but great to see that Dani Jones is officially staying at CU another (5th) year (she can run as a Buff during both indoor and outdoor track seasons).


________________________________________________________________________________________

 
Teams have their 1st races tomorrow.



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/9/4/cross-country-buffs-to-open-season-at-wyoming-invitational.aspx

"
By: Linda Sprouse, Associate SID
Release: September 04, 2019


BOULDER — After a couple of weeks of training, the 2019 cross country season will officially begin for the University of Colorado Friday, September 6, at the Wyoming Invitational in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Both teams will run a 5,000-meter race at The Little America Golf Course. The women will go first at 6 p.m. and the men will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Following the Wyoming Invite, the Buffs will have several weeks off to prepare for the next competition, the Joe Piane Invitational, October 4 in South Bend, Ind.

The CU women enter the meet as the USTFCCCA Poll preseason favorite, while the men were selected fourth. In the regional rankings, CU was second on the women's side, and third on the men's side.
"
_______________________________________________________________________________

Live results - Haven't found a link yet.

(Believe I've heard Coach Wetmore say in prior year interviews he does NOT like this early of a race (as noted above, it's almost a month before the next race I believe he feels is REALLY the start of the season), but NCAA rules require a team run a formal race this early if they want to start training as early as they want to do.)
 
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Finally found a live timing link for this race - http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Rapid_Results_Timing/Wyoming_Invite/#event2

Looks like the Buff women finish 1-2-3-4, but CSU officially takes the team title (not that it matters AT ALL in this early season race) since 2 of the leading Buffs ran unattached. Good to see a couple sophomores get the 1-2 finish. (If it's like the old-time CU early race, the more veteran runners often let the younger ones run a little ahead at the end so they get the better results.)
 
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For anyone wanting to hear a talk from and hike with a great Buff (Cross country and track star) ....



Direct link to event page - http://www.cvent.com/events/01-alum...fc3373a28a4a96b5e5b54ad68527c1.aspx?RefID=ath

"
The Forever Buffs Spotlight is your chance to catch up with two-time Olympic long-distance runner Kara Goucher (Psych'01).
In addition to her Olympic appearances, Kara is a NCAA national champion, World Championship silver medalist, author and advocate for women in sports. She will share her story and tips for success with you at this special event. Plus, this event includes a hike at Chautauqua Park!
Thursday, September 26
5-8 p.m.
Chautauqua Park
900 Baseline
Boulder, CO 80302
Kara










Cost: $10 for adults, $5 ages 17 & under. Includes a pre-hike snack and reception with heavy appetizers












"
 
It's (finally) time for both the #1 ranked women's and #4 ranked men's teams to toe the starting line in meaningful races as the Buffs race at the Joe Piane Invite this Friday hosted by Notre Dame. In addition to "supporting" their rankings (which I assume doesn't mean much to them in itself this early in the year), this is the 1st opportunity for the teams to earn potential NCAA championship qualifying (AKA Kolas) points (which could be valuable if either doesn't earn auto-qualifying berths by finishing top 2 at the Mountain Regionals). The women's 5K race looks to be starting at 11:00 AM MT and the men's 5 mile at 11:45 AM MT.

Note- Per the below, some Buffs (usually some of the younger and/ or (as I believe Coach Wetmore calls them) "developing varsity") will be racing at Washington Park (Denver) on Saturday morning, with, quoting the below article, " women running a 6k course at 9:30 a.m. and the men racing 8k at 10:15".

Preview and Interview with Coach Wetmore-


Direct link to preview - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/10/2/cross-country-buffs-head-to-joe-piane-invitational.aspx

"
BOULDER — After sitting idle for the last few weeks, the University of Colorado cross country teams will be back in action, competing at the Joe Piane Invitational, October 4.

There will be three different sections with the blue division races beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The women will race a 5-kilometer course, while the men will follow at 1:45 p.m. ET, running a 5-mile race. The open divisions will start at 2:30 with the women racing first and the men second. The last two events of the day will be the gold races. The women are slated to run at 3:15 and the men will start at 4 p.m.

"This Friday we will break out the 'A' team," head coach Mark Wetmore said. "It's probably the most competitive event this weekend, although there are invitationals all over the country. This one, on both the men's and women's sides, have ten of the top teams in the country. We will see ourselves against some really good competition."

Both of CU's teams will race in the blue division. The women, which are the top-ranked team in the country in this week's USTFCCCA coaches poll, will race against 10 other top-30 teams. Those teams are Boston College, Florida State, Iowa State, Minnesota, NC State, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Washington and Wisconsin,

The CU men are fourth in the latest poll. They will face 11 ranked teams at the invite including Alabama, Colorado State, Eastern Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, NC State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Purdue, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

A small group of Buffaloes will compete Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Roadrunner Invitational hosted by Metro State. The races will take place at Washington Park in Denver with the women running a 6k course at 9:30 a.m. and the men racing 8k at 10:15.
"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

For Joe Piane Invitational -
ND's Information Page -

Entries - (Can't find a list yet.)

