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CUBuffs.com: No. 1 Buffs Prepare For Oct. 3 Rocky Mountain Shootout (And other Cross Country news)

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CU Men Aiming For Third Straight NCAA Championship

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"
BOULDER — When you are the unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the nation, when you are the two-time defending national champions — and the overwhelming choice to make it a three-peat — conventional wisdom suggests that you are competing with a target on your back.

The pressure of such expectations should be substantial, right?

Wrong — at least if you are the Colorado Buffaloes. The Colorado cross country team has never fit the mold of conventional. Instead, Mark Wetmore’s Buffs tune out noise from the outside, tune in to what Wetmore is teaching and more often than not, do what the Buffs have done as well as any program in the nation this century:
...
The Rocky Mountain Shootout will be conducted Oct. 3 at the Buffalo Ranch course on CU’s South Campus property.

The women’s race is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and the men’s race at 9:45 a.m. Parking and admission are free.
"
 
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Good luck to the team in its one home race of the season in a little over a week.

A few other cross country items:
No surprise since they didn't race in the last couple weeks, but the Buff men and women kept their #1 and 3 rankings, respectively, in the most recent coaches' polls- http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=210363489 .

Letsrun.com, like a few other running websites, just completed a pre-season writeup with its predictions for the top teams of the season. Like everyone else, they have the Buff men at #1 ( http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/09/2015-mens-cross-country-preview-2-stanford-and-1-colorado/ , hit "skip survey" if you want to go directly to the article), while they have the Buff women as high as I've seen estimated, at #2 ( http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/09/2015-womens-xc-preview-2-colorado-and-1-new-mexico/ ). Assuming these rankings end up being at all accurate (we know how "accurate" pre-season polls are in other sports) , both teams should also be helped by facing great competition BEFORE the NCAA championships:
Men's- Pac conference foe Stanford considered by most to be the #2 men's team in the country, and Oregon, although considered lacking in depth (so estimated to be ~#6), have the assumed #1 individual runner in the country, and some other "high ceiling" guys who could be tough if they have a good day.
Women's- Fellow Mountain Region team New Mexico, fueled by a few "imports" (a transfer from U. of Missouri- Kansas City, an English-woman and a Scot) are thought by many to be the team to beat at Nationals this year, while Letsrun also has a couple conference teams, Stanford (#3) and Oregon (#5), as being potential NCAA champions. (In the latest poll, Iowa State holds down the #2 spot behind New Mexico, so obviously also will have a say at who will stand at the top of the podium in Louisville KY in November.) It looks like Letsrun loves the depth of the CU women's team, with more runners ='ing more chance there might be an individual athlete or two who can jump to the "next level", while also of course providing some insurance that injuries to any individual runner(s) won't = disaster as much as it might to some other teams. (A couple of defending champ Michigan State's returning runners didn't participate in their race last weekend, and the Spartans fell from 4th to 6th in the coaches' poll.)

Letsrun also did a Top 10 individual runner rundown (with some honorable mentions). No Buffs were noted on the women's side (http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/09...top-10-preview-who-takes-over-for-kate-avery/), but all 5 of the top CU men are listed (http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/09...top-10-preview-can-anyone-beat-king-cheserek/), with seniors Morgan Pierson and Connor Winter being 2 of 7 runners listed in the "honorable mention" category, seniors Ammar Moussa and Pierce Murphy being listed at 8th and 7th, respectively, and junior Ben Saarel at #3. Although, as the article states, "Colorado’s pack is so tight that their running order really comes down to who is feeling good on the day.", so who knows who will end up on top. I'm sure the Buffs would take these estimates as their NCAA finishes right now, as having 5 runners finish in the top 17 at nationals would be one of the more dominating performances/ wins in quite a while. (Wisconsin in 2005 won the NCAA's with 37 points, or an average 7.4th place finish for its 5 scorers, so that might be a tough mark for even the Buffs to beat this year.)
 
