Colorado University Athletics
Photo by: Gary Breedlove
Women's Indoor Track 2017 In Review
December 30, 2017 | Track and Field
BOULDER - In many years, a top-10 team finish in the NCAA Championships would clearly be the highlight of the season — and for the Buffs women, their seventh-place finish at the NCAAs in College Station, Texas, was indeed a special moment. It was the second-best indoor finish in CU women's indoor history, topped only by a sixth-place effort in 2001.
But the story behind the story was the superb effort of sophomore Dani Jones, who became the first CU athlete ever to win a pair of indoor national championships in the same meet.
Jones claimed her first title in dramatic fashion by anchoring the distance medley relay to a championship. Jones took the baton for her 1,600-meter leg in 10th place and slowly but steadily began picking off runners ahead of her. With just more than 200 meters to go, she was still in third place, but then put forth an outstanding kick to move past runners from Oregon and Stanford in the home stretch to finish just .02 seconds ahead of the Cardinal runner. That sent the DMR team of Jones, Tabor Scholl, Elissa Mann and Sage Hurta to the top of the podium with a finishing time of 11:00.34.
One night later, Jones claimed another title, this time in the 3,000-meter run — and once again with a terrific kick in the final 200 meters.
Jones maintained a spot in the middle of the pack for much of the race before beginning to push to the front with about 400 meters left. Then, heading into the final turn, she found another gear to pass Missouri's Karissa Schweizer at the finish for her second national championship in as many nights, finishing in 9:09.20.
Along with the DMR team and Jones' 3,000 effort, Mark Wetmore's team also brought home two other All-Americans from the championships. Erin Clark finished eighth in the 3K to earn first-team honors and Makena Morley was 15th in the 5K to pick up second-team honors.
Clark also won a 5K title at the MPSF conference championships, as did the DMR team, helping the Colorado women to a fifth-place finish, tying their best-ever effort in the MPSF meet.
Women's Indoor Track Notes
MPSF (2 Titles)
"I went to Seattle with the team both to observe the championships and how we host it. One highlight was to host our meets in the Indoor Practice Facility. We had some great competitions and set some school records right off the bat. That was exciting to see the potential for that to grow in the future. I went to the Pac-12's to see how Washington did it for so many years in the MPSF. It was great to see both the men and women was finishing highest in history between both teams. The men were sixth, the women fifth, it was great to see us score in so many events that we historically haven't.
"The two highlights were the men's and women's sweep of the 5K. Joe Klecker and Erin Clark winning those events as individuals. The distance medley relay, Dani's kick at the end of that race was exciting. That carried forward to the NCAA Championships where Dani won the 3K and then and the DMR team winning the national championship.
"Opening the IPF and seeing our team internally, the ops and game ops people really stepping up and seeing an opportunity to how to host and do it right. The opportunity to host a pretty big indoor meet it out there."
But the story behind the story was the superb effort of sophomore Dani Jones, who became the first CU athlete ever to win a pair of indoor national championships in the same meet.
Jones claimed her first title in dramatic fashion by anchoring the distance medley relay to a championship. Jones took the baton for her 1,600-meter leg in 10th place and slowly but steadily began picking off runners ahead of her. With just more than 200 meters to go, she was still in third place, but then put forth an outstanding kick to move past runners from Oregon and Stanford in the home stretch to finish just .02 seconds ahead of the Cardinal runner. That sent the DMR team of Jones, Tabor Scholl, Elissa Mann and Sage Hurta to the top of the podium with a finishing time of 11:00.34.
One night later, Jones claimed another title, this time in the 3,000-meter run — and once again with a terrific kick in the final 200 meters.
Jones maintained a spot in the middle of the pack for much of the race before beginning to push to the front with about 400 meters left. Then, heading into the final turn, she found another gear to pass Missouri's Karissa Schweizer at the finish for her second national championship in as many nights, finishing in 9:09.20.
Along with the DMR team and Jones' 3,000 effort, Mark Wetmore's team also brought home two other All-Americans from the championships. Erin Clark finished eighth in the 3K to earn first-team honors and Makena Morley was 15th in the 5K to pick up second-team honors.
Clark also won a 5K title at the MPSF conference championships, as did the DMR team, helping the Colorado women to a fifth-place finish, tying their best-ever effort in the MPSF meet.
Women's Indoor Track Notes
MPSF (2 Titles)
- Finished 5th – tied highest MPSF finish in school history
- Titles (2)
- 5K - Erin Clark
- Distance Medley Relay (DMR) - Tabor Scholl, Elissa Mann, Sage Hurta and Dani Jones
- Finished 7th – highest indoor finish since 2001
- Titles (2)
- DMR - Tabor Scholl, Elissa Mann, Sage Hurta and Dani Jones. Dramatic Fashion. Jones went from 10th to first to win title
- 3K - Dani Jones
- All-America Honors
- Makena Morley – 2nd team, 5K (finished 14th)
- Dani Jones – 1st team, 3K (finished 1st)
- Erin Clark – 1s team, 3K (finished 8th)
- DMR – Scholl/Mann/Hurta/Jones
- Notes: First time a CU track athlete won two national titles in the same year at the indoor Championships
"I went to Seattle with the team both to observe the championships and how we host it. One highlight was to host our meets in the Indoor Practice Facility. We had some great competitions and set some school records right off the bat. That was exciting to see the potential for that to grow in the future. I went to the Pac-12's to see how Washington did it for so many years in the MPSF. It was great to see both the men and women was finishing highest in history between both teams. The men were sixth, the women fifth, it was great to see us score in so many events that we historically haven't.
"The two highlights were the men's and women's sweep of the 5K. Joe Klecker and Erin Clark winning those events as individuals. The distance medley relay, Dani's kick at the end of that race was exciting. That carried forward to the NCAA Championships where Dani won the 3K and then and the DMR team winning the national championship.
"Opening the IPF and seeing our team internally, the ops and game ops people really stepping up and seeing an opportunity to how to host and do it right. The opportunity to host a pretty big indoor meet it out there."
Players Mentioned
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