Buffs Impress At NCAA Pre-Nationals

Saturday, October 15

Terre Haute, Ind.

All Day

Colorado

Pre-Nationals

Photo by: Ken Moreland

October 15, 2016 | Cross Country

By: Linda Sprouse, Assistant SID

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Colorado's second-rated women and sixth-ranked men's cross country teams looked sharp in their first major varsity races of the season on Saturday as the women's team won the NCAA Pre-National Invitational team title and the men came away with third overall.

THE WOMEN'S RACE: Senior Erin Clark led both CU teams with a runner-up finish, crossing the finish of the 6-kilometer race in 20:08.4. She was 23.8 seconds behind Michigan's Erin Finn, who won the meet in 19:44.7, but was able to hold off Cal Poly's Peyton Bilo, who was right on her tail at third in 20:11.5.

The Buffs had a strong showing all around with two more harriers placing in the top 20. Junior Kaitlyn Benner came across the line 12^th in 20:28.6 and sophomore Dani Jones was 17^th in 20:30.4. Two newcomers to the CU program recorded the fourth and fifth place finishes for the team. Sophomore Makena Morley, a transfer from Montana, placed 26^th overall (20:43.1), while freshman Sage Hurta placed 36^th overall in her first uniformed race for CU (20:52.0).

Overall the women's team executed a great race plan, moving up steadily. After the first 2k, CU was third (160) behind California (134) and Oregon (152). Over the course of the next two kilometers, the Buffs took over the lead. They had a score of 85, which was almost double Oregon (152) and Stanford (159). CU hung on for the win, which wasn't very close as the Buffs totaled 93 points, over 60 points less than the runner-up, No. 9 Oregon (154).

THE MEN'S RACE: Sophomore Ryan Forsyth has been having a breakout season for CU and that continued on Saturday as he led the Buffs with a 15^th place finish at pre-nats, improving from a 51^st place finish in 2015. Forsyth crossed the finish in 20:21.0, holding off Bradley's Michael Ward, who was just behind at 20:21.6.

Another Buff having a breakout year is redshirt freshman Joe Klecker, who placed 24^th overall, second for CU, in 24:27.8. The top five racers for the Buffs placed between 15^th and 30^th as the next three runners were 27^th, 28^th and 30^th. Sophomore John Dressel and senior Ben Saarel, racing their first meets in uniform this season, were 27^th and 28^th overall. Dressel clocked in at 24:30.9, while Saarel finished in 24:31.1. Junior Zach Perrin rounded out the team score at 30^th (24:33.5).

The men's team was second (139) in the 8k race after the first split, with No. 5 Arkansas owning a commanding score of 56. No. 4 Oregon was right on CU's tail and at the second split, UO and CU were tied for second (134) behind Arkansas (67). The Buffs did well, making up ground against the Razorbacks, but ultimately the Ducks would fly past both teams, winning the team title with 85 points. Arkansas was second with 110 points and CU was third just 14 points back (124). The next closest team to the top three was No. 20 Michigan, which placed fourth with 200 points.

NOTEABLE: Erin Clark has finished in the top 10 at Pre-Nats for the last three seasons. She was seventh as a sophomore, first as a junior and second as a senior. CU All-Americans John Dressel and Ben Saarel ran their first uniformed races of the season at pre-nationals, ending speculation that either would redshirt the 2016 season. The Buffs came away with a combined team score of four points (women first, men third), which was only beat by Oregon which came in at three points (men's first, women second).

BRADLEY CLASSIC: On Friday, Oct. 14, the Buffs ran a smaller team at the Bradley Classic in Peoria, Illinois, and both teams came away with good performances. Sophomore Tayler Tuttle won the women's race in 20:38.9, guiding the Buffs to the overall team title. Redshirt freshman Cayla Seligman was fourth overall (20:56.5) and junior Eryn Blakely also had a top 10 finish, coming in seventh overall (21:01.5).

On the men's side, CU also placed three in the top 10. Junior Christian Martin finished fourth overall (24:26.5), while redshirt freshman Reilly Friedman was fifth overall (24:28.0). Sophomore Paul Miller was the 10^th place finisher, clocking in at 24:40.2.

UP NEXT: The postseason kicks off for the CU cross country teams as they will travel to the Pac-12 Championships, Oct. 28, in Tucson, Ariz.

QUOTES:
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
On The Women's Team Performance
We are happy with the win. I would say we had some good races and we had some races we could do better. We learned from this experience and we will make a plan for next time. We are happy with the win for sure.

On Erin Clark's Second Place Finish
That was a good run for her today. The woman who won today was formidable and is someone we would rather worry about five weeks from now. Erin was being smart, staying with the pack, and closed hard in the last 200 meters, going from fourth to second.

