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Indoor Track and Field - 2019 NCAA Championships thread (Friday & Sat., 3/8 & 3/9)

AztecBuff

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Best wishes to the 5 Buffs competing in Birmingham AL!

Preview -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/6/t...ares-for-ncaa-championships-this-weekend.aspx

"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado track and field program will send five individuals to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this Friday and Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama.

The three women entered in the meet are Tabor Scholl in the mile, Makena Morley in the 3,000-meter run and 5,000 and Gabby Scott in the 400-meter dash. The men will be John Dressel and Joe Klecker with both running in the 5,000 Friday evening and Klecker competing in the 3,000 Saturday.
...

Scholl comes into the race ranked ninth in the mile. She ran an altitude converted mark of 4:34.98 earlier this season at the Colorado Invitational. The nation's best time comes from Hannah Meier of the University of Michigan at 4:32.46. There are three women under 4:33, three more under 4:34 and the final three are separated by two-tenths of a second.

"I think she has a pretty good shot," said head coach Mark Wetmore at Scholl placing in the top-eight. "She was imperfect at the Mountain Pacific and we had to stop her for a couple of days to try and get her fixed up. She is feeling better now. There is always attrition at this time of the year so I can't predict what will happen with other teams, but she is back to training well and feeling good and first goal is to make the final."
...

In the women's 3,000, Morley enters the race ranked 14th with a time of 9:02.47 that she ran at the MPSF Championships. The field is led by Alicia Monson of Wisconsin who ran 8:45.97, the third-fastest time in NCAA history. Also in the race was Jessica Hull of Oregon who ran 8:53.91 at the Husky Classic. The field has nine women under the nine-minute barrier.

Moving to the 5,000, Morley is again ranked 14th at 15:37.23. New Mexico's Ednah Kurgat and Weini Kelati are the top-two women in the race at 15:14.78 and 15:15.24.

"She is definitely in the best March shape of her life," said Wetmore on Morley. "The NCAA keeps getting better and better and better though and she is hitting some really fast and deep races. She is gutty and pretty fearless so again our hope is to get on the podium in one or both."

Scott enters the meet sixth in the nation at 52.34. She trails Lynna Irby of Georgia who reclaimed the national lead at the SEC Championships in a time of 52.02. Scott was in the same race at the MPSF Championships as Kyra Constantine of USC who is second in the nation at 52.07.

"Scott has made some big changes in her approach to track this year and it has shown," said Wetmore. "She is in the best shape of her life by a lot. She continues to surprise us from one weekend to the next. Everybody is the field has run in the 52s, so we will have to see how she handles the chaos and the aggression of other people. The early pace in the race is likely to be very fast. I would like to see her make the final and beat some people."
...

The only event with multiple Buffaloes in it is the men's 5,000. Klecker and Dressel enter the race ranked fifth and 15th. Both men ran their times at the Husky Classic at 13:35.97 and 13:41.00. Tyler Day of Northern Arizona has the national lead at 13:31.36.

Colorado's best mark is Klecker's 3,000 which is fourth when converted to 7:48.32. Stanford's Grant Fisher has the nation's best time in that event at 7:42.62, trailed closely by Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald at 7:42.76. There are five men under 7:50 in the race with the rest of the field close between 7:50.17 and 7:51.91.

"I think he has a very good chance to be high in the 5,000," said Wetmore on Klecker's weekend. "There are some formidable opponents in there, I think he can be fairly high on the podium in the men's 5,000. A number of people will also be returning the next night. The 3,000 will be probably half somewhat tired people, either people from the 5,000 or people from the first day of the mile that did not advance. Maybe people ran the distance medley and are now running the 3,000. The 3,000 is chaotic. I haven't looked at the entries to see who will be in there fresh. It is the deepest 3,000 ever, you had to run 7:51 to be invited which is really fast. He is as good running tired as anyone else is at running tired."

"John's in good shape," said Wetmore. "His workouts indicate that he still looks fresh and feels fresh. They will have each other to talk to in the warmup and staging areas, which is maybe better than standing around alone thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I think it is an advantage to have a teammate around."
...

