Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
NCAA Mountain Region Championship
Barringer, Women Win Mountain Region, Men Second
November 14, 2009 | Cross Country
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ? The University of Colorado men's and women's cross country teams punched their tickets to the 2009 NCAA Championships on Saturday afternoon at the University of New Mexico Golf Course.
The No. 6 ranked women's team won the regional for the first time since 2006 and the No. 5 ranked men's team took second; ending a streak of six straight regional titles. Senior Jenny Barringer also won the women's race and was the first CU woman to win the individual title since 2004 when Renee Metivier took home the crown. (The top two teams automatically qualify for nationals while the top four individuals not associated with either of those teams also qualify.) The NCAA Championship is Monday, November 23, in Terre Haute, Ind.
The women all looked strong throughout the race and were very patient. The top five were in the top 25 for most of the race while No. 8 Texas Tech had its top five in the top eight at one point. The Red Raiders weren't able to hang on to that and the Buffs capitalized as they recorded 48 points to edge TTU (53).
Barringer ran a different race this time. Instead of jumping out to a lead and leaving the pack in the dust, she ran with the top pack for the first 4k. Freshman Allie McLaughlin was in the lead pack with Barringer and the two ran side by side along with the top three harriers for Tech. McLaughlin was even able to lead the race for part of the way.
“I wanted to run with Allie for the majority of the race and then start to pull away with about 2k left,” Barringer explained.
When Barringer finally did pull away from the pack with 2k remaining, she won the race easily and had 12 seconds on the runner-up Cecily Lemmon from BYU. Barringer broke the tape in 20 minutes, 29.0 seconds and Lemmon finished in 20:41.1.
“It was really exciting,” Barringer said. “I ran at this course in 2006 as a sophomore and I remember having a great team and coming in and taking second to Sally (Kipyego) and I feel like that was so long ago. So, coming back here and being in a different position with an equally amazing team and this time pulling in the win was really fun.”
McLaughlin cruised to a third-place finish. McLaughlin has been CU's No. 2 score all season and it was really no surprise that she hung with the pack and was able to out run at time of 20:45.1.
“It was a lot of fun,” McLaughlin said. “Our goal was just to qualify for nationals and not to run too hard. I stayed in the front pack and Jenny ran with me, which was really cool. It was really fun to run next to her. She kept me in line and I made sure that she was next to me. It was really nice because she would tell me when I was okay and when to hold back.
“At the 4k, she let loose and took off slowly and then everyone started to spread out. Coming out in the last 200, I got out-kicked by Cecily (Lemmon). It was a good race and all of the girls on the team were very close together. We came through with a win, which was exciting and we are excited for nationals. “
Freshman Laura Tremblay earned her first career top-10 finish by crossing the finish in 21:11.5. Sophomore Emma Coburn ran a regional-best 21:25.4 for 16th and junior Laura Thweatt rounded out the CU score with a 19th-place finish in 21:29.3. All three recorded all-region accolades.
The non-scorers for the Buffs, Katie Cumming and Emily Hanenburg also had great races despite not counting in the team score. Cumming ran 21:38.7 for 27th and Hanenburg was just behind in 28th (21:51.4).
Colorado had some redemption by beating Tech with the strong performances from the entire Buffaloes line-up. The Red Raiders won the Big 12 title two weeks ago handily (38-52), but this time it was the Buffaloes who came out on top and upon hearing the news that her team won, Barringer was ecstatic.
“I came back to run cross country with THIS team and it means so much to me that they are all stepping up and racing well,” she said. “I couldn't be more proud and there isn't any other team that I would rather be on.”
Head coach Mark Wetmore was pleased with the performance by all of the women.
“They (Allie and Jenny) both ran well, but the difference in the score was behind them,” Wetmore said. “Jen ran well and Allie ran well, but the people who ran excellently for us were the rest of the team. Laura Tremblay had an excellent race, Emma had her best race for us and Laura Thweatt ran well. And even behind them, Katie (Cumming) and Emily (Hanenburg) were displacing runners from other teams. All in all we were running on seven-cylinders if there is such a thing.
