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Cross Country- #6 women (10:15 AM) and #3 men (11:15) head to NCAA regionals (Friday, Logan Utah)

AztecBuff

AztecBuff

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Both the Buff teams try to punch their tickets this Friday to the NCAA Championships with races at the Mountain Regions in Logan UT (hosted by Utah State Univ.). The women start their 6K race at 10:15 AM, while the men go up to 10K for the 1st time this season in their's, scheduled to start at 11:15.

My random notes-
  • 9 regional races will determine which 31 teams for each gender get selected for the Championships.
    • The top 2 finishing teams in each of the regions are the 18 auto-qualifiers.
    • The remaining 13 teams are "At-large" selections. Unlike the team sport selection process most of us are familiar with (with their selection committees), the at-large teams in cross country are selected almost totally on a mathematical calculation based on how many wins the next highest regional finishers have accumulated over the 18 auto-qualifiers, and any other teams that have earned at-large berths earlier in the process (with a few exceptions). (The wins over other all ready selected teams are called "Kolas points".)
    • The at-large calculation has quite a few rules. For those interested, here's what looks to me like a decent description of the process and rules - http://www.flotrack.org/article/469...-cross-country-qualifying-system#.WgPzg8bXbIU .
  • The Buff women seem to have the easier path at this year's regional:
    • Searching for one of the auto-qualifier berths, the #1 Buff women are in the same region as one of the main fellow-contenders for this year's championship, #2 nationally ranked New Mexico. However, the 3rd ranked team in the region is "only" ranked #15 in the country (host Utah State), so hopefully the Buffs can just do a strong tempo run, AND use their great depth, to accomplish the dual objective of regionals, which is always a "dance" of the top teams to (1) of course, qualify for nationals while (2) expending as little energy as possible, with the championships scheduled to be raced only 8 days after regionals.
    • Even if the unlikely happens and the women don't get a top 2 auto-qualifying finish, having only one 2nd place finish all year (to Oregon early), the women will have so many kolas points they would easily earn an at-large berth as long as they finish in 3rd or 4th. (Depending on what other teams finish ahead of them, they could even be in decent qualifying shape with a 5th or 6th place finish, but predicting that low of finish for them is pretty much inconceivable anyways.)
  • The Buff men are also considered to be in pretty safe shape as long as they don't have a disastrous race in what is a VERY tough and deep mountain region.:
  • They will have to pull a MAJOR upset to earn one of the auto-qualifying berths, as the Mountain Region contains the 2 nationally dominant teams so far this season in #1 ranked (and defending champ) Northern Arizona and #2 BYU.
  • I should note that that "dance" I mentioned above for the women about wanting to qualify while STAYING AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE is even more important on the men's side, as they go a significantly longer distance (10K vs. 6K) than the women in both their regional and championship races. Therefore, regionals can have upsets that often don't mean much as far as who is a favorite for a national championship and podium finish.
  • The Buff men, like the women, are thought to have many wins over the favorites to auto-qualify in other regions so, as long as they finish in the top 4, it would be pretty much guaranteed they'd easily earn one of the at-large berths.
  • Even if they don't finish in the top 4, the Mountain is a very deep region, so as long as the teams who finish in the Buffs have quality wins from earlier in the season, they could still possibly make it if they finished as low as 7th in the regional race, although I'm sure sure they will NOT want to finish that low. (As indicated above, the Buffs, #5 in the country, are only #3 in the region. In addition to NAU, BYU and the Buffs, other nationally ranked teams in the region include #8 CSU, #12 Utah State (who beat the Buffs in an early season race), #16 Air Force and #23 (and host) Utah State. Flotrack, who does a kolas projection show after each major race weekend, in its last show (http://www.flotrack.org/video/1263737-kolas-live-week-six-release#.WgP9ccbXbIU) has 5 of the 13 at-large berths potentially coming from the mountain region, which makes sense given the # of ranked teams. Interestingly, Flotrack also projected 5 other at-large teams potentially come from the West Regional, leaving only 3 at-large teams in total to come from the other 7 regions.)
  • Although the Buffs have a very good chance of qualifying, one thing I just saw on the entries list that might show the Buffs' podium chances are a little less at Nationals than they might have been perceived going into the season- junior and 2 time All-American John Dressel, who seems to be dealing with some injury issues for awhile now, is NOT on the entries list. Although with the way things are heavily slanted towards Nationals, not starting regionals doesn't guarantee he won't run at nationals (they might just be saving him while he gets back to 100% fitness), it at least increases the odds he might be redshirting so he can have another full season. (I believe he is the only Buff male harrier who had a regular redshirt year left to take, but assume this year might need to be a medical redshirt request anyways since I believe he did race (just once or twice?) in Colorado uniform early this season.) Hopefully someone from one of the running website or press "world" will ask Coach Wetmore or Burroughs at some point whether there's been a final decision on his redshirting.
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There's no cubuffs preview yet (assume it will be released tomorrow), but some other media and info for the races -