"Our team expectations are to get on the scoreboard in both genders and see how high we can get," said Wetmore. "With two men and three women it is not going to be astronomical, but we are excited to see what happens."

The Championships will be live on ESPN 3 at 4:30 p.m. (MT) on Friday and at 3 p.m. (MT) on Saturday.

TIME (MT)INDIVIDUALEVENTRANKINGENTERED TIMERESULTPLACE
Friday
4:35 PMTabor Scholl Mile Prelim9th4:34.98
5:27 PMGabby Scott400-meter dash Prelim6th52.32
7:07 PMMakena Morley5,000-meter run Final14th15:37.23
7:27 PMJoe Klecker5,000-meter run Final5th13:35.97
John Dressel5,000-meter run Final15th13:41.00
Saturday
3:10 PMTabor SchollMile Final9th4:34.98
3:50 PMGabby Scott400-meter dash Final
5:10 PMMakena Morley3,000-meter run Final14th9:02.47
5:25 PMJoe Klecker3,000-meter run Final4th7:48.32
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
"
Note- per the Start lists, 2 of the Buffs are in events which have preliminaries, with Gabby Scott in the 2nd heat (of 4) of the 400M preliminary, while Tabor Scholl is in heat 1 (of 2) of the mile prelim. Per the start lists, qualification for the finals of each races is
  • For the 400M, "Top 8 fastest times advance to a 2 section Final. Final seeded as per Rule 5-11.3b"
  • For the mile , "10 Advance: Top 4 Each Heat Plus Next 2 Best Times"
__________________________________________________________________________

Championships page with many links to various parts of the meet - http://www.rtspt.com/ncaa/d1indoor19/

Live Video (ESPN3) -
Day 1 - http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3303936/ncaa-mens--womens-indoor-track--field-championships
Day 2 - http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3491730/ncaa-mens--womens-indoor-track--field-championships
(From broadcast info provided by Letsrun.com (http://www.letsrun.com/news/2019/03...r-2019-ncaa-indoor-track-field-championships/), Friday's coverage starts at 4:30 PM MT while Saturday's begins at 3:00 PM MT.

Live Results (Also includes start lists/ heat sheets, etc.) - https://www.ncaa.com/di-mens-and-womens-indoor-track-field-results and / or https://flashresults.com/ .
 
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Big congrats to Buff senior Gabby Scott, who qualifies for tomorrow's 400 meter final!

And, she not only qualifies, but unofficially has the 3rd best qualifying time, which should equate to a good lane in tomorrow's 2 heat final.
 
Wonderfully composed*** race by Buff senior Makena Morley leads to a point scoring and All-American earning 7th place finish. (***Noticed her preserving her energy "hanging out" on the inside lane maybe 10 yards behind the leaders the 1st half of the race or so while others raced in the pack for position (many outside the inside lane) the 1st half of the race.)

BIG congrats to her!
 
More on today's races.



Article -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/8/t...ads-buffs-with-runner-up-finish-in-5-000.aspx

"
By: Shaun Wicen, Assistant SID
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Colorado track and field program concluded the first day of the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships with two first team All-American honors and a third secured, here Friday evening.

Colorado's Joe Klecker highlighted the first day with a runner-up finish in the men's 5,000-meter run. Klecker ran 13:42.79 to finish behind the NCAA cross country champion Morgan McDonald of Wisconsin. Klecker held onto McDonald for the entirety of the race, including going out and crossing the 2,000-meter mark in the back of the pack around 10th place. McDonald made his final move with less than 400 meters left and Klecker was the only individual with the stamina to go with him. The duo battled it out, but McDonald cruised to the finish in 13:41.76.

"I'm very happy with Joe's race," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "He made no mistakes. There is always traffic and rearranging of positions and he stayed calm through all of that and let things unfold and waited for attrition to thin it out. He had a great last kilometer and that's a really excellent run for him. Very happy for him."
...

In the race right before that, Makena Morley went out with a strong group of women and finished seventh in the women's 5,000. She finished in 15:41.67 in a chaotic race that began with two false starts. Morley stuck with the pack group until Weini Kelati of New Mexico, who was the culprit of the false starts and received a warning by the officials, took the lead and ran away from everyone except Alicia Monson of Wisconsin who overtook Kelati for the title. Morley will be back in action tomorrow in the women's 3,000.

