CU Men Earn Third-Place Finish At Pre-Nationals

MADISON, Wis. — After a let-down at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational two weeks ago, the University of Colorado men's cross country team knew it needed a big day on Saturday at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational.

That is exactly what the Buffs got as they recorded a third-place finish on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, the site of the NCAA Championships in November. A big part of that performance came with the return of Joe Klecker to the lineup, who missed the previous race due to a small injury. He came back strong on Saturday afternoon, leading the Buffs with a fifth-place individual finish.

Colorado did not send its varsity women's team to the meet since the top-ranked Buffs have the points needed for the postseason, but instead gave its 'B' team a chance to compete. CU's 10^th-place team finish as very respectable in a field that featured nine ranked teams.

"I'm happy with how we did in both races," head coach Mark Wetmore said. "We learned what we needed to learn and we got to see a lot of our opponents. Coach (Heather) Burroughs is back in Boulder with our women's 'A' team and she will be crunching all of these numbers and will have charts, graphs and comparisons by the time I get home tonight."

MEN'S RACE:
The Buffs put together an excellent race to finish behind No. 1 Northern Arizona (41) and No. 5 Stanford (84). CU recorded 110 total points to finish in front of 13^th ranked Oregon (152).

Klecker undoubtable had the biggest day for the Buffs, finishing fifth in his first complete race of the season. Through the first 2k, he was 86. But then he moved up 81 spots to fifth at the 5.8k split. He hung on to that spot and crossed the finish in 23:55.1.

Ryan Forsyth also did quite well as he earned a 10^th place finish in 24:01.0. He too had a huge improvement between the 2k and 5.8k splits, working up from 83^rd to ninth.

John Dressel was CU's third finisher, and just like his teammates, he moved up during the race, working up from 96^th to 18^th between the first two splits. He recorded a time of 24:14.7 to finish 16^th overall. Eduardo Herrera had an 80-place improvement between the first two splits, working his way up from 124^th (2k) to 44^th (5.8k). He kept working as he moved up another 13 spots to finish 31^st in 24:29.3.

CU's final scorer was Ethan Gonzales, who earned a 50^th-place finish in 24:38.1. He had a strong showing, moving up from 142^nd at the 2k marker, to 67^th at 5.8k.

"Two weeks ago we ran without Joe Klecker, and that makes a big difference in our team score," Wetmore explained. "Today he was where we would have expected him to be. Ryan had a nice race. John maybe didn't have his best race and Lalo (Eduardo Herrera) could be better. But then our fifth man, where points are really coming in fast, Ethan Gonzales, had a really good day. We took a little step. It will change the rankings back to something a little more realistic and yet we have 13 days to go to be rested and peaked for the Pac-12 Championship."

Colorado is currently ranked 11^th in the USTFCCCA Poll.

Stanford's Grant Fisher and Northern Arizona's Tyler Day each recorded a time of 23:48.8, but Fisher crossed the finish line just in front of Day for the win.

WOMEN'S RACE:
Brianna Schwartz had another great performance, leading the CU women with a 23^rd-place finish. She gradually worked her way up the pack and was 37^th through 2k. By 4k, she had moved up to 28^th before passing five runners in the final 2k for her finish in 20:44.3.

"Bri Schwartz had a pretty good race two weeks ago at Stanford, but had a very good race today leading this group," Wetmore said. "She is somewhere between our fifth and seventh runner, so she is certainly going on to the Pac-12 as she gets better with each race."

The rest of the team did well as every single racer improved from 2k to 4k. Holly Bent, who was the second Buff to finish, was 87^th at the 2k split and moved up to 52^nd at 4k. She fell by a few spots in the final loop to finish 58^th (21:17.8). Mackenzie Caldwell worked her way up from 103^rd at the first split, to 63^rd at the second split. She dropped back six positions, but still finished well at 69^th (21:23.7).