“They were patient and methodical, careful and a couple of them had better days than we would have hoped for. We knew we could run closer to Texas Tech than we did at Big 12s and it worked out well. We are very happy.”
The men also had a successful outing and recorded 55 points for the runner-up finish in the first 10-kilometer race of the season. Four of CU's runners crossed the finish in the top 11. BYU just nipped the Buffs for the title by recording 54 points with its five harriers in the top 16.
Senior Jordan Kyle was the highest finisher for the Buffs. He crossed the line fourth overall in 30:24.4. Kyle ran in the lead pack for the entire race and didn't let up after a disappointing 15th-place finish at the Big 12 Championship two weeks ago. He had been CU's No. 1 harrier most of the 2008 season and was eighth last year's at regionals.
“It's been kind of a rough season,” Kyle said. “There have been a lot of ups and downs. I ran really well at the (Rocky Mountain) Shootout, and then I kind of got fatigued and a little sick. I'm really happy with my race today. I started conservative and then just worked my way up.”
The CU men stuck together as they have in the past. This time since they were running the 10k and not the 8k, the Buffs stayed together a little longer.
“The plan was to stick together as a pack through 8k and then take off,” Kyle said. “I think everyone did a great job with that since no one fell off and we had a great race.”
Wetmore was also pleased with the fact that Kyle had a great race and was looking like he should be at this point in the season.
“Every race we have gone to up to now he has had quite a bit of running and training in his legs,” Wetmore said. “At the conference meet, he was disappointed in that. He said he felt muscularly weary the whole way. So he was a little better rested today and had the race that he knew was in him today.”
Junior Richard Medina also improved on his finish from last year's meet as he took sixth in 30:32.2. Medina had to fight off New Mexico's Rory Fraser who was right behind him and finished seventh (30:35.5).
“Mark and I talked before the race and we just wanted to run an easy, steady pace and that is what I did.” Medina said. “We always want to win, but more importantly we came here to qualify automatically. We are a lot fitter than last year and I'm excited for nationals. ”
Sophomore Christian Thompson and junior Matt Tebo finished the race strong and were 10th and 11th, respectively. Thompson just beat out Tebo at the finish by clocking a mark of 30:40.4, while Tebo ran 30:40.8. Both earned all-region honors for the first time.
The Buffs' No. 5 scorer was freshman Joe Bosshard. The race was his first 10k and he placed 24th to help Colorado to the second-place finish. Bosshard's time was 31:07.7. He was the second highest placing freshman in the meet and was all-region.
“Joe held on well and scored for us and helped us to finish a real close second,” Wetmore said.
CU's non-scorers also had good performances. Sophomore Andy Wacker was just behind Bosshard and took 25th (31:11.6) to earn his first all-region honor. Freshman Aric Van Halen was 42nd overall (31:52.2). He was the third highest placing freshman.
“Anytime you can automatically qualify for nationals and to be one of the top two teams at regionals is really helpful,” Kyle said. “I think the team did a great job even though we did lose to BYU by one point. There are a lot of great teams in our region, so it was great to finish were we did.”
Echoing those sentiments was Wetmore. “What we needed here was to advance to the NCAAs and we got that so we are very happy. We came here perfectly willing to get fourth. A couple of guys maybe could have been stronger, but we didn't even plan to try to win this race.”
The La Vern Gibson Cross Country Course will once again be the site for the NCAA Championships on November 23.
2009 NCAA MOUNTAIN REGION CHAMPIONSHIP
UNM Golf Course (Albuquerque, N.M.)