"There are two ways to look at it, one is that she went in ranked 15th and finished seventh so that's obviously an impressive performance. Also if you compare what she ran to get there to all the other women she might have had the best race out of the whole field because people ran 15:14 to get there then ran 15:30 something. She ran within a few seconds of her best."

Also securing a first team All-American honor today was Colorado's Gabby Scott in the women's 400. Scott was matched up with Kyra Constantine of USC for the third time this season and edged her out at the line to take the heat win at 52.86. This was Scott's first head-to-head win against Constantine and puts herself in third, qualifying for the finals. Scott will race tomorrow with the field of eight trailing Kaelin Roberts of USC who ran 52.01, eight-tenths of a second better than the rest of the finalists.

"Honestly I feared that Gabby would have trouble with the banks and trouble with traffic, but she ran masterfully, particularly in the first 250 meters," said Wetmore. "She managed the break perfectly, she ran the cut-in straight away perfectly, maybe a little mistake trying to come through on the inside in the last 50 or 60, but a really nice race and through to the finals. She is going to be on the podium and maybe real high."

"She continues to surprise," said Wetmore. "She keeps getting better week after week. This wasn't her fastest time but a lot of people didn't run real fast here. This may not be as fast a venue as some of the places that they have run in the low 52s. She can be very high up."
...

Scott returns tomorrow for the finals in the 400 at 3:50 p.m. MT, while Morley and Klecker will both run the 3,000 beginning with the women's race at 5:10 p.m. MT.

"It's hard to predict because on one hand they are leg weary but on the other hand they are excited," said Wetmore. "There will be people in those races that are fresh, but there will be people in those races that are tired from either the 5,000 or the mile or the DMR. We are hoping to continue to add a few points to the team scores."

"I wanted to get both teams on the scoreboard," said Wetmore. "You know there is a big competition called the Directors Cup which is a nationwide Division I competition among all the sports ranking athletic departments. Getting on the team scoreboard matters for the overall team points for the year. For our own selfish immediate reasons of doing well and having the individuals do well is important, but also to contribute to the big athletic department score at the end of the year matters too."

The men concluded the first day tied for sixth with eight points, while the women are tied for 26th with two points.
...
"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Link to (~4 minute) video interview with Joe Klecker - https://www.flotrack.org/events/629...s/videos?sort=recent&limit=42&playing=6384247
 
Senior Gabby Scott ends up 7th in the 400 meters. Congrats to her on her All-American performance; hopefully she acts as a beacon to many younger top track and field student-athletes that shows you CAN come to Boulder as a sprinter/ hurdler and you WILL have ALL the resources and support needed to succeed at a national level!

As to the race itself, it seemed to my VERY non-expert eye that her finish was not quite as she wanted. It looked to me that, as with her prelim race, she was back a bit after the 1st lap. In the 2nd lap, it looked like just when she was going to make her surge on the back stretch to start passing runners, the runner just ahead of her also pulled out to pass, which cost Ms. Scott just enough momentum to keep her from a faster time and higher finish. Still, obviously a GREAT indoor season for her, and she's shown herself to be in GREAT shape heading into outdoors this season to hopefully excel in both her specialty 400M hurdles as well as the "flat" 400M run (both individually and as the anchor on the relay team).

 
Makena Morley with another STRONG performance as she follows up her 7th place finish in yesterday's 5K with a 6th place finish today in the 3K. 3 more points for the Buffs, and another All-American honor.

Congrats to her!
 
And, junior Joe Klecker also with a VERY IMPRESSIVE double, as he follows up his runner-up 5K finish with a 3rd place in the 3K.

Congrats to him!
 
With the meet just completed:
  • The Buff women finish in a tie for 33rd with 7 points and the men 16th with 14 points.
  • Overall, Arkansas is the women's NCAA champion while Florida gets it on the men's side.
  • The Buff women finish 5th among the Pac 12 schools and the men 2nd..

