Men's Cross Country 2017 In Review
December 27, 2017 | Cross Country
BOULDER - Colorado sophomore Joe Klecker won the CU men's first NCAA Mountain Region individual title in more than a decade, a highlight to a CU season that also included a second-place team finish in the Pac-12 Championships, a third-place team finish in the regionals and an eighth-place finish in the NCAA Championships.
Klecker, who claimed second place in the conference meet, ran perhaps his best race ever as a Buff to win the regional title, clocking a 30:13.6 over the 10K course. Klecker was in 14th place at the two-mile split, then moved up to third at three miles, a spot he held until opening up a finishing kick to take the lead down the home stretch.
Klecker became the first Buff to win a regional title since Billy Nelson accomplished the feat in 2005.
At the conference meet, the Buffs finally saw their streak of championships come to an end at six when Stanford claimed the men's team title. CU's men had won every Pac-12 title since entering the league in 2011.
Still, the Buffs had three top-10 finishes at the conference meet. Along with Klecker's second place, junior Ryan Forsyth was seventh and freshman Eduardo Herrera was 10th in his Pac-12 debut. Senior Adam Peterman was 12th and Zach Perrin finished 16th to round out CU's top five.
Herrera was then CU's top runner at the NCAA Championships, finishing 33rd to earn All-America honors.
Cross Country Notes
- The Colorado men recorded a second place finish at the Pac-12 Championships, just six points behind champion Stanford
- Joe Klecker recorded a second-place individual finish, the best on the men's side since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
- Klecker, along with Ryan Forsyth, Eduardo Herrera and Adam Peterman, were named to the All-Pac-12 teams.Â
- The Buffs earned a third place finish at the regional championships and earned an at-large bid to their 26th straight NCAA Championships, the longest active winning streak in the NCAA.
- Joe Klecker won the regional individual title, becoming the first Buff since Billy Nelson in 2005 to do so.
- CU finished the season with an eighth place finish at NCAAs
- Eduardo Herrera led the Buffs with a 33rd place finish to earn All-America honors.Â
"It was an interesting season. We had a lot of expectations and had a national spotlight on us all year long with the women.  We knew it would be tough.  I got to go to Louisville, to experience that and see the elements. The meet itself was interesting.  Following the storm that was supposed to come through, they moved up the time.  The soccer team playing in North Carolina was awesome, we had some administration that were able to come up and support the runners. Â
"The highlight was clearly having Dani Jones win the conference as the first person since Jenny Simpson to win.  That was a three-peat for them.  The men ended their streak at five but having Joe Klecker finish second which was our highest since moving to the Pac-12. I thought the regional piece was lost a little bit, we had more dominance at the regional level, that's not to be taken lightly. The women finishing third in the NCAAs, I know a letdown for them, I saw something that's the 10th time in the top three since 1976 and it was the highest fifth-place point scorer that we've ever had.  From a team perspective, it shows our team growth and involvement to Heather and Mark and what they're doing to develop the depth.  It's just unfortunate that individually we didn't have a few score a little higher. Â
"Eduardo Herrera was a shining light on the men's side finishing as an All-American and someone that as a freshman, worked through the season and surprise d a lot of people. I t was neat to see him do that.  The cross country piece was a combination of the light during the course of the year and the elements that we fought through at NCAAs."
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Players Mentioned
