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Cross Country- Pre and Early Season news and races

AztecBuff

AztecBuff

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Originally had the 1st part of this post in another thread, but decided to set up a separate thread to account for it, as well as any other cross country news (polls, etc.) which will be appearing over the next few weeks. I may also use it for news of the 1st race or two, with the season set to start at CSU on September 1st.

Just a short video and article after the Buff's 1st formal cross country practice -


Direct link -



(Great to see Kaitlyn Benner, 2-time Cross Country All-American and I assume the women's senior leader, on the track and being interviewed after missing last outdoor track season.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, I have NO idea what rationale(s) / criteria they used, but Flotrack just published a list of its Top 25 redshirt freshmen, and the Buffs are well-represented. (The list is at http://www.flotrack.org/ranking/2999-2017-floxc-redshirt-freshmen-rankings#.WZZYQCh97IU .) The list, which includes top men and women in ONE list, includes the following Buffs-

Madie Boreman (last year's runner-up in the women's NCAA Outdoor Steeplechase on the track), is ranked #2 overall. Then, there are 3 male Buffs (all part of what I believe was Flotrack's (or someone elses?) #3 ranked recruiting class from 2016) in the Top 11- Eduardo (Lalo) Herrera at #5, Connor Dunne at #10 and Phillip Rocha at #11.
 
Not that these things mean much if anything but, just for fun, I will be putting anything I see Buff-related as Flotrack does its SLOW(***) countdown of the Top 25 individuals and teams by gender for this upcoming Cross Country (XC) season. Justs today, a couple Buff individuals have popped up, both at #23- Joe Klecker on the men's side (http://www.flotrack.org/article/60651-2017-floxc-countdown-23-joe-klecker#.WZ3l4ih97IU) and Dani Jones (http://www.flotrack.org/article/60648-2017-floxc-countdown-23-dani-jones#.WZ3k4ih97IU) on the women's side.
(***They are counting down their Top 25 from 25 one place per day, and only have reached #23 today.)

With both having finished around #23rd in last season's championships (Mr. Klecker having finished 28th and Ms. Jones 22nd) and both being developing runners (Mr. Klecker is a red-shirt sophomore and Ms. Jones a true junior), I'm VERY surprised both aren't ranked higher. Especially, I'd anticipate Ms. Jones being MUCH more likely to end up with a top 10 finish than in the 20's in this year's championship. (Although she made most of her headlines last track season in a distance (1500M) shorter than the 6K distance XC championship distance, she also showed her longer distance "chops" by winning the NCAA Indoor 3K championship, and later won the Pac 12 5K outdoor championship beating, among others, Oregon (from Air Academy of Colorado) freshman Katie Rainsberger, who finished 4th, and Washington's Amy Louise Neal, who finished 8th, at last year's XC championships.

I'm guessing MAYBE (???) 2 more Buffs will soon make the Flotrack individual rankings (junior John Dressel and senior Kaitlyn Benner), although Mr. Klecker and Ms. Jones were the top returning Buff finishers last championships.

On the team side, I'm assuming it will be awhile before both Buff teams show up on the Flotrack countdown. I will make a guess that the Men may get ranked roughly where they finished in last year's championship (6th) after losing their senior leader and top finisher last season (Ben Saarel) while, on the bright side, having a slew (six) of redshirt freshmen coming into the equation for success and provide improved depth from last season. On the women's side, a VERY deep Buff team will I assume be ranked somewhere in the Top 3. (Be interesting to see if Flotrack has the Buffs #1. They will definitely be #1 if Flotrack mainly goes off returning runners, but other teams, esp. both Oregon (who did lose multiple scorers from their championship team) and New Mexico, have some impressive transfers coming in to make the season interesting.
 
A little more news on (usually meaningless) pre-season polls/ rankings-

In the pre-season coaches' poll, the women have been voted 1st and the men 5th nationally.



