Colorado University Athletics
Track Heads To Regionals
May 29, 2003 | Track and Field
Boulder - Quickly...The University of Colorado track & field team heads to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Inaugural NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Midwest Regionals at Ed Weir Track Stadium at the University of Nebraska. The meet gets underway on Friday, May 30, and runs through Saturday, May 31. Colorado is sending 17 of it's finest to the state capital of Nebraska. This marks the first time the meet has been held as the NCAA moved to a regional format this year.
Regionals vs. Nationals...For the track un-savvy, here's the difference. Prior to this season, in order to compete in the NCAA Championships, a student-athlete had to qualify either automatically or provisionally. The athletes meeting the automatic standard were, uh, automatically in the NCAA meet, followed by the next group of provisional qualifiers that filled out the field to it's desired maximum capacity. For regionals, the qualifying standards have been lowered so more athletes will participate, however instead of the best times advancing to the national meet, the top five finishers in each event final will advance. There are also some wildcard spots open should the leaders of the descending orders lists fail to get through.
Colorado's Entries...Here's a list of who is entered into what events in Lincoln. The top five finishers in each event finals will qualify for the national meet, in addition to "wildcard" selections based on the national descending order lists. The MW/NC is the student-athlete's midwest regional ranking followed by their national ranking.
Men:
AK Ikwuakor, 110 M Hurdles, 23rd/82nd; 400 M Hurdles, 13th/56th
Andy Miller, High Jump, 24th/73rd
Chase Mullen, Hammer Throw, 9th/43rd
Billy Nelson, 5,000 Meter Run, 9th/32nd
Brett Schoolmeester, 5,000 Meter Run, 16th/54th
Jorge Torres, 1,500 Meter Run, 2nd/16th
Daric Wilhite, 400 Meter Dash, 28th/129th
Women:
Molly Austin, 5,000 Meter Run, 5th/30th
Megan Buttner, Pole Vault, 22nd/99th
Natalie Florence, 3,000 Meter Steeplechase, 3rd/18th
Sara Gorton, 5,000 Meter Run, 1st/2nd
Kendall Grgas-Wheeler, 3,000 Meter Steeplechase, 10th/64th
Anna Magle, High Jump, 23rd/86th
Brianna Torres, 1,500 Meter Run, 13th/96th
Deneeka Torrey, 100 M Hurdles, 23rd/120th; 400 M Hurdles, 23rd/125th
Hannah Warfield-Ruffato, Javelin, 13th/43rd
Making Marks In Field Events...CU's field events athletes have been doing some damage on the school all-time best lists this season. Chase Mullen has been putting his mark on CU's hammer throw list as his throw of 196-6 ranks as the second-best in CU history. The only two throws better are owned by Jeff Singleton, who holds the school record at 196-9 and another toss of 190-11. Lastly, Hannah Warfield-Ruffato's mark of 152-07 in the javelin is the third-best in school history and best throw since 1987.
Everybody's All-Americans...CU's got five of them back for this season in Jorge Torres, Ed Torres, Sara Gorton and Colorado native Molly Austin. Both of the Torres brothers are seniors, as is Austin. Gorton is just a sophomore.
Record Breakers...Sara Gorton has the honors, breaking the women's 5,000 meter school record at the Mt. SAC Relays with her time of 15:24.97. She also set the indoor records in the 5k and the 3k. Jorge Torres set the school record in the 5,000 in 13:24.56 at Stanford on May 2. Megan Buttner set a new pole vault record with her leap of 12-4.
Gorton Sets NCAA Sophomore Mark...When sophomore Sara Gorton ran 15:24.97 earlier this year at the Mt. SAC Relays in the women's 5,000 meters, she set a CU record in the process. What most people don't know is that the mark set a national sophomore record and is the fourth-fastest time ever run by a collegian. And she wasn't even named athlete of the week.
Titleists...Not so much the golf balls as CU Buffs this season with an NCAA title. The magic number this year is zero with an outdoor title, however senior Jorge Torres won the men's cross country national title in 2002 and sophomore Sara Gorton won the women's indoor 5,000 meter NCAA title in Arkansas in 2003.
The Man...The Myth...The Reality...is that Mark Wetmore is a proven success in collegiate track & field coaching when it comes to his distance runners. He comes to Lincoln having guided 11 athletes to NCAA titles, including Olympians Adam Goucher (cross 1998, indoor 3K in 1997 and 1998, outdoor 5K in 1998) and Alan Culpepper (outdoor 5K in 1996), recent grad Kara Grgas-Wheeler (2000 outdoor 3K and 5K and NCAA cross), Jodie Hughes in the indoor 5K in 2001, Sara Gorton in the indoor 5K this year and Jorge Torres in men's cross country last fall.