With it being only a day and a half or so from local Buff fans having their only chance to see the cross country teams live in person, A couple more articles have been written about the cross country team. (As noted below, women's (5.8K) race starts at 9:00 AM Saturday morning at "South Campus", with men's (8K) race following at 9:45.):

1) A Cubuffs.com article entitled "CU Women Take Aim At Saturday's Shootout"- http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=210378095&SPID=260&SPSID=3955

"
BOULDER — Two years ago, Colorado true freshman Erin Clark competed in her first big collegiate cross country meet — the Rocky Mountain Shootout — as an unattached runner, meaning her finish did not count in CU’s team scoring.

Clark finished a surprising third in the Shootout — and that was the last time she ran unattached. From that point on, she was a scoring member of CU’s varsity squad, and she responded by posting three consecutive top-30 finishes, including a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Mountain Region championships.
...
Saturday’s event — the only time Buff runners compete locally this year — begins with the women’s race at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s race at 9:45 a.m. Parking and admission are free.

Clark said she looks forward to the Shootout for a variety of reasons — one of them being a great home crowd.

“It’s exciting to be up front with your teammates and hear people screaming ‘Go Buffs’ around every corner,” Clark said. “I’ve had family come out for it each year. We get a good crowd and a lot of other student athletes come out for it, and that adds to the excitement.”
"

2) a buffzone.com article (by Pat Rooney) entitled "CU cross country: Morgan Pearson eager for final Rocky Mountain Shootout"- http://www.buffzone.com/buffzonetop...ross-country-morgan-pearson-eager-final-rocky

"
Morgan Pearson assumed the 2014 season would be his final campaign with the University of Colorado cross country program.

Having been a solid contributor for two previous CU teams after transferring from Duke, Pearson trained that summer with the sort of zest and fury typical of runners nearing the finish lines of their collegiate careers. Then the season started, and Pearson wasn't quite sure what was going on.

The annual Rocky Mountain Shootout came and went and Pearson wasn't in the Buffs' lineup. The same thing happened at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational and the Pac-12 Championships.

Ultimately, coach Mark Wetmore explained to Pearson that he would be a bigger help to the Buffs in 2015 than 2014, when CU was good enough to capture the program's fifth NCAA championship since 2001 without him.

Back in the fold for what truly will be his final season as a Buff, Pearson and his CU teammates face their first big challenge of the season Saturday at the annual Rocky Mountain Shootout.

"I trained all summer as if (2014) was going to be my last season," Pearson said. "After Pac-12s I actually warmed up with the team at nationals. If someone would've fallen in a ditch and broken their leg I probably would've raced. But now I'm excited to have a full year."
...
"
 
And now cubuffs has published an official article about the Shootout- http://www.cubuffs.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=210388193

"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the 30th Annual Rocky Mountain Shootout on Saturday, October 3 at the Buffalo Ranch Cross Country Course on CU’s South Campus.

For the seventh straight year the Rocky Mountain Shootout will have two races. Open and unattached runners will compete in the same race at the collegiate competitors. The women’s 5.8-kilometer race will kick off the meet at 9 a.m. and the men’s 8k race will commence at 9:45 a.m.

The meet is one of the longest running collegiate cross country races in the nation and will have participants from some of the top NCAA Division I and Division II programs along the Front Range, which include Colorado’s top-ranked men and second-ranked women. The Buffaloes will race against Division I opponents Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming at this year’s meet. Several other non-Division I schools, including Colorado Mesa and Colorado School of Mines.
...
"

DETAILED notes- http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf9/3906408.pdf
 
Erin Clark finishes pretty far ahead (100 yds +) ahead of the field, ahead of fellow Buff Maddy Alm, who also ended up with a cushion, with I believe Buffs in at minimum the top 5-6 spots.

Good signs for the future in frosh Tabor Scholl (running unattached) finishing 3rd,and fellow frosh Dani Jones finishing 4th or so. (Ms. Jones must be showing VERY well in practice, as I believe it's VERY rare for the team to " burn" a freshman's red shirt early in the year by having them race in CU uniform as they did with her today.)
 
5 Buffs still in the top 6, with Pearson and Murphy having a slight gap. (Note- 2 of the Buffs' anticipated top 5 (Moussa and Saarel) not racing today.)
 
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