Direct link to article - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/8/...rst-men-fifth-in-ustfccca-preseason-poll.aspx

_____________________________

And, in Flotrack's slow countdown of its top 25 teams and individuals, another Buff appeared, Kaitlyn Benner at #18- http://www.flotrack.org/article/60770-2017-floxc-countdown-18-kaitlyn-benner#.WaXp0xlMFnE
 
Preview article (on Tumblr) on tomorrows races at CSU-


For those who didn't listen to Coach Wetmore's Media Day press conference, and as the article indicates, the top runners for most teams (or at least CU and CSU) probably won't be running- it's more a chance to get a 1st look at who beyond the top veterans might make the travelling rosters later in the years. (At NCAA regionals and championships, teams can only bring 7 runners of each gender.) It also sounded to me like the main reason these early races exist is that NCAA rules wouldn't allow the teams around the country to start practicing as early as they want without an early season race. (The next race for the Buffs isn't until their one home race of the year on Sept. 30th.)

Personally, I will mainly just look at the results for the following-
1) Any runners who are NOT the top 3-4 who are NOT running? If so, might there be an injury issue? and
2) Any freshmen (true or red-shirt) stand out with high finishes?
(My VERY un-expert impression on the younger Buffs based on things I've read and heard-
  • Assuming all or most of the top veterans are healthy and training well, The women have a DEEP team returning***, so unless one or two freshmen jump out with a great result and/ or training in the next month or so, I'd guess the coaches will be looking to red-shirt most if not the whole freshman class. (Note- In the past, Coach Wetmore has said women (maybe because of the shorter distance?) are more likely to contribute as freshmen, and the Buffs have had All-American races (Top 40 finishes at the NCAA Championships) from freshmen the last two seasons (Dani Jones in 2015 and Sage Hurta in 2016.) (***the top 6 CU finishers last year at the NCAA Championships all finished in the top 35 in the team competition, and none were seniors. No other team, including champion Oregon or runner-up Michigan, had their 4th place finisher in the top 35 in points.)
  • On the men's side, there are probably a few spots that could be "up for grabs", so it will be interesting to see how the various runners look. Of special interest, the Buffs freshman class last year was ranked #3 in the country by one of the running websites (can't remember which one), and ALL SIX were red-shirted. So, whether one, two or three of them have been developing as anticipated (based on their ranking and high school results) so they can contribute at the Pac 12 and NCAA level will probably determine how successful the Buff men's season is in 2017 (and beyond).)
 
Article with results from the CSU Invitational-



Direct link to article - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/9/1/cross-country-buffs-give-strong-showing-in-opening-meet.aspx

Next race info and results from the article -

"
UP NEXT: The Buffs will be back in action on Sept. 30 when they host the Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder.
...

Women's Race
Team Results
1. Colorado 35; 2. Colorado State 36; 3. Air Force 60; 4. Wyoming 129; 5. Western State 155; 6. Northern Colorado 162; 7. CSU-Pueblo 200; 8. Colorado Mesa 226); 9. Metro State 249.

Individual Results (CU Athletes Only)
3. Makena Morley (unattached) 17:37; 4. Brianna Schwartz 17:37; 5. Dani Jones (unattached) 17:37; 7. Sage Hurta (unattached), 17:37; 8. Madie Boreman, 17:37; 11. Melanie Nun, 18:10; 16. Val Constien, 18:19; 18. Karina Mann, 18:22; 20. Cayla Seligman, 18:29; 29. Baylee Jones (unattached), 18:48; 31. Olivia Brooks (unattached), 18:54; 33. Holly Bent (unattached), 18:58; 39. Abby Regner, 19:07; 52. Elissa Mann, 19:34; 53. Kate Intile, 19:35;

Men's Race
Team Results
1. Colorado 22, 2. Air Force 66; 3. Colorado State 68; 4. CSU-Pueblo 120; 5. Western State 143; 6. Wyoming 177; 7. Metro State 210; 8. Colorado Mesa; 9. Northern Colorado 220.

Individual Results (CU Athletes Only)
1. Ethan Gonzales, 14:51; 3. Eduardo Herrera, 14:54; 5. Joe Klecker, 14:56; 6. Zach Perrin, 14:56; 7. Ryan Forsyth, 14:56; 9. Christian Martin, 15:02; 15. Sal Capetillo, 15:13; 20. Mark Tedder, 15:20; 22. Reilly Friedman, 15:21; 23. Paxton Smith, 15:22; 29. Connor Dunne, 15:29; 31. Chris Herrick, 15:30; 33. Phil Rocha, 15:34; 57. Justice Ramos, 16:04; 87. Josh Ramos (unattached), 16:31
...



