Cross Country Wins 20th Shootout

Saturday, October 1

Buffalo Ranch at CU So. Campus, Boulder

8:30 OPEN/10:15 COLLEGE

Colorado

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHOOTOUT

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

October 01, 2005 | Cross Country

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER?Colorado's third-ranked men's and women's cross country teams won the 20^th Annual Rocky Mountain Shootout at Buffalo Ranch at CU's South Campus under hotter than normal conditions for this time of year in Boulder.

It is the seventh straight title for the women and the 15^th consecutive title for the men. In Division I scoring, CU took 15 points in each race. The women defeated Northern Colorado (50) and the men dropped Air Force's junior varsity squad (50). Adams State won the men's and women's Non-Division I races.

Senior Christine Bolf won the women's 5.8k with a personal best of 20 minutes and 53 seconds. She was closely followed by freshman Jenny Barringer (21:07). Bolf held a strong lead throughout the race.

“I felt good about it; I think I won pretty easily,” Bolf said about her last time racing for CU at the Buffalo Ranch. “The only thing that was a bad factor was the heat today because it was so hot and I think it contributed to everyone's times, but overall it was a good day.”

“I was nervous but confident coming in and it felt really great to get out there and run really hard for three miles,” Barringer said about her first run as a Buff. “I got into second place right before the three-mile mark with a little less than a mile to go. I felt great and confident and if I have any advantage out here, it's with the heat because I'm used to practicing at 3 p.m. in Florida weather. So the weather was definitely hot today and it was not comfortable for me, but I was probably more used to it than most people out here.”

Senior Bret Schoolmeester overtook Western State's Kelly Christensen with about one mile to go in the 8k and finished in the top spot with his personal best in 24:55. Schoolmeester's time tied for the 13^th best score in the men's 8k at the Rocky Mountain Shootout. Christensen won the race last year in 24:40 and finished at 25:11 this year.

“It (the race) went great,” Schoolmeester said. “Before the day started Mark (Wetmore) said it was about 20 degrees hotter then we would like, so throw your split plan out the window and just really race people. And I was fortunate enough that it kind of turned into a two-man race 800 meters in and Kelly Christianson really gave me a run. I knew he was really good on this course, I mean, he's really, really tough on this course. So I just wanted to race him and practice racing skills. To do what I want to do later in the season I really need to handle a lot of hard surges from a lot of really good people. We'll run conference in Waco, Texas, so it was good to practice racing people in the heat. I'm not thrilled with today, but I'm happy. And that's kind of what a really good season takes is a lot of just okay days.”

The races were the first of the season for the Buffaloes, so there is plenty to build on in future races as CU prepares to defend its men's and women's national championships.

“The women, we struggled today. Had an important person go down in the course, it cost us a lot of points in the race,” Colorado Head Coach Mark Wetmore said. “Liza Pascuito, something in her knee, the doctor who happened to be here doesn't think it's a major thing, but its major for today, and she was probably second or third in the race (at that point). So that's a disappointment. I guess if we get away with that not being a major injury, I'll consider it a victory.”

“On the men's side, it was everything we had any reason to hope on the day where the conditions were too difficult to hope for fast times,” Wetmore continued. “Of course, the guys train hard and work hard here all the time and have ideas about how fast they're going to run and the weather didn't allow that. But we simply did a reframe during our warm up and said bad day for running fast, good day for practicing for the Big 12 (Championships) in Waco, Texas, in a month where it will likely be this temperature again.”

The Colorado women placed three runners in the top five, while the men placed six in the top 10. Senior Kalin Toedebusch came in fifth (21:28), behind Bolf and Barringer, in her final run at the Buffalo Ranch. Sophomore Liza Pasciuto did not finish the race.

“Liza went down with about a mile to go,” Wetmore explained. “She was cruising, feeling good, looked good to me, right there with Jenny, a little ahead of Kalin, and took the turn, felt something pop in her knee, and down she went. But she had a cyst lanced in that knee earlier this week and our doctors did all the pushing and pulling and concluded that there doesn't seem to be any connective tissue wounded, so the plan right now is that its the cyst reformed and maybe ruptured or something and hurt a lot but didn't do any big damage.”

On the men's side, Bradley Harkrader (25:27) came in third and Payton Batliner (25:33) finished 5^th. Billy Nelson (25:48), James Strang (25:51) and Stephen Pifer (25:58) came in eight through 10.

In the men's open race, Colorado's Kenyon Neuman (26:41) and Ryan Deak (27:16) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Colorado reserves have will be back in action at the Tiger Invitational on Oct. 8 in Hays, Kan., while the varsity doesn't compete again until Oct. 15 at the Pre-NCAA Invitational in Terra Haute, Ind., the site of this year's national championship.

20^th ANNUAL ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHOOTOUT

Buffalo Ranch at CU South Campus (Boulder, Colo.)

MEN'S DIVISION I TEAM SCORES

1.COLORADO 15; 2. Air Force (JV) 50

MEN'S NON-DIVISION I TEAM SCORES

1. Adams State22; 2. Western State 35; 3. UC-Colorado Springs 91; 4. New Mexico Highlands 152; 5. Western New Mexico 171; 6. Fort Lewis 197; 7. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology 210; 8. Dickinson State 214; 9. Regis 222; 10. Metro State 254; 11. Montana State-Billings 276; 12. Colorado Christian 335

TOP-10 MEN'S FINISHERS

1. Bret Schoolmeester, CU, 24:55; 2. Kelly Christensen, WSC, 25:11; 3. Bradley Harkrader, CU, 25:27; 4. Jesus Solis, ASC, 25:31; 5. Aucencio Martinez, ASC, 25:33; 6. Payton Batliner, CU, 25:35; 7. Mario Macias, ASC, 25:37; 8. Billy Nelson, CU, 25:48; 9. James Strang, CU, 25:52; 10. Stephen Pifer, CU, 25:58. Other CU Finishers: 11. Pete Janson, 26:06; 14. Chris Pannone, 26:27; 18. Austin Baillie, 26:43; 25. Anthony Chiulli, 27:26; 26. Greg Castro, 27:32; 35. Will Campbell, 28:08; 44. Daniel Kenney, 28:28

WOMEN'S DIVISION I TEAM SCORES

1. COLORADO 15; 2. Northern Colorado 50

WOMEN'S NON-DIVISION I TEAM SCORES

1. Adams State 18; 2. UC-Colorado Springs 63; 3. Western State 64; 4. Fort Lewis 91; 5. New Mexico Highlands 165; 6. Mesa State 206; 7. Metro State 211; 8. Western New Mexico 212; 9. Montana State-Billings 241; 10. Regis 248; 11. Colorado Christian 333

TOP-10 WOMEN'S FINISHERS

1. Christine Bolf, CU, 20:53; 2. Jenny Barringer, CU, 21:07; 3. Emily Mortensen, ASC, 21:16; 4. Victoria Martinez, ASC, 21:28; 5. Kalin Toedebusch, CU, 21:28; 6. Michelle Icban, ASC, 21:35; 7. Brittany Somers, ASC, 21:35; 8. Ester Komen, WSC, 21:52; 9. Sarah Shepard, UCCS, 21:52; 10. Shannon Payne, UCCS, 21:53. Other CU Finishers: 15. Jackie Zeigle 22:30; 18. Laura Zeigle 22:39; 19. Sara Ensrud 22:41; 21. Kristen Hoogheem, 22:49; 35. Kelly Shuma, 24:22; 65. Alisha Martinez, 25:53