 
Article on today's races and the Championships in general -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/3/9/t...nships-with-a-pair-of-top-three-finishes.aspx

"
March 09, 2019 | By: Shaun Wicen, Assistant SID

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Colorado track and field program concluded the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday evening here with three additional first team All-American honors and a top-20 men's team finish.

Junior Joe Klecker proved he is one of the top athletes in the nation as he posted his second top-three finish, doubling up with a third-place finish in the men's 3,000 after placing second the night before in the 5,000. The junior scored all 14 of Colorado's points after running 7:54.34 in the 3,000.

"Joe beat Oregon, USC, he beat every Pac-12 team except Stanford," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "He had a great weekend. The guys that beat him this weekend are excellent runners beyond just this year. They are excellent career-long runners, two of the best guys that have been in the NCAA a long time. He ran with them right to the wire two nights in a row. Brilliant double and brilliant future maybe."
...

"He was being patient," said Wetmore. "Both of those guys are excellent kickers. I didn't notice that he tried to lead, I just noticed that it kept accelerating and people kept going out the back and it stretched out and stretched out. The Stanford guy ran a 3:54 mile last night and both of those guys have run low 7:40s in the 3,000 so Joe had his hands full kicking with them. Again, he had a brilliant two nights and another year to go."

With his two performances this weekend, Klecker scored more points than any other Buff has at an indoor championship in school history. The last Colorado athlete to earn multiple First Team All-American honors at an indoor championship was Pierce Murphy in 2016.

Things got started for the women with senior Gabby Scott, who finished seventh in the women's 400-meter dash to earn her first-ever First Team All-American honor. She ran out of the first heat in the fifth lane, working hard in the beginning but dropping to fourth in the cut after the first 200 meters. Scott worked from the back of the pack and was able to catch Florida's Sharrika Barnett and cross the line in 53.19 seconds.

"Her 400 today was a little more like what I feared would happen yesterday; a little more traffic," said Wetmore. "I think in her race today the women went out a little slower and had a bigger response in the second lap. Gabby is, of the 16 runners that made it here, absolutely the least experienced on this kind of a track, a banked 200 against these 52-second women. She had a great weekend to make the final, I was pleasantly surprised that she did that. She beat some people in the final and ran another good time. She has made a big step this year and maybe she can do more outdoors. She should be very happy with how things went."

With the finish, Scott is the first woman in CU history to earn an All-American honor in the 400-meter dash. She joined Leona Russell in 1996 as the only woman to compete in the event at the NCAA Championships for Colorado.

Makena Morley doubled up in the women's 3,000-meters after finishing seventh the night before in the 5,000. The junior stayed in the back of the pack through the first 1,000 meters before moving up into the middle of the group. With 800 meters left the field began to separate, and Morley covered the move and slid into seventh as another break in the pack happened at 600 meters. The junior kept with the group, but the leaders began to move away as she closed the final lap overtaking Lauren Gregory of Arkansas to finish sixth overall in a time of 9:06.74.

"Certainly the form charts would not have predicted her scoring in both events and being first team All-American in both events," said Wetmore. "She had an excellent weekend tactically. She is really learning how to race this level. I think if you were to take everyone who doubled in the 5,000 and 3,000 and combined their times you would find that only the woman from New Mexico had a better weekend. I think Makena had the best double of the entire weekend."

Morley is the first CU woman to earn two individual All-American honors at the indoor championships in the past 14 years. The last to double up was Renee Metevier who finished sixth in the 5,000 and won the 3,000 in 2005.

"We came here with a small group this year and I hoped to get a few points in both genders and we did," said Wetmore. "16th for the men is very good given it was one guy and the women got two and three points here and there between the two of them adding up to the top-35 score. Probably would not have been forecasted, so I'm happy."

With two women scoring in three events, Colorado finished with seven team points and tied for 33rd with Iowa. The men finished with 14 points from Joe Klecker, good for 16th. Arkansas took the women's title with 62 points to overtake USC with 51. Florida walked away with the title with 55 points.
...
"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Full Championships' results -
Women - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/3/9//sat_women_results.pdf
Men - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2019/3/9//sat_men_results.pdf
 
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