"
 
Another major running website, Dyestat, has come out with its pre-season team rankings. They have the Buffs at #1 on both the women's and, a little surprisingly to me***, men's side. (***Hopefully they have some inside info about the men, and specifically how well some of the young and or veteran Buffs are running!)



Direct links-

Select General and Buff-related quotes in the articles, and direct links to them-

Men's (Direct link- http://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)-

"
The men’s NCAA Division 1 cross country rankings are always difficult to determine early because teams don’t race a lot of 8,000-or 10,000-meter races. Most athletes only race 10,000 meters twice and some only compete once at that distance.

Past results and coaching history, on the courses and the track, are the best way to establish a pecking order.

Last year, Oregon had the top returners and wound up ninth and Northern Arizona ran off with the title.
...

There are a number of questions about many teams. Colorado was sixth last year, an abnormally low performance for the coaching team of Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs. This spring, Colorado improved significantly on the track in part due to the opening of an indoor practice facility.
...
"

Women's (Direct link- http://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)-

"
Last year, several runners capable of big impact redshirted or sat out a year due to transferring. That has caused a significant potential improvement for New Mexico, a potential title run for Stanford, and a possible repeat for Oregon.

Michigan might be as good as last year, but improvements by the top two teams could push the Wolverines down to third.

Colorado returns its top six runners from the NCAA meet. The Buffaloes have so much depth that the team could suffer a couple of injuries and still have the firepower to hold down the top spot.
...
"
 
AztecBuff said:
Flotrack in it's day by day countdown of their Top 25 predictions/ guesstimates for this year's cross country season have had some Buff action the last day or two-
Click to expand...
If we've got the #7 team now, I'm confident that Wetmore will have them right there at the end of the season.
 
A few more early/ pre-season polls/ rankings have come out for this cross country season.
(As always, like to point out they are probably worth about what I paid for them- $0. However, I find them to be the potato chips of the sport world- not worthwhile or healthy in any way, but very addictive.)

1) Flotrack.com finished off it's countdown of the Top 25. They have the CU women ranked #1, but indicate it should be even more competitive than last year, with New Mexico, Stanford, Oregon, etc. right there. (See http://www.flotrack.org/article/61814-2017-floxc-countdown-1-colorado-women#.Wb70Q8h97IU .)

2) Letsrun.com also did a pre-season prediction, and have the Buff women #1 and the men #6. Women's write-up at http://www.letsrun.com/news/2017/09/2017-ncaa-womens-xc-preview-2-new-mexico-1-colorado/ and men's at http://www.letsrun.com/news/2017/09/2017-ncaa-mens-xc-preview-6-colorado-5-stanford/ .)

3) Even though there hasn't been any serious racing since the pre-season coaches' (USTFCCCA) poll (see post #4 for that pre-season ranking), they did release another (Week 1) poll on Sept. 12th. In it, the women remain #1 (http://www.ustfccca.org/2017/09/fea...s-country-womens-national-coaches-poll-week-1), while the men moved up one spot (From #5 to #4), leapfrogging Arkansas - see http://www.ustfccca.org/2017/09/fea...oss-country-mens-national-coaches-poll-week-1 ).

4) Dyestat also came out with a second poll a few days ago (See post #9 for the initial one). Doing the exact opposite of the coaches' poll, they had Arkansas leapfrog the Buff men to become their #1 ranked team, while the Buffs moved down one to #2 (http://dyestatxcrankings.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=46052&do=news&news_id=490847). On the women's side, the Buffs remain ranked #1 (http://dyestatxcrankings.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=46052&do=news&news_id=490848).
 
1st, with very few teams competing the last few weeks, the cross country national poll have been pretty stagnant overall, and definitely have for the Buffs, including this week-


________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That being said, the polls should/ could undergo their 1st significant changes after this weekend, as a lot of the top teams are finally facing off each other and, in what I believe is different this season, that may include the Buffs!(***)



***I am definitely NOT a track/ cross country team historian, but I believe the Buffs usually concentrate on the Rocky Mountain Showdown this time of the season, the only cross country meet the Buffs host. Much of the Buff evaluation and story from the shootouts is usually how the current top Buff runners' times in the shootout compared to other HISTORICAL Buff times, how many finished close together, etc.. However, I'm assuming/ guessing many/ most of the top projected runner-Buffs this season may be going to the Notre Dame races (???), as that Joe Piane Invitational has some other top teams and individuals racing. (Wondering if the somewhat heartbreaking close losses while being the pretty heavy favorites suffered the last couple years (men in 2015 and women last season) at the NCAA championships have made the coaches decide the more tough races the better for the various runners to see where they're at, as well as maximize their race experience and, hopefully, developing as much tactical intelligence and flexibility as possible.)