On The Men's Team Performance
The men weren't great today. They were better than a lot of teams, but some guys had slightly off performances. We have some thinking to do and some adjustments to make; maybe come into the next race better rested. Oregon beat us soundly – they beat us by more than the score indicates. We are going to have to make some adjustments to be better.

Results:
2016 NCAA PRE-NATIONAL INVITATIONAL
Lavern Gibson Cross Country Course (Terre Haute, Ind.)

Top 10 (of 42) Women's BLUE Team Scores: 1. Colorado, 93; 2. Oregon, 154; 3. Michigan, 179; 4. Portland, 196; 5. Arkansas, 225; 6. Stanford, 229; 7. Eastern Michigan, 255; 8. California, 330; 9. Miss State, 362; 10. Air Force, 404.

Top 15 (of 284) Individuals: 1. Erin Finn, Michigan, 19:44.66; 2. Erin Clark, CU, 20:08.4; 3. Peyton Bilo, Cal Poly, 20:11.47; 4. Karissa Schweizer, Missouri, 20:13.94; 5. Elinor Purrier, New Hampshire, 20:15.34; 6. Katie Rainsberger, Oregon, 20:19.04; 7. Devin Clark, Arkansas, 20:19.97; 8. Bethan Knights, Cal, 20:20.93; 9. Lauren Larocco, Portland, 20:22.33; 10. Sharon Lokedi, Kansas, 20:26.23; 11. Katherine Receveur, Indiana, 20:26.39; 12. Kaitlyn Benner, Colorado, 20:28.6; 13. Samantha Nadal, Oregon, 20:28.66; 14. Gillespie Carina, Air Force, 20:29.25; 15. Katherine Turner, Butler, 20:29.57.

Other CU Finishers: 17. Dani Jones, 20:30.34; 26. Makena Morley, 20:43.1; 36. Sage Hurta, 20:52.0; 46. Tabor Scholl, 20:58.4; 76. Melanie Nun, 20:15.4.

Top 10 (of 40) Men's BLUE Team Scores: 1. Oregon, 85; 2. Arkansas, 109; 3. Colorado, 124; 4. Michigan, 200; 5. Indiana, 255; 6. UTEP, 258; 7. Air Force, 272; 8. Bradley, 309; 9. San Francisco, 323; 10. California, 331.

Top 15 (of 265) Individuals: 1. Edward Cheserek, Oregon, 23:34.7; 2. Frankline Tonui, Arkansas, 23:56.1; 3. Amon Tere, Campbell, 23:58.5; 4. Matthew Maton, Oregon, 24:07.7; 5. Calvin Chemoiywo, Louisville, 24:07.7; 6. Edwin Kibichiy, Louisville, 24:09.7; 7. Alex Short, San Francisco, 24:11.2; 8. Aaron Baumgartner, Michican, 24:11.8; 9. Cosmas Boit, UTEP, 24:12.0; 10. Anthony Kosgei, UTEP, 24:13.1; 11. Dillon Maggard, Utah State, 24:14.1; 12. Jack Bruce, Arkansas, 24:14.9; 13. Connor Mora, Michigan, 24:15.7; 14. Alex George, Arkansas, 24:18.8; 15. Ryan Forsyth, Colorado, 24:21.0.

Other CU Finishers: 24. Joe Klecker, 24:27.8; 27. John Dressel, 24:30.9; 28. Ben Saarel, 24:31.1; 30. Zach Perrin, 24:33.5; 54. Ethan Gonzales, 24:55.5; 67. Adam Peterman, 25:02.6

2016 Bradley "Pink" Classic
Bradley University (Peoria, Ill.)

Women's Team Results (top 5 out of 31 in the Red Race)
1. Colorado, 54; 2. Northern Illinois, 108; 3. Northern Iowa, 159; 4. Bradley, 199; 5. South Dakota, 210

CU Women's Individual Finishes (of 267 individuals)
1. Tayler Tutte, 20:38.9; 4. Cayla Seligman, 20:56.5; 7. Eryn Blakely, 21:01.5; 19. Annie Kelly, 21:21.2; 23. Lucy May, 21:30.1; 60. Karina Mann, 22:02.7; 62. Brianna Schwartz, 22:02.9; 198. Abby Regner, 23:38.9

Men's Team Results (top 5 out of 27 in the Red Race)
1. St. Louis, 103; 2. Windsor, 128; 3. Lamar, 143; 4. Notre Dame, 181; 5. Eastern Illinois, 182; 6. Colorado, 194.

CU Men's Individual Finishes (of 241 individuals)
4. Christian Martin, 24:26.5; 5. Reilly Friedman, 24:28.0; 10. Paul Miller, 24:40.2; 49. Chris Herrick, 25:18.8; 143. Justice Ramos, 26:25.7