Interview with Coach Wetmore-


Host Utah State Regionals homepage - http://www.utahstateaggies.com/sports/c-xc/spec-rel/ncaa-17.html

Utah State preview article (with course maps, starting box draws, etc.) - http://www.utahstateaggies.com/sports/c-xc/spec-rel/110817aab.html

Entries List - http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...7-18/misc_non_event/Participating-Entries.pdf (Note that only 7 of each gender will actually race tomorrow; this is the list (for the Buffs, containing 14 women and 11 men) from which the racing 7 will be chosen. Be interesting to see how many of the top (esp. the younger) Buffs, esp. on the women's side, might not race at all tomorrow.)

Coaches' Association Regionals' "Championships Central"/ homepage - http://www.ustfccca.org/infozone/regional-championship-central.php

Some twitter accounts for possibly keeping up with the news, results, etc.-
Buff track and field - https://NOPE/CUBuffsTrack
(For the Buffs, instagram can also have good photos - https://www.instagram.com/cubuffstrack/ )
Coaches' Association - https://NOPE/USTFCCCA
Host Utah State - https://NOPE/usutf_xc?lang=en
Letsrun - https://NOPE/letsrundotcom
Flotrack - https://NOPE/FloTrack

Live Results - http://www.runnercard.com/results3/meet?meetId=efcd20dc-6158-4195-9b8d-69c90ad96ee4 (linked from https://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?meet=1001504. At least from how Utah State worded their preview article, it sounds like there may only be final results provided, NOT (???) any live interval/ checkpoint times or scoring while the runners are on the course.)
 
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Official (pretty short) Cubuffs.com preview article on Regionals now out-

Direct link - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/11...women-fifth-ranked-men-head-to-regionals.aspx
_______________________________________________________________________

Also, here is the Coaches' Association's preview article - http://www.ustfccca.org/2017/11/featured/meet-preview-ncaa-di-cross-country-regional-championships

One fun LITTLE bit of trivia that leads off that preview -
"
Never before in the history of the NCAA Division I National Coaches’ Polls have the No. 1 men’s and women’s teams gone up against the No. 2 men’s and women’s teams at the same regional championship. It nearly happened in 2008 when the women’s race featured No. 1 Washington and No. 2 Oregon and the men’s race had the top-ranked Ducks, but Oklahoma State sat at No. 2 in the men’s index.

Well, that all changes this year thanks to the Mountain Region.

The men’s race pits No. 1 Northern Arizona against No. 2 BYU, while the women’s race will see No. 1 Colorado take on No. 2 New Mexico. The Lumberjacks and Cougars haven’t raced yet this season, while the Buffs beat the Lady Lobos by four points (47-51) at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in late-September.
...
"
 
Nice effort by the Buff women as they finish 1st to auto-qualify for nationals, hopefully not straining too much. (Although the Pac 12's were at sea level and on a fast golf course course so it would be expected to be somewhat faster, Dani Jones, for example, ran today's 6K roughly 1-1/2 minutes slower than at Pac 12's.)


 
Looks like Joe Klecker for the individual win at regionals in the lead pack of 5.
 
Article on the successful qualifying efforts. now onto the National Championships next Saturday!

Direct link - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/11...tle-women-earn-5th-straight-region-crown.aspx

"
LOGAN, Utah — Colorado sophomore Joe Klecker took home top honors in the men's 10-kilometer race on Friday at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships, while the top-ranked CU women's team recorded their fifth straight region title.

The win automatically advances the women to the NCAA Championships, while the men, who earned a third-place finish, should receive an at-large bid to NCAAs. Those will be announced on Saturday, Nov. 11, by the NCAA.

THE WOMEN'S RACE: Top-ranked Colorado led the whole way, running a very controlled and smart race to earn its ninth straight trip to the NCAA Championships, besting No. 2 New Mexico for the fifth consecutive year (62-70).
...

THE MEN'S RACE: Colorado, which was ranked fifth nationally and third in the region, finished exactly on paper where they were supposed to finish. The Buffs ran a great race, finishing just one point behind No. 2 BYU (79-80). Northern Arizona won with 49 points.