(Note- Of course, after writing the above, watch the Buffs just send a small and or younger team to Notre Dame and make me look like an idot.)

Info on the Notre Dame races (being run Friday) -
Live timing (Although often in cross country seems following Buff twitter (https://twitter.com/CUBuffsTrack) announces them more quickly - http://www.deltatiming.com/results.aspx

List of teams competing - http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...f/2017-18/misc_non_event/race-assignments.pdf

Host Notre Dame's Meet Info sheet - http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools.../misc_non_event/jp-nd-invite-meet-info-17.pdf

From that Info sheet, both of the Buff teams are, as expected, in the faster "Blue" races. Looks like the women will be towing the line 1st, scheduled to start Friday at noon MT (2:00 Local time), while the men are scheduled to start their 5 mile (just over 8 km) race at 12:45 PM MT. IF there any potential top Buffs who the coaches are still thinking of red shirting, assume there's a chance they may also send them east rather than running them at the Shootout, in which case I'd assume they'd run in the Open Race, scheduled for a 1:30 PM MT start (for both men and women).

Rocky Mountain Shootout Info (races Saturday morning)-
Meet Info sheet - http://www.cubuffs.com/documents/2017/9/6//32nd_Annual_Rocky_Mountain_Shootout_2017.pdf
From that- In the only home races of the season (I've gone a few times and watching them are a fun and light exercising way to start the morning!)-

"
Race Time:
9:00am Women’s 5.8K
9:45am Men’s 8K
"

(Note- it might also be interesting for Buff cross country fans who want to see "how the competition is doing" to look to the Duck's Bill Dellinger Invitational being run Friday morning, where many of the top Pac teams (Oregon, Stanford, Washington), along with podium contenders like BYU (on the men's side for BYU), are running. Live results at http://www.rtspt.com/events/oregon/dellinger17/ .)
 
And, of course, right after I write the above there's a tweet with a nice interview by Mark Johnson with Coach Wetmore that confirms the top runners (at least as of now) are going to Notre Dame.

 
I'm assuming it probably doesn't matter or is of interest to anyone, but just to correct a couple things in my post above re the Notre Dame races-
1) They have updated the start times in the Notre Dame Notes I linked to above (to an hour earlier than I'd written above), so the women will be starting at 11:00 AM MT, with the men scheduled to start following at 11:45.

2) I also wrote that some unaffiliated (potential redshirted) runners might run in the open race. However, reading the Notre Dame notes more completely, that's not allowed at this Invitational, so that's not an option. (On the bright-side, unlike later (NCAA prelim and championship) races, assume it's nice for coaches' evaluation purposes that this race allows 9 runners per team rather than 7.)
 
AztecBuff said:
I'm assuming it probably doesn't matter or is of interest to anyone, but just to correct a couple things in my post above re the Notre Dame races-
1) They have updated the start times in the Notre Dame Notes I linked to above (to an hour earlier than I'd written above), so the women will be starting at 11:00 AM MT, with the men scheduled to start following at 11:45.

2) I also wrote that some unaffiliated (potential redshirted) runners might run in the open race. However, reading the Notre Dame notes more completely, that's not allowed at this Invitational, so that's not an option. (On the bright-side, unlike later (NCAA prelim and championship) races, assume it's nice for coaches' evaluation purposes that this race allows 9 runners per team rather than 7.)
Click to expand...
Thanks for your work on the Olympic sports stuff, Aztec. I don't comment much on these posts but I absolutely read every CC and T&F update with great interest as the media coverage is so light. Same with the VBall and WBB.
 
Official preview article now out for tomorrow's and Saturday's races (no listing yet of which Buffs will be competing where).