MEN'S 10K TEAM SCORES
1. BYU, 54, 2. Colorado, 55; 3. New Mexico, 77; 4. Northern Arizona, 86; 5. UTEP, 158; 6. Air Force, 161; 7. Utah State, 171; 8. Montana State, 218; 9. Weber State, 269; 10. Utah State, 317; 11. Southern Utah, 320; 12. Montana, 321; 13. Colorado State, 355; 14. New Mexico State, 375; 15. Texas Tech, 378; 16. Idaho State, 419; 17. Wyoming, 463
MEN'S FINISHERS (Top 25 and All-Region Honorees):
1. David McNeill, NAU, 29:51.6; 2. Miles Batty, BYU, 30:03.5; Jacob Kirwa, UNM, 30:17.3; 4. Jordan Kyle, CU, 30:24.4; 5. Justin Tyner, AFA, 30:29.5; 6. Richard Medina, CU, 30:32.2; 7. Rory Fraser, UNM, 30:35.5; 8. Ben Ashkettle, UNA, 30:35.9; 9. Rich Nelson, BYU, 30:38.6; 10. Christian Thompson, CU, 30:40.4; 11. Matt Tebo, CU, 30:30.8; 12. Brandon Hebbert, BYU, 30:41.2; 13. Chris Barnicle, 30:45.5; 14. Jordan Chipangama, NAU, 30:49.5; 15. Tommy Fruenewald, BYU, 30:49.9; 16. Nate Ogden, BYU, 30:52.3; 17. Nicodemus Ng'etich, UTEP, 30:54.9; 18. Elkana Rotich, UTEP, 30:56.2; 19. Brian McKenna, USU, 30:57.5; 20. Alden Bahr, BYU, 31:02.8; 21. Patrick Casey, MSU, 31:05.7; 22. Cameron Levins, SUU, 31:06.4; 23. Nick Bolinder, USU, 31:07.0; 24. Joe Bosshard, CU , 31:07.6; 25. Andy Wacker, CU, 31:11.6.
Other CU Finishers: 42. Aric Van Halen, 31:52.2
WOMEN'S 6K TEAM SCORES
1. Colorado, 48; 2. Texas Tech 53; 3. BYU, 114; 4. UTEP, 116; 5. New Mexico, 120; 6. Colorado State, 145; 7. Northern Arizona, 176; 8. Utah Valley, 261; 9. New Mexico State, 262; 10. Southern Utah, 266; 11. Weber State, 308; 12. Montana, 348; 13. Air Force, 376; 14. Utah State, 381; 15. Idaho State, 392; 16. Nevada, 426; 17. Wyoming, 463; 18. Montana State, 497; 19. Utah, 522; 20. Northern Colorado, 551.
WOMEN'S FINISHERS (Top 25 and All-Region Honorees):
1. Jenny Barringer, CU, 20:29.0; 2. Cicily Lemmon, BYU, 20:41.1; 3. Allie McLaughlin, CU, 20:45.1; 4. Risper Kimaiyo, UTEP, 20:46.6; 5. Lillian Badaru, TTU, 20:51.5; 6. Caroline Karunde, TTU, 20:57.3; 7. Purity Biwott, TTU, 21:07.5; 8. Veronica Pohl, NAU, 21:09.0; 9. Laura Tremblay, CU, 21:11.5; 10. Kristen Hemphill, CSU, 21:16.3; 11. Ruth Senior, UMN, 21:17.2; 12. Katy Andrews, BYU, 21:19.0; 13. Ellie Rastall, CSU, 21:19.4; 14. Winrose Karunde, TTU, 21:22.8; 15. Kathya Garcia, UTEP, 21:24.8; 16. Emma Coburn, 21:25.4; 17. Katrina Drennen, UM, 21:28.5; 18. Angela Wagner, BYU, 21:28.9; 19. Laura Thweatt, CU, 21:29.3; 20. Nicky Archer, UNM, 21:30.4; 21. Gladys Kipsang, TTU, 21:34.1; 22. Sharla Manuele, SUU, 21:36.2; 23. Kortnee Burton, NAU, 21:39.1; 24. Courtney Schultz, NMSU, 21:39.6; 25. Sarah Callister, WSU, 21:39.9.
Other CU Finishers: 27. Katie Cumming, 21:48.7; 28. Emily Hanenburg, 21:51.4
--COLORADO--
Players Mentioned