Live Video - None I can see.

Link to link ot Live results (No direct link available as I write this.) - https://enduranceracetiming.com/results.html

For Metro State's Roadrunner Invitational-

Races' Home page - https://roadrunnersathletics.com/sports/2019/9/30/2018-roadrunner-invitational.aspx

Link to link to results (No direct link as I write this.) - http://www.rapidresultslive.com/ and/ or https://roadrunnersathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=mxcountry .
 
Looks like the Buff women finish a narrow 2nd behind Utah. (This will be a "shocking" and much discussed win for Utah in the running community, as they weren't even ranked in last week's Top 25 (they were receiving the 27th most votes).)



 
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Articles on yesterday's and today's races-





Re yesterday''s (varsity) races-

"
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The University of Colorado cross country teams were finally able to get their varsity racers on the course here Friday at the Joe Piane Invitational at Burke Golf Course, as the men's team captured the team title in the 'Blue' division race and the women recorded a runner-up finish.

Although the Buffaloes ran a month ago at the Wyoming Invitational, this was the first time CU put its varsity teams on the course as several athletes ran unattached in the prior meet.

"We had the results today that we needed on both the men's and women's sides to be in good position in November," head coach Mark Wetmore said.

The men recorded an impressive 36-point victory over No. 14 Ole Miss (71-107) and finished over 100 points in front of the third-place finisher, No. 15 NC State (177). The women lost to Utah, 110-116, but bested No. 17 Florida State (129), No. 8 NC State (139) and No. 6 Washington (144).

CU's men were ranked fourth in the USTFCCCA Poll heading into the meet and were the highest ranked team in the men's field which featured 11 teams in the top-30. The top-ranked CU women ran in a field that included nine other ranked teams.

WOMEN'S RACE:

Colorado placed four women in the top 25 of the 5-kilometer race and were led by senior Sage Hurta. The three-time All-American recorded a time of 16:29.82 and was followed closely by teammate Tabor Scholl, who was 12th overall (16:32.46).

The other two Buffs who finished in the top 25 were redshirt freshman Annie Hill and junior transfer Rachel McArthur. Hill recorded a 20th overall finish in 16:42.61, while McArthur was right on her heels, finishing 21st in 16:44.86. Colorado's final scorer was senior Karina Mann, who finished 53rd (17:08.12).

"That's a good race for where we are in our development for the season," Wetmore said. "Sage was a little higher at 4k than she was at 5k, so I think she might have been overly optimistic along the middle parts of the course. Annie has been away from cross country racing for two years and I'm happy with that race. All in all the women were pretty good. We might still yet plug in one or two more people who are back home healing up from minor bumps and bangs. We got what we needed from this weekend."
...

"Utah is a little better than we thought, but we know we are a little rusty," Wetmore said. "This is our first race. We know how conservative we ran it."
...

MEN'S RACE:
Like the women, the men had a good showing, placing all five of their scorers in the top 30 as all moved up well during the race. Joe Klecker, a two-time All-American, was the third overall harrier, CU's first, to finish the 5-mile race in 23:17.83. He was joined in the top 10 by fellow senior John Dressel, who was 10th overall in 23:32.44.


Junior Eduardo Herrera had a nice race and finished 14th (23:36.64). He was followed closely by true freshman Kashon Harrison, who placed 18th after clocking in at 23:43.14. The Buffs fifth scorer was senior Alec Hornecker. He was 26th in the meet, finishing in 23:57.65.

"
...

"This meet had a lot of teams in the top 30, it didn't have many in the top 10," Wetmore said. "We are happy with how we did; we're happy with how the fellas moved up along the way in the race. We need to get Gabe (Fendel) a little fitter, but this was Kashon's first real college race and it was Alex Hornecker's first time in a cross country uniform for us. Like in the women's race, we got what we needed."
...
"
 
XC isn’t about early races it’s about peaking for Nationals. Early races are for conditioning. And Nationals is a whole different animal for scoring with so many competitors.
 