Direct link - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/9/...nvitational-host-rocky-mountain-shootout.aspx

EDIT- For those with the time and interest- especially if you've never gone to see any sports out at South Campus, this would be a good opportunity to check out the cross country team at its one home event this season. And, it could be a Buff double header for you, as the tennis team will also be in action down there, with their (I assume much longer) day scheduled to start at the same time (9:00 AM) as the harriers' 1st race.
 
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(Now just a little more than 30 minutes before the women start off.)

Edit- Forgot to mention a couple articles are available, Buffzone specifically on the Buffs, and flotrack with a quick preview look at today's races-
http://www.buffzone.com/cross-count...ss-country-varsity-runners-pass-shootout-race
(Per that article, the reason for the Buffs going to Notre Dame is to earn NCAA championship qualifying (I believed called kolas) points in case they don't auto-qualify (which is done by finishing top 2 in their (Mountain) region in a month or so.)

http://www.flotrack.org/article/622...e-xc-invitational-party-tomorrow#.Wc5rS2iPLIU
 
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Note- going through the top 9 in the UNOFFICIAL results (from the tweet in the last post), the Buff's depth must have come out big (and New Mexico's #5 must have finished back a bit), as I'm thinking 1st, 2nd, 6th and 8th were Lobos.)
 
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And the men have started. (Obviously not a Buff video snippet, but still interesting to see the start of a race from, kind of, the racers' perspective.)

 
Women's race results now showing as "final" at the link previously provided for results (http://results2.deltatiming.com/2017-joe-piane-nd-invitational/#races), and the Buffs do get a narrow win over New Mexico 47 to 51, with NC State a pretty distant 3rd with 118.

Way to go Buffs!

For the Buffs, the 7 whose scores either helped directly or indirectly were-
Jones 3rd
Morley 7th
Benner 9th
Hurta 10th
Boreman 18th

Total score 47

6th and 7th (These runners down count towards the Buff's score, but they do increase any individual competitors' runners they finish ahead of by one point.)
Schwartz 22nd
Scholl 42nd
 
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Looks like, unofficially, the men finish 2nd behind (#13) Southern Utah, with Joe Klecker with a nice 4th place finish.

 
Looks like the 2nd place for the men is official, although the point totals, as they often do, changed a little-

 
Article on the Notre Dame races-


Direct link - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/9/...en-win-joe-piane-invite-men-place-second.aspx

"
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In a cross country showdown between a pair of top-five programs, top-ranked Colorado and third-rated New Mexico, it was the Buffaloes who took home the victory, besting the Lobos by four points (47-51) at the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday.

The Buffs and Lobos each placed four athletes in the top-10 of the 5-kilometer race and were the only two teams in the field of 20 to score less than 100 points. The third place finisher, No. 12 NC State, tallied 118 points, while No. 9 Arkansas took fourth with 171 points.

On the men's side, the fourth-ranked Colorado men's team placed second in the 5-mile blue race with 101 points. Southern Utah, which came into the meet ranked 13th, won with 72 points. Air Force was third overall with 154 points.
...

UP NEXT: The weekend of racing has just started for the Buffs as CU will host the Rocky Mountain Shootout on Saturday, Sept. 30, at Buffalo Ranch Cross Country Course on CU's South Campus. Races are at 9 and 9:45 a.m. For more details, head to CUBuffs.com.

QUOTES:
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
Thoughts on the women's team performance:
"We knew New Mexico was very good and they have been a little under-ranked throughout the season. They have some new personal and I think the voters didn't know or weren't aware of the new personnel. We expected them to be very good today and I'm happy to nip them by a couple of points. We were breaking out Madie Boreman in a Colorado uniform for the first time ever, and some other people missed the outdoor season, so we are a little bit rusty. Anyway, we were happy with the performance."

Thoughts on the men's performance:
"The men didn't have a good day. They have to have an easy day tomorrow, get back to work, and stare at the results to recognize they didn't run well. Also, maybe I didn't have them correctly prepared, but we have a month to go (before postseason starts)."

Thoughts on making the trip to South Bend:
"Well, it was necessary and the team that beat us is from our region, so that will not really hurt us. I haven't been able to look and see what teams from other regions did, but I am sure it (the Joe Piane Invitational) will turn out to be useful."
"
 
Can't find any results yet for this morning's Rocky Mountain Showdown. A few video snips provided by CU cross country though for flavor-





 
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