Baylee Jones and Lindsey Koch were the two final scorers for CU. Both moved up from over 100^th in the start of the race. Jones was 132^nd through the first 2k and moved up quite well to 84^th after the following 2k. She was able to move up five more spots to take 79^th overall (21:31.0). Koch was 126^th through the first split and worked her way up to 96^th at the 4k mark. She was able to hang on to the spot for the finish in 21:43.1.

Wetmore was quite happy with how the women's team performed, especially since they were competing against many varsity programs.

"Tenth for that group is respectable," he said. "There are teams behind them that would be hoping to advance to the NCAA. That is something we talked about before the race. I said, 'You are running against varsity teams. Prove to yourself that you would make other varsity teams.' And they did. I was very happy with that group."

Oregon's Jessica Hull won the race in 20:03.2, outkicking Arkansas' Katrina Robinson, who was six seconds behind (20:09.4). Seventh-ranked Arkansas won the team race (51), defeating No. 4 Oregon by 20 points (71).

UP NEXT: The postseason begins as the Buffaloes head to the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships, October 26, in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal will host the event at the Stanford Golf Course.

2018 NCAA Pre-National Invitational
Madison, Wis. (Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course)

Women's Cardinal Race (6k)
Team Results (Top 10 of 35)
1. Arkansas 51; 2. Oregon 71; 3. Indiana 166; 4. BYU 175; 5. NC State 180; 6. Portland 242; 7. Minnesota 260; 8. Syracuse 269; 9. Northern Arizona 293; 10. Colorado 325.

Individual Results (Top 10 Individuals)
1. Jessica Hull, Oregon, 20:03.2; 2. Katrina Robinson, Arkansas, 20:09.4; 3. Aubrey Roberts, Northwestern, 20:10.0; 4. Erica Birk, 20:12.2; 5. Bethany Hasz, Minnesota, 20:18.3; 6. Tayler Werner, Arkansas, 20:18.8; 7. Lauren Larocco, Portland, 20:19.7; 8. Carina Viljoen, Arkansas, 20:20.1; 9. Elly Henes, NC State, 20:23.7; 10. Lauren Gregory, Arkansas, 20:25.6.

Individual Results (CU Athletes Only)
23. Brianna Schwartz, 20:44.3; 58. Holly Bent, 21:17.8; 69. Mackenzie Caldwell, 21:23.7; 79. Baylee Jones, 21:31.0; 96. Lindsey Koch, 21:43.1; Karina Mann, 21:53.2.

Men's Championship Race (8k)
Team Results (Top 10 of 36)
1. Northern Arizona 41; 2. Stanford 84; 3. Colorado 110; 4. Oregon 152; 5. Wyoming 191; 6. Colorado State 194; 7. Ole Miss 220; 8. Furman 231; 9. Gonzaga 307; 10. Southern Utah 310.

Individual Results (Top 10 Individuals)
1. Grant Fisher, Stanford, 23:48.8; 2. Tyler Day, Northern Arizona, 23:48.8; 3. Matthew Baxter, Northern Arizona, 23:49.40; 4. Aaron Templeton, Furman, 23:51.0; 5. Joe Klecker, Colorado, 23:55.1; 6. Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell, 23:56.4; 7. Peter Lomong, Northern Arizona, 23:57.2; 8. Alex Ostberg, Stanford, 23:57.5; 9. Amon Kemboi, Campbell, 24:00.3; 10. Ryan Forsyth, Colorado, 24:01.0.

Individual Results (CU Athletes Only)
16. John Dressel, 24:14.7; 31. Eduardo Herrera, 24:29.3; 50. Ethan Gonzales, 24:38.1; 117. Paxton Smith, 25:14.1; 130. Gus Newcomb, 25:20.8.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Holly Bent

Mackenzie Caldwell

John Dressel

Ryan Forsyth

Ethan Gonzales

Eduardo Herrera

Baylee Jones

Joe Klecker

Lindsey Koch

Karina Mann

Gus Newcomb

Brianna Schwartz

Paxton Smith