Barringer Sets School Record In Steeplechase

Friday, May 25

Des Moines, Iowa

TBA

Colorado

NCAA Midwest Region Championships

May 26, 2007 | Track and Field

By: Linda Sprouse, Assistant SID

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Colorado sophomore standout Jenny Barringer successfully defended her regional title and won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a school record time of 9:44.31 on the last day of the NCAA Midwest Region Championships at the Jim Duncan Track at Drake Stadium.

Barringer broke her own school record of 9:53.04, which she set last year en route to winning the NCAA Steeplechase crown in Sacramento. She also broke the meet record of 10:12.26, which was set by former Colorado distance runner Natalie Florence in 2003. Her win marks the fourth time a CU female has won the event, as Florence won it twice in 2003 and 2005.

“I'm so happy today,” she said. “The biggest focus for me was to stay healthy all season and to be competitive. The biggest element in that is the competition around the United States with the women. They are running the steeplechase really amazing this year and then my competition on the team. My teammates really push me and keep me honest. So it feels really great to win and break the school record because my teammates are here to watch me and my family was here to watch it and I feel I did something important here today.”

This was only Barringer's second time she ran the steeplechase this season, clocking a time of 10:19.34 as she won the Big 12 title two weeks ago. Barringer won the race handily as she bested Minnesota's Emily Brown by almost 24 seconds (10:08.22).

“This is just Jenny's second steeple of the year,” head coach Mark Wetmore said. “We could tell by her workouts that her fitness was beyond a year ago when she ran 9:53 (at NCAAs), but it is always a question whether the technical aspects of the race are going to go along with the metabolic fitness and luckily it looks like everything is coming together at the right time.”

She started off the race in the back of the pack and quickly started to move up. Within 200 meters, Barringer was in the top three and would only continue to improve.

“I started really relaxed,” Barringer explained. “I think a lot of the girls were anxious, especially since we had to wait around for the first heat to finish. I didn't take the lead until about a lap and a half in, and when I came up on the leaders; it was one moment that I decided I was going to go for it and run really hard and I didn't hesitate at all and I never tucked in behind and I just pushed from there on out.

“It is really exciting to defend my regional title here. I won my first track race here (NCAA Midwest Region) and I'm back here again breaking the meet record and the track record. It's really exciting. I'm really proud of the way my coaches have prepared me to peak at this race every year. “

Barringer's time is the second fastest time recorded this year. Lindsey Anderson, a senior at Weber State, recorded a mark of 9:39.95 on April 29, which is also the NCAA record. Barringer's time was the best in all four regions on Saturday.

“It might be the second or third best time in NCAA history,” Wetmore said. “A side note that it is important is that it is both the World Championships and Olympic ?A' standard, which is something at this time of year athletes are looking for all over the country. It means that if she went to the USAs this June and finished in the top three, she would have the necessary time to run at the World Championships. And, if she runs in the Olympic trials a year from now, 13 months from now, and finishes in the top three, she has the time to go to the Olympic Games and I think there are only two women who have that now in the country.”

Stephen Pifer placed second in the 1,500-meter finals. He recorded a season-best mark of 3:40.78. It is the fourth best time in school history, trailing two of his top marks and the record set by Alan Culpepper of 3:39.74. Pifer led for the majority of the race until Leonel Manzano (Texas) took the led with 200 meters to go.

“We had no intention for him to go 3:40 today,” Wetmore said. “But he got rolling and felt comfortable and had some help there at the end and ended up with a faster time than we planned. He looks like he is in good shape for Sacramento.”

Rob Thayer finished the 1,500 with a personal best of 4:46.56, good for ninth place. Anthony Chiulli finished in 12^th (3:52.58).

Billy Nelson took second in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. He finished in 8:51.46, behind Colorado State's Rob Watson (8:39.48). Nelson was in the top of the pack the whole way, never dropping below fifth. He made his move in the last 180 meters to move up from fourth to second.

