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DATHAN RITZENHEIN CLAIMS NCAA CROSS COUNTRY TITLE
November 24, 2003 | Cross Country
WATERLOO, Iowa-Three weeks after winning his first Big 12 Conference title, University of Colorado cross country redshirt sophomore Dathan Ritzenhein won his first NCAA crown when he won the NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Championship at the Irv Warren Golf Course here Monday, outkicking Stanford's Ryan Hall in the closing meters to win the title in 29 minutes, 14 seconds, just one second ahead of Hall (29:15).
Stanford, who controlled the race from the starting gun, took the men's team title with 24 points, the second lowest point total in race history. The Cardinal finished ahead of Wisconsin (174), Northern Arizona (189), Iona (207), Arkansas (213) and Colorado (259). The Colorado women finished fifth behind Stanford (120), BYU (128), Providence (222) and Michigan (232). North Carolina's Shalane Flanigan won her second straight women's title in 19:30.
"I was pretty confident that Dathan could win it, but it was closer than I thought it would be, but obviously he's a huge talent. He's a hero today," said CU head coach Mark Wetmore. "I'm a little disappointed with sixth obviously, but we knew with Bret (Schoolmeester) sick that we were in a little bit of trouble and that we wouldn't be hitting on all cylinders. And Brent (Vaughn) keys off him, so they both ended a little buried and a little too far back at the 2k mark.
"As far as the women's race, there was a crash just 200-m into the race that took out a number of runners, Natalie Florence being one of them. That added a lot of points to our score, but she probably caught 100 people over the next 1,500-m to make up some time. Kalin (Toedebusch) and Christine (Bolf) both ran very well as did Laura Zeigle. Kalin got stepped on and got a spike through her foot, but that happens in these races."
The CU women tied their finish from last year while the men had their lowest team finish since a seventh place effort in '99.
"This wasn't the race that I had wanted, and I wasn't feeling too good, but the outcome was good," said Ritzenhein. "This was a hard season and I won them all. It was hard to get back into racing after taking that much time off. Every race was hard, but this was the hardest with Ryan pushing me all of the way to the end."
The race was run on a course dusted with Sunday night's snow and temperatures hovering around 3 below zero. Halfway through the race, at a 14:44 pace, Ritzenhein was fourth in a lead pack that consisted of Gavin Thompson of Eastern Michigan, Stanford's Hall and Texas' Paul Morrison and stayed that way until Hall and Ritzenhein moved away from the pack between the 8 and 9k mark. The two ran shoulder to shoulder trading slight leads with each other into the final straightaway.
"I was feeling tense from the weather, but it was something everyone had to deal with," said Ritzenhein. "You just had to adapt and adjust the raceplan."
It is just the fourth time and first since Iowa State's John Nuttal (1989) and Jonah Koech ('90) that two different runners from the same school have won back to back individual men's individual titles as CU's Jorge Torres won the coveted crown in Terre Haute, Ind., last year. It is also the first time since 1987 (Joe Falcoln, Arkansas) and '88 (Bob Kennedy, Indiana) that Americans have won two straight individual men's titles. It is likely the first time in race history that both scenarios have occurred.
"Watching Jorge win last year was important to me," added Ritzenhein who was interviewed by Torres who was commentating on the race for FOX Sports. "This year was similar on how the race played out (outkicking the runner up in the final meters). He showed me what was possible and I know more now what he went through last year and I can associate with him now."
"Dathan has come a long way since last year and even two years ago finishing fourth his freshman year. He came here to show that he's the best in the country and one of the top prodigies in the country with the performance he had today," said Jorge Torres.
Sophomore Billy Nelson will bring home All-American honors for a second straight season with a career best 16th place finish in 29:53.
"I started off good and followed Dathan the whole way, which was my original goal to stay within 20-m of him and key off him through 5k. I ran by myself a few time, then my legs felt tired around 7, 8k. I panicked a little and they came back with about 800-m to go and I was able to outkick some runners at the end. Nothing went really wrong today, just not a top-10 day, but the race unfolded perfectly."
