Colorado University Athletics
24th Annual Rocky Mountain Shootout Quotes
October 03, 2009 | Cross Country
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
ON JENNY BARRINGER- “What's impressive about it, is her last cross country race was two years ago. Not only is it her first race of the season, but really she hasn't taken a step on a cross country cross in 22-and-a-half months. It wasn't our original plan to have her run hard the whole way, but I started thinking if I tell her to run 92 percent, and she runs 19:50, she's going to be really mad at me. We just said go out and have fun and run on the edge, and this is what happens.”
“She's taken very nice progression steps over the last couple of years. She hasn't really hammered anything yet; we control her well with training and a heart rate monitor. We have reason to believe she'll get better.”
ON ALLIE McLAUGHLIN- “I think it's the fastest time ever for a freshman here. Our observation of Allie in her recruiting process is she tended to be a little impetuous. So we're trying to hold her back and assigning her to stay with teammates, but they can tell between their respirations and her respirations in practice that she has a couple of sprints in her.”
ON THE MEN'S TEAM- “Very happy with the way the men ran. 25 minutes is a real hard run on this course, only a handful of guys have done it. Again, they're really just in the foundational phase of their training. Even the guys behind them had pretty nice times. Some of it can be attributed to a pretty nice day; I've seen it hotter out here.”
ON INJURIES- “Kenyon (Neuman) pushes pretty hard so there's always some little thing that hurts. He had a minor calf problem earlier in the season, but obviously he's rounding into shape.”
ON WHAT TO TAKE FROM TODAY IN PREPARATION FOR NATIONALS- “We will improve on our performances from last year.”
Freshman Allie McLaughlin
ON THE RUN- “It felt really good. Coach Wetmore had me try something a little different than what I'm used to and not booking it out the first mile and then dying during the last stretch. I really tried to slow down on that first mile and I felt I did a good job. I felt really good at the end, like I had a lot of strength. Once I learn the style, I'll be able to go a lot faster.”
ON KEEPING JENNY IN SIGHT- “I think I lost her towards the end, but it's so cool because I know she was going for the record and being able to see her at the beginning was really cool.”
ON HER TIME- “My roommate and I were looking up the records and we saw 20:49 was the 20th and I felt I could beat that. I was hoping to be just in the top 20 and I did better than that, so I'm happy.”
ON LEARNING FROM JENNY- “I'm so excited to be in Colorado training with Coach Wetmore. Having Jenny here for cross country season was definitely a big part of coming here. I think we're going to have a great team and it will be fun to continue to watch her train and learn from it.”
ON SNEAKING UP ON PEOPLE- “We're ranked 21st and I think the big reason we're ranked is partly because of Jenny coming back. I don't think anyone knows what's coming, we're going to keep training and take each race step-by-step.”
Senior Jenny Barringer
ON THE RACE- “A couple of days ago I sat down with my coaches and we decided that I was going to go for the course record. That was a tall order because it's a really difficult course record, Kara is a real incredible athlete and she was incredible when she was here. I knew it was going to take a formidable effort. I was really happy to get out here and do it. I started out hard from the gun because that was what I had to if I was going after the record. Then, I brought it in strong so I'm really happy with how it went.”
ON HER LAST ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHOOTOUT- “There were definitely some sentimental parts to it. Knowing that I'm running on our home course and wearing our school uniform, and this is the last time a lot of people in Boulder will be able to see me race. It was exciting to get the green light from my coaches to be able to go after the course record. Every time I headed west, I'd get this beautiful view of the Flatirons on a nice, sunny day. It was a picture-perfect capstone to my training and career here in Boulder.”
ON THE TEAM- “I've gotten a sneak peak at Allie (McLaughlin)'s fitness are her abilities, so I'm very excited about her. I'm not surprised at all that she tore it up today, she's being doing great in practice and great on every single assignment she's been given so far. Some of the other women on the team I was really impressed about. I was excited to see Emma (Coburn) do as well as she did. She raced the steeplechase at NCAA's last year and it's really taken a lot both in fitness and mentally as an athlete for her. Emily Hanenburg, this is her last year as a collegian like me, so it's exciting to see her rounding out the team as well.”
ON NATIONALS- “We're going to come back as a team. We'll be one of the most improved teams in the country in the last year. We're going to make a run for the podium. I'm really excited; I would not have come back if this was just going to be all about me. This is about the team and I'm really excited to see the effort this team will make to try to make the podium at the NCAA's.”
Senior Kenyon Neuman
ON HIS STRATEGY- “I was definitely looking to win it. There three guys on our team, maybe more, that could challenge for it so I knew it'd be hard. I wanted to make sure I was relaxed through the first three miles or so and I think I did a good job of that. Two of my teammates kicked out a little faster than I expected. I was just trying to be cautious and stay relaxed.”
ON TEAM PERFORMANCE- “I think we looked really good, we don't even have all of our best guys running. Everyone's doing a good job of making sure they stay healthy and stay fit. It was good to run with everyone and have such a dominating performance.”
ON THIS YEAR'S TEAM COMPARED TO LAST YEAR'S- “It's a whole different thing this year. I came in hurt last year and didn't even run this race. I was training and it was hard because I'm not used to struggling to hang with some of the guys I was struggling to hang with. Richard (Medina) had some things that were bugging him and came in a little late. We just weren't in great shape and had a lot of injury stuff. OSU (Oklahoma State) was really good and they're good this year, but we have a tough team. I feel pretty confident, I'm happy with the team we have.”
ON SNEAKING UP ON PEOPLE NATIONALLY- “I don't think anyone has anything else in mind; to finish second or fourth. We want to finish as high as we can. I think if you talk to anyone on the team, they think we're capable of winning. Those rankings don't mean anything, I just ignore them and I hope the rest of the guys on our team do too. I think most of them do. They never rank Colorado first, but I think that's good. I don't want to be on top having to fend other people off.”
ON THE WOMEN'S TEAM- “The women have made a real big jump and they're all working very hard. They're all really hard-working and have done a lot of work to get where they are right now. I think they're going to do really good.”
Junior Matthew Tebo
ON THE RACE- “Nobody blew by me in the past 400 meters, which is always a struggle for me.”
ON THIS YEAR'S TEAM- “I think we're a lot better off. Last summer, we didn't have anyone out here training. I was at home the entire summer. We were all out here this summer training and good run after good run started to happen.”
ON HIS PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT- “I think it's just having an extra year. Mark's program is built on years and years of solid work, then finally one day after feeling like crap for two years, you have a good race.”