A few prelim things I've found about the pre-nats (probably the biggest races to date:

Host (Indiana State) info document - https://gosycamores.com/documents/2018/12/15/2019_Under_Armour_Pre_Nats_Invitational_Info.docx

From that:
  • Race Times (All times Eastern):
"11:00 a.m. Women's 6,000 Meter Blue Race​
11:35 a.m. Men's 8,000 Meter Blue Race​
12:15 p.m. Women's 6,000 Meter White Race​
12:50 p.m. Men's 8,000 Meter White Race​
1:30 p.m. Women’s 6,000 Meter Open Race​
2:05 p.m. Men’s 8,000 Meter Open Race."​

  • The top 7 designated ("varsity") runners for each gender from each school will be in the blue races. If the Buffs bring more than than that, up to 5 additional racers can run as individuals (not part of any team score) in the Open races.
List of teams entered (Looks like it may be many months old, so don't know if the list is still complete and current or not.) - https://gosycamores.com/documents/2019/5/21//Competing_Teams_as_of_5_20_2019.pdf?id=5682
  • On the women's side, assume the big story line will be the #3 Buffs facing off against #2 ranked BYU, with teams like #7 Michigan, #8 Washington and (tied for) #11 Boise State and Florida State (the later of whom finished just behind the Buffs in the last race) also competing.
  • For the men, BYU (also #2) and #4 Washington are the other Top 10 teams competing.
(Assume most if not all the other top teams are racing at the other upcoming big races, this Friday's Nutthcombe Wisconsin Invitational.)

Women's detailed prelim entries - https://gosycamores.com/documents/2019/10/14//PreNats_WomenRosters_2Column.pdf?id=5849

For the Buffs-
"
1. W SO Holly Bent 223
2. W JR Madison Boreman 224
3. W FR Elizabeth Constien 225
4. W SO Annie Hill 226
5. W SR Sage Hurta 227
6. W SR Karina Mann 228
7. W JR Rachel McArthur 229
8. W FR Bailey Nock 230
9. W FR Rylee Robinson 231
10. W SR Tabor Scholl 232
"

Men's detailed prelim entries - https://gosycamores.com/documents/2019/10/14//PreNats_MenRosters_2Column.pdf?id=5848

For the Buffs-
"
1. M SR John Dressel 840
2. M FR Gabe Fendel 841
3. M FR Kashon Harrison 842
4. M JR Eduardo Herrera 843
5. M FR Noah Hibbard 844
6. M SR Alec Hornecker 845
7. M FR Jonathan Horton 846
8. M SR Joe Klecker 847
9. M SO Gus Newcomb 848
10. M SR Justice Ramos 849
11. M JR Paxton Smith 850
12. M FR R Austin Vancil 851
"
 
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Preview article for this Saturday's races in Terre Haute. As noted below, the women's "varsity" (AKA Blue) race is scheduled to start things off at 9:00 AM MT.

Go Buffs!



"
BOULDER — The University of Colorado cross country teams are heading to the 2019 NCAA Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., this Saturday, October 19, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

The Buffaloes are both ranked third in the latest USTFCCCA Polls and will see some good competition this weekend. There are 10 ranked teams on the women's side with BYU (second), CU (third), Michigan (seventh) and Washington (eighth) all in the top 10. On the men's side, there are 11 ranked teams. BYU's men are also ranked second with the CU men third. The other two top 10 teams are Washington (fourth) and Ole Miss (eighth).

Due to the number of entries, there will be six races, three 8-kilometer races for the men and three 6k races for the women. CU's teams will compete in the Blue races and several individuals will race in the open sections following the White races.

The day will kick off with the Blue races. The women will go first at 9 a.m. MT and will be followed at 9:35 a.m. MT by the men's race. The White races will follow the Blue, and upon the conclusion of those, the open races will be contested. The open women will run at 11:30 a.m. MT and the men will finish the day at 12:05 p.m. MT.

A stream for the entire meet will be provided at FloTrack, but a subscription is required to view. Live stats are available as well for free.
"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Race notes - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/10/17//2019_XC_Notes_Pre_Nats_Notes.pdf

Live Video (Only available for those with a Flosports premium subscription) - https://www.flotrack.org/events/6549338-2019-under-armour-pre-national-xc-invitational

Live results - http://pttiming.com/events/87931607
 
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The Buff men look to have finished in a close 2nd (83 points), just behind BYU (81).
 
Always hard to qualify the results of "open" races (which generally consists of runners whose coaches didn't select for the "varsity" 7), but some nice results for the team in those last races of the day:
  • For the men, junior Paxton Smith finished in 2nd. (He only lost to a BYU runner who was on that powerhouse's varsty 7 their last prior race.) Sophomore Gus Newsome made up quite a few spaces after the 2nd (5K) split to finish 24th.
  • Only one woman ran in their open race, with redshirt frosh Elizabeth Constien finishing a solid 12th to make a solid argument for being on the varsity 10 that will be competing in a couple weeks at the Pac 12 Championships.
 
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