The surprise of the day on the men's side was sophomore Casey Burchill's finish. In his first NCAA Championship, his 64th place effort scored as CU's third runner, tying his best team effort of the season, "Billy said it best. We didn't have a bad day, just not a great day," said Burchill. "You want to run great in the last and most important race of the season, but it was a good day and I can't complain."
Also in his first championship, freshman Brent Vaughn finished 109th while junior Jared Scott rounded out CU's scoring in 141st.
Renee Metivier's 15th place finish was the best for a CU women's transfer since Colleen Glyde finished 15th in 1996. Though off her 2001 runner-up finish at Georgia Tech, Metivier was happy with the results as her first season as a Buff, "I was second two years ago, but I'm very happy with 15th. I won't be next year (on her senior year expectations). I started out conservatively, and my plan was to stay with Natalie (Florence), but we got separated. I was about 30th at the two-mile mark and just continued to move up.
Villanova transfer Kalin Toedebusch scored as CU's second runner for a second straight race and her 38th place finish was a career best for the junior who had run in two previous championships, but it was her third that brought her an All-American finish.
Sophomore Christine Bolf had the biggest freshman to sophomore year improvement, as she finished 66th, 120 places better than her 2002 finish of 186th in Terre Haute. Redshirt freshman Laura Zeigle finished 88th and Natalie Florence, who was one of the victims of the races' early crash, a disappointing 138th and off the All-American finish of 22nd a year ago to round out CU's fifth place scoring.
"I'll walk away from this meet with only a couple of people having bad luck, and out of 14 that's pretty good," said Wetmore. "But we're completely back next year and with both teams back and a year fitter, some interesting recruits coming in,,, we have a very optimistic future."
NOTE: The NCAA Championships will air on FOX Sports on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. (MT). Offering race commentary on the men's championship is 2002 NCAA Champion and former CU All-American Jorge Torres.
NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Irv Warren Golf Course (Waterloo, Iowa)
MEN'S TEAM SCORES (of 31 teams)
1. Stanford, 24-points; 2. Wisconsin, 174; 3. Northern Arizona, 189; 4. Iona, 207; 5. Arkansas, 213; 6. COLORADO, 259; 7. Georgetown, 281; 8. Air Force, 327; 9. Michigan, 332; 10. North Carolina State, 343
MEN'S INDIVIDUAL FINISHERS
1. Dathan Ritzenhein, CU, 29:14; 2. Ryan Hall, Stanford, 29:15; 3. Gavin Thompson, EMU, 29:17; 4. Grant Robison, Stanford, 29:19; 5. Ian Dobson, Stanford, 29:24; Other CU Finishers: 16. Billy Nelson, 29:53; 64. Casey Burchill, 30:34; 109. Brent Vaughn, 30:56; 141. Jared Scott, 31:10; 149. Payton Batliner, 31:15; 242. Bret Schoolmeester, 33:07.
WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES (of 31 teams)
1. Stanford, 120-points; 2. BYU, 128; 3. Providence, 222; 4. Michigan, 232; 5. COLORADO, 269; 6. North Carolina State, 290; 7. UCLA, 293; 8. North Carolina, 294; 9. Princeton, 348; 10. Notre Dame, 352.
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL FINISHERS
1. Shalane Flanigan, UNC, 19:30; 2. Kim Smith, Providence, 19:42; 3. Sara Bei, Stanford, 19:49; 4. Michaela Mannova, BYU, 19:52; 5. Mary Cullen, Providence, 19:53. CU FINISHERS: 15. Renee Metivier, 20:21; 38. Kalin Toedebusch, 20:46; 66. Christine Bolf, 21:02; 88. Laura Zeigle, 21:11; 138. Natalie Florence, 21:29; 202. Kendall Grgas-Wheeler, 22:04; 219. Jackie Zeigle, 22:17.