“Billy was pretty good technically,” Wetmore said. “We had planned to try and practice a little crowd running because that is an important skill in the steeplechase, running with people around you, which he didn't get at the Big 12s. But, he didn't look snappy and he admitted he didn't feel snappy so we have to figure out what we might have done wrong in the last five or six days to get him here kind of tired.”

Sara Ensrud placed third in the women's 1,500 with a time of 4:21.33. Ensrud stayed in the front of the pack for the entire race and even led for about 400 meters before Mable Kunihira of Oral Roberts took the lead in the final 200 meters with her teammate Diana Chelimo. The time is the second best of her career.

The men's 4x100-meter relay finished fourth in 39.98. George Pincock started the race, handing off to Jeremy Dodson. Abuan ran the third leg and Ryan Campbell finished the race for the Buffs. The time is the fourth best in school history. The 4x400 relay (Pincock, Campbell, Abe Friesen and Abuan) finished 10^th overall (3:09.80).

Dodson took fourth overall in the 200-meter dash to advance to the NCAA Championship. Dodson got out of the blocks with a good start and crossed the finish in 20.89.

Campbell also placed eighth overall in the 100-meter dash. He ran a mark of 10.49, his third best of the year.

The men's team placed sixth overall in the meet, earning its best finish at the meet. CU recorded 43 points behind Big 12 Champion Oklahoma (75.33), who won the meet. The women recorded 20 points to place 12th. The top five individuals from each event advance to the national championship and the top three relays.

“We advanced everybody that we felt strongly should advance,” Wetmore said. “I guess we have to wait and see on the men's 4x100. Honestly it looks like they're going to miss by one spot. We had hoped to get Anthony through. He had made it to NCAAs a year ago, but he's been hampered by a sore leg and if you saw the race you could tell that he wasn't ready to go and that is a disappointment. But overall we got a lot of people through and we are excited about Sacramento.”

Colorado advanced eight to the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 6-9 at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, including Hannah Warfield-Ruffatto, Brent Vaughn and Zach Hazen who qualified in yesterday's

competition.

2007 NCAA MIDWEST TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

Des Moines, Iowa

Team Scoring:

Men: 1. Oklahoma, 75.33; 2. Nebraska, 60; 3. Texas Tech, 58; 4. Kansas, 50; 5. Texas, 47; 6. Colorado, 43; 6. Baylor, 43; 8. Texas A&M, 37; 9. Northern Iowa, 30.33; 10. UTEP, 30; 11. TCU, 29; 12. CSU, 25; 13. Kansas State, 24; 14. Oral Roberts, 20; 14. Texas-Arlington, 20; 16. Minnesota, 19; 16. Iowa, 19; 18. New Mexico, 12; 19. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11; 20. Montana State, 9; 20. Rice, 9; 22. Wyoming, 8; 22. North Texas, 8; 24. Texas-San Antonio, 7; 24. Oklahoma State, 7; 26. San Houston State, 6.33; 27. Stephen F. Austin, 6; 28. Houston, 5; 29. Texas Pan Am, 4; 29. Texas State, 4; 29. Air Force, 4; 29. Drake, 4; 29. Tulsa, 4; 34. Wichita State, 1; 34. Iowa State, 1; 34. Lamar, 1.

Women: 1. Texas A&M, 92; 2. Texas, 59; 3. TCU, 42; 4. Nebraska, 40; 5. Minnesota, 37.50; 6. Texas Tech, 37; 7. Kansas State, 36; 8. Iowa, 34.50; 9. Houston, 23; 9. Oral Roberts, 23; 11. UTEP, 22; 12. Colorado, 20; 13. Oklahoma, 16; 13. Kansas, 16; 13. Baylor, 16; 16. Colorado State, 15; 17. Wichita State, 14; 18. New Mexico, 12; 18. SMU, 12; 20. Rice, 11; 21. Texas-San Antonio, 10; 21. Sam Houston, 10; 21. Texas State, 10; 21. Northern Iowa, 10; 25. Lamar, 9; 26. Stephen F. Austin, 6; 26. Iowa State, 8; 26. Tulsa, 8; 29. Montana State, 7; 30. Wyoming, 5.