Klecker, who finished second at the Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago, had one of his best cross country races ever, defeating BYU's Rory Linkletter by just one second (30:13.6-30:14.6). Klecker was 14thafter the first two miles before jumping up to third at the three-mile split. He stayed there until the final portion of the race to become the first Buff since Billy Nelson [in 2005] to win the men's region championship.
...

NOTES: All-Region honors were given to 10 Buffs as the top-25 in each race are honored. Makena Morley, Dani Jones, Sage Hurta, Kaitlyn Benner, Brianna Schwartz and Melanie Nun were honored on the women's side, while Joe Klecker, Zach Perrin, Ryan Forsyth and Eduardo Herrara recorded honors on the men's side.

UP NEXT: The NCAA Championships are Saturday, Nov. 18, in Louisville, Ky.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
On The Women's Finish
"New Mexico came here with the same mentality that we do, which is to run as carefully as possible. In their case, they sat out their second or third best runner, who I believe won this a year ago, so they were a little light in their personal. We ran pretty much everybody, but we did keep out Madie Boreman. I was happy with how our team ran. Everybody got through unscathed, so now its rest up and be ready again in eight days."

On Makena Leading CU At Regionals For The Second Straight Year
"I don't think it is a matter of altitude. I think it is a matter of her mom, dad and sister being here. Our team is instructed to run carefully and controlled. She's given a little bit of special dispensation because it is so close to her home. So when she makes a move, the girls' say "go for it Makena"."

On Joe Klecker's Individual Win
"Well, Joe ran very well and I am pleased he got a win. But I'm confident that there were a lot of people in there being very careful and thinking more about next week. I talked to him and I said "You didn't borrow from next week for a win at regionals did you?" and he said "No, I was in control the whole way and felt good."

On the Men's Team Performance:
"For the most part, they ran well, particularly Ethan [Gonzales] and Christian [Martin]. These are guys that have been emerging for us and were useful today. Adam didn't have a great day but he was brilliant at the conference meet and I know that is in him. So that is why you run seven because somebody has an off day and somebody rises up. "

On The Men's Team's Chances Of Advancing:
"I am sure that they are in. I have no doubt they are in."
"
______________________________________________________________________

Full Results -
Women - http://www.cubuffs.com/documents/2017/11/10//Women_s_Results.pdf
Men - http://www.cubuffs.com/documents/2017/11/10//Men_s_Results.pdf

Interviews-
Winning women's team (~ 6 minutes) - http://ncaa-d1-xc-mountain-regional...9-s-6K-Race-NCAA-D1-XC-Mountain-Regional-2017
Individual winner Joe Klecker (3 minutes) - http://ncaa-d1-xc-mountain-regional...-s-10K-Race-NCAA-D1-XC-Mountain-Regional-2017
 
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(Surprised anything changed after the regional championships, with them having a low-keyed advance with minimal effort goal as opposed to any of the top teams going all out.)
 
Another voting opportunity for Buffs fans. You can vote for Buff XC runner Joe Klecker, who (as described in more detail above) won the Mountain Region race this weekend, for "D1 Men’s Cross Country HERO of the Week".
(As I write this, Mr. Klecker was in the lead with 55 votes, with 2nd place at 33 votes. Voting process is early though, with votes allowed until Friday, 11:00 AM Pacific time. Sounds like folk are allowed to vote once per hour.)


Direct link to voting page- https://herosports.com/cross-country/vote-d1-mens-cross-country-hero-of-the-week-10-blbl
 
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No surprise(***), but congrats to Coach Wetmore and Joe Klecker for being named, respectively, Mountain Region Women's Coach of the Year and Men's Athlete of the Year!


(***Unlike some other sports, in cross country (at least from every big race I've followed) they don't "fool around" and look for stories, comebacks, teams or athletes exceeding expectations, etc. when naming their "Bests (of whatever)", they just pick whoever the winning runners are and who coached the winning team when deciding their top honors.)
 
AztecBuff said:
Another voting opportunity for Buffs fans. You can vote for Buff XC runner Joe Klecker, who (as described in more detail above) won the Mountain Region race this weekend, for "D1 Men’s Cross Country HERO of the Week".
(As I write this, Mr. Klecker was in the lead with 55 votes, with 2nd place at 33 votes. Voting process is early though, with votes allowed until Friday, 11:00 AM Pacific time. Sounds like folk are allowed to vote once per hour.)


Direct link to voting page- https://herosports.com/cross-country/vote-d1-mens-cross-country-hero-of-the-week-10-blbl
Click to expand...

just wanted to mention it looks like Illinois has started ballot stuffing, and their runner now has a BIG lead over CU's Joe Klecker (294 to 86).
 
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