University of Colorado Athletics
Colorado Track & Field Preps For 2007 Season
January 12, 2007 | Track and Field
The 2007 University of Colorado track and field season will begin on the road for the second straight year as the men's and women's track teams will compete on Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Air Force Academy All-Comers Meet at the Cadet Fieldhouse on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy.
A traditionally distance-laden program, Wetmore is expecting that a spread of the wealth among the disciplines will help the Buffs' improve from last year's conference standings, and NCAA Championships.
"Our aspirations for track of 2007 are to compete well at the outdoor Big 12 Championships, to advance people to and compete well at the Outdoor NCAA Championships and to take a logical, positive step team-wide towards having a very good team next year when we hope to host the outdoor Big 12 Championship," head coach Mark Wetmore explained.
"Having said that, then indoor track really just becomes just a developmental state in our preparation towards outdoors. This coming indoors is going to be deliberately low-key. Myself and my staff have made the decision to sit some people and really bite the bullet as far as the indoor Big 12 is concerned just to make sure that everyone is healthy and academically sound in preparation for May and June."
DISTANCE
Colorado is known for having a dominate distance program and this year will be no different. In 2006, CU won all four distance events in the Big 12 Outdoor Championships for the first time in conference history. Brent Vaughn won the 10k, Bret Schoolmeester won the 5k, Stephen Pifer took the 1,500m and Pete Janson won the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Barringer had an impressive outdoor season, winning the NCAA Championship in the steeplechase. Vaughn won the 3k during the indoor season and Billy Nelson took the indoor 5k title. Christine Bolf also won the women's 5k indoor title.
The Buffs won the 2006 NCAA Men's Cross Country title, while the women took second for the second straight season. The men return Nelson, along with Pifer and Vaughn, all scorers from the championship. Barringer led the women with a runner-up finish as just a sophomore. Liza Pasciuto, a junior, earned her third consecutive All-American status with a 16th-place finish.
The Buffs lost Erik Heinonen from their fall roster, but return Bradley Harkrader, Pete Janson, Anthony Chiulli, Shaun Lyle, Seth DeMoor, Payton Batliner, Kenyon Neuman and freshmen Dan Edwards and Matthew Herzl. The women will have Aislinn Ryan, Emily Hanenburg, Amber Smith, Rachel Gioscia, Hilary McClendon, Erin Marston, Anna Chase and transfer Morgan Ekemo.
JUMPS
Amberly Casey returns for her senior campaign with the Buffs. She is the current school record holder in the indoor triple jump and is CU's best chance to score at conference on the women's side. She is joined this season by Chelsea Haverty, Kathleen Majewski and Mark Ebert.
MIDDLE DISTANCE
Jay Johnson has a good returning core for middle distance in one of the toughest middle distance conferences in the nation. The men will be led by senior Daniel Kenney. Kenney will be joined by Robert Thayer, Wil Buchanan and transfer Ben Ryan. Ryan transferred to CU from Wake Forest and was a soccer standout growing up.
Johnson will look for Sara Ensrud to lead the women's side. She will be joined by Jennifer Hooper and Dani Rodriguez.
SPRINTS/HURDLES
Colorado returns a core group on the men's side. They will be led by seniors George Pincock and Chris Abuan. Pincock has been a mainstay in the relays for the Buffs and will continue to lead his final season. Abuan, although only having eligibility during the outdoor campaign, will be a great asset to the Buffs.
CU also returns Ryan Campbell, Brandon Johnson, Lionel Lawson Jr., and Nate Terry, all of who scored for CU at the conference meets. Assistant coach Brandon Couts signed Colorado standout Trae Plueger to the roster last spring. Jeremy Dodson, a transfer from Arkansas, will also be a great addition for the Buffs. Dodson ran the second leg of the distance medley relay which won the NCAA Indoor Championship with a mark of 9:37.02.
On the women's side, Couts will look for leadership from Mikaela Raddatz. Raddatz had to sit out the outdoor season but earned an eighth-place finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championship in the 600-yard run. Couts will also be looking for Jackie Sturm, Dyamond Seay and Troi Smith to have break out seasons. Sara Price is the top recruit on the women's side and will be competing in both sprints and hurdles this season.
Although the sprints/hurdles group made great strides last season, Wetmore will be expecting more from this area as the season progresses in '07.
THROWS
The Buff throwers, coached by '04 Olympian Casey Malone, are looking for breakout seasons. Senior Cortney Hutmacher owns the CU indoor weight throw record. Hutmacher will be looking to score for the first time in an outdoor conference championship. Senior Zach Hazen, who owns the school indoor weight throw record, has eligibility left for the outdoor season. Hannah Warfield-Ruffalo, returns to action after taking a redshirt last season.
Malone returns a group on the men's side with James Begley, Ryan Willis and Kevin Waldron. He added Kevin Fasing, Patrick Bachmann, Kaitlin Kark and Chynna McCall to this season's roster.
THE SCHEDULE
Colorado will travel to the Air Force Academy for three meets this indoor season. During the second week of the campaign, the Buffs will be able to compete in the friendly confines against Front Range competition. CU will leave the Centennial state once before the Big 12 Championship as half of the team will travel to the Husky Invite in Seattle and the other half will go to the New Mexico Invite.
For the first time since 2000, Nebraska will not be hosting the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championship. Iowa State will host the event on Feb. 23-23 in Ames, Iowa. Both teams will be looking to build on last year's finishes, especially the women who placed 11th. The men took seventh. Between the conference championship and the NCAA Indoor Championship, March 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark., the Buffs will have one last chance to meet a qualifying standard.
Just a week separates the last meet of the indoor season and the first meet of the outdoor when the Buffs host the Potts Collegiate Invitational on March 17. CU will also be home again on April 7 for the CU Invitational.
Stanford has been a stop on the Buffs slate the last seven seasons and will be again on March 30-31 and April 29. The star-studded Mt. SAC Relays will be contested April 13-15. Once again, the schedule shows flexibility for the team to travel to different meets on the same weekend. CU has three trips up I-25 on the docket for this season (CSU twice and UNC once). The Buffs will also be able to compete at the prestigious Texas Relays. Other meets on the schedule include the Sun Angel Classic, Oregon Invite, Wyoming Invite and the Ris Westen/Air Force Twilight Invite.
"We have decided like all of the other schools who are way ahead of us that we will put every possible weekend opportunity on our schedule," Wetmore said. "It really just gives us the flexibility of picking the best meets for our athletes and we don't want to decide that 10 months out."
Nebraska is the host of this year's Big 12 Outdoor Championships, May 10-12 and Drake will host the NCAA Midwest Regionals May 25-26 in Des Moines, Iowa. The crescendo of the 2007 calendar will be June 6-9 at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. for the NCAA Championships.
