CROSS COUNTRY QUALIFIES FOR NCAAs

Saturday, November 15

Ogden, Utah

TBA

Colorado

at NCAA Mountain Region Championships

November 15, 2003 | Cross Country

By: CUBuffs.com

RIVERDALE, Utah ? The third ranked University of Colorado men's cross country and sixth-ranked women's earned automatic bids to next week's NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships when they finished first and second, respectively, at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships here Saturday. In addition, redshirt sophomore Dathan Ritzenhein will be the third CU runner since the 2000 season, and second straight, to enter a national championship race undefeated, a scenario that has sent back to Boulder a pair of national champions, following his individual win today.

It was the CU men's 10th win in this race since the 1992 season, and the 10th straight individual win for a Buff. The CU women were the bridesmaid to BYU for the eighth year.

“I was very pleased with our men's day,” said head coach Mark Wetmore. “Our women finished second in this meet and advanced automatically for NCAAs. When you can do that you'd better be happy"which we are.”

Ritzenhein won his fourth race of the year, and first 10k, in 30 minutes, 22 seconds, an amazing 25 seconds ahead of previously unbeaten Kip Kangogo (30:47) of BYU.

“The race went out kind of easy which was a surprise to me,” said Ritzenhein, who will be a national champion contender in next week's NCAA race. “But I was happy to go out easy. At 3k I began to move up and started to open a lead at 5k and pushed it through to 8, then coasted.

“Hopefully I can do that,” he added on his NCAA title scenario. “That's the goal and the prelude that's been set from previous guys.” Kara Grgas-Wheeler (2000) and Jorge Torres (2002) were the other two CU runners to go into a national title tilt undefeated.

Colorado sophomore Billy Nelson had a national qualifying race career best day, as he finished third in 30:55. Sophomore Bret Schoolmeester (31:16) ran to his second straight top-10 finish with a ninth place showing while Jared Scott (27th, 31:55) and Payton Batliner (29th, 32:01) rounded out CU's scoring.

“The race went really well. And I felt really good,” said Nelson. “The course was a little muddy, but it broke up the rhythm a little for some guys. But the race really unfolded perfectly.”

Missing from the start line for the Buffs was freshman Brent Vaughn. Vaughn came down with a case of food poisoning at 4 o'clock this morning, forcing reserve Casey Burchill into action, who was on the trip to run for Batliner, who has been training through a bad cold and was close to sitting out of the race.

“Finding out at 4 a.m. that you have to run a race at 11 is hard to do. But I just did what the team need to do to qualify. And if that's what I had to do, then that's what I had to do,” said Burchill who finished 30th, as CU's sixth runner. Junior Jon Severy finished 33rd (32:04).

With eight men on the trip, Wetmore needs to make the decision on which runner to leave in Boulder as the NCAA roster is restricted to seven members. The decision is one that will likely find Burchill, Batliner or Scott staying behind.

For a third straight year, the women's national qualifying race belonged to BYU, who had three runners among the top five finishers for the convincing 34-67 win over the Buffs. The Cougars' Michaela Mannova won in 20:33 over Northern Iowa's Ida Nilsson (20:47) and BYU teammate Laura Turner (20:53).

“Natalie had an off day, but Renee and Kalin had a good day and picked up the oar for her,” said Wetmore.

For a second straight year, the Buffs' top runner in this race finished fourth as Renee Metivier, who hasn't run a national qualifying race since the 2001 season, finished a CU best fourth in 21:05. It was the first time this season that the junior transfer has assumed the No. 1 role for the Buffs.

“I was going to be conservative today, because in the last three I jumped out, so I tried to stay back and ran with Christine (Bolf) through 3k, and at that point it was hard for me to close the gap on the lead pack,” said Metivier on her race plan.

Kalin Toedebusch, also running in her first national qualifier since '01, finished seventh in 21:21. After a personally disappointing Big 12 Championship 20th place finish two weeks ago, Christine Bolf (21:26) finished a national qualifying career best eighth.

The Buffs' No. 1 runner coming into the qualifying race, Natalie Florence (11th, 21:34) finished a disappointing 11th, her lowest finish of the season and Kendall Grgas-Wheeler (22:35) finished in scoring position for the first time this season, second of her career, to rounded out CU's scoring.

“My team ran really well. They waited until 3k to make a move, and I had intentions of doing the same, but just didn't respond and went into a downward spiral,” explained Florence.

Running in front of a hometown crowd, twin sisters Laura (48th, 22:50) and Jackie (65th, 23:16) Zeigle grew up in South Jordan, Utah, which lies between Provo and Salt Lake City.

The next step for this core of team members is the 2003 NCAA Championships, which will be decided on the Irv Warren Golf Course in Waterloo, Iowa on Monday, November 24. The CU men finished fourth a year ago in Terre Haute, Ind., while the CU women finished fifth.

“We'll look at each race plan individually, so we'll have 14 different plans between now and next Monday as each person is different. And some are looking great, some are tired and some have colds to get over. But we'll taper down, run a lot less, sleep a lot more and try and get school work done by Thursday,” said Wetmore.

NCAA MOUNTAIN REGION CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Riverdale (Utah) Golf Course

MEN'S TEAM SCORES

1. COLORADO, 69; 2. Northern Arizona, 83; 3. Air Force, 93; 4. BYU, 102; 5. Colorado State, 104; 6. Utah State, 177; 7. Weber State, 209; 8. Montana State, 220; 9. Montana, 245; 10. Idaho State, 257; 11. UTEP, 276; 12. Southern Utah, 288; 13. New Mexico, 313; 14. Wyoming, 348

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL FINISHERS

1. Dathan Ritzenhein, CU, 30:22; 2. Kip Kangogo, BYU, 30:47; 3. Billy Nelson, CU, 30:55; 4. Mircea

Bogdan, UTEP, 31:07; 5. Brian Dumm, AFA, 31:07. Other CU Finishers: 9. Bret Schoolmeester, 31:16; 27. Jared Scott, 31:55; 29. Payton Batliner, 32:01; 30. Casey Burchill, 32:03; 33. Jon Severy, 32:04

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES

1. BYU, 34; 2. COLORADO, 67; 3. Colorado State, 104; 4. Northern Arizona, 111; 5. Texas Tech, 144; 6. Nevada, 169; 7. Weber State, 222; 8. Utah State, 247; 9. Southern Utah, 255; 10. UTEP, 272; 11. Montana State, 297; 12. Wyoming, 303; 13. New Mexico, 317; 14. Air Force, 329; 15. Utah, 373; 16. Idaho State, 446

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL FINISHERS

1. Michaela Mannova, BYU, 20:33; 2. Ida Nilsson, Northern Arizona, 20:47; 3. Laura Turner, BYU, 20:53; 4. Renee Metivier, CU, 21:05; 5. Kassi Anderson, BYU, 21:09. Other CU Finishers: 7. Kalin Toedebusch, 21:21; 8. Christine Bolf, 21:26; 11. Natalie Florence, 21:34; 38. Kendall Grgas-Wheeler, 22:35; 48. Laura Zeigle, 22:50; 65. Jackie Zeigle, 23:16.