Buffs Prepared For Cold At NCAA Cross Country Championships

BOULDER — If all goes well for the Colorado Buffaloes at Saturday's NCAA Cross Country Championships, they will have favorable weather conditions on their side.

So far, the forecast looks promising. Saturday's weather in Madison, Wis., is predicted to be cloudy, a high of 33 degrees, a chance of rain and/or snow, and enough wind to add some chill to the course.

"The weather conditions are forecast to be useful for our purposes," CU head coach Mark Wetmore said earlier this week. "And we are ready to go. Everyone is pretty healthy and we are excited."

Wetmore wasn't joking. CU's cross country teams have always taken pride in competing in tough conditions — and they have delivered in such. In 2000, led by Kara Grgas-Wheeler (now Kara Goucher), CU's women won the program's first NCAA championship, conquering brutal conditions in Ames, Iowa, to claim the title. Since then, CU has added six more titles to its collection, with several of those coming in less than friendly conditions.

"In Colorado, we experience every possible kind of weather," Wetmore said. "While there may be some teams that are disappointed or surprised at difficult conditions, we have no right to be. … We face it whenever we can."

Indeed, when a cold front rolled through Colorado several weeks ago — and another earlier this week — the Buffs didn't utilize their indoor training facility. Instead, they were out in the elements.

"Living in Colorado we get our share of bad conditions, winds and cold," CU senior Dani Jones said. "I think our team does well managing conditions and staying calm despite whatever Wisconsin's going to throw our way."

Whatever the conditions, the likelihood is that Jones will be the leader for the CU women in the 6K race. A two-time Pac-12 champion and two-time All-American, she will be looking to improve on her 10th-place finish at last year's nationals and possibly vie for a top-three finish.

As a team, CU's women should also be in contention for a top-three placing. They enter the race tied for third with Boise State in the latest coaches poll (behind New Mexico and Oregon), and are coming off a solid second-place effort in last week's NCAA Mountain Region race.

"Dani won the conference championship and, saving a gear or two, finished sixth last weekend (at the regional meet)," Wetmore said. " That meet last weekend is really a contest to see who can do what they need to do with saving as much energy as possible. So, she will be a strong contender this weekend and our women's team will be a very strong contender."

Along with a top contender in Jones, the Buffs also have a deep team — a particularly valuable asset at the national championships.

"A good fifth is more useful than a good first at the NCAA Championships," Wetmore noted.

Looking for her third All-America designation will be Colorado junior Sage Hurta, while senior Mackenzie Caldwell will be aiming for her second All-American finish (top 40). The Buffs will also be hoping for quality scoring from senior Makena Morley and junior Tabor Scholl. Morley was seventh at the regional meet, with Scholl right behind in eighth.

If the women can produce a top-three finish, it will be their fourth in a row, as they have finished second, third and third in the last three years.

While the cross country season stretches out over the better part of three months, it is the last two weeks that are ultra-important — and grueling as well. After spacing out races every few weeks over the season, the NCAA schedule then jams the regional events and national championships into an eight-day span.

Wetmore is not a fan of the format, but as he noted, "Everybody else has to do it, so it's just a matter of us managing those eight days hopefully better than others."

For the men, the eight-day stretch also means longer races. After running 8K races for most of the season, the distance bumps up to 10K for regionals and nationals.

This year, the Buffs will be hoping for a strong finish from two-time regional champion Joe Klecker. The CU junior earned All-American honors two years ago, but did not have a strong race last season, finishing 67th while the men were eighth in the team race.

"Joe won the regionals a year ago, (but) did not have a brilliant race at the nationals," Wetmore said. "He's a year older, another few thousand miles of running under his belt, a little more experienced and looked pretty controlled last week. I think he will have a better nationals than he did a year ago."

The team favorites in the men's race will be Northern Arizona and Brigham Young, the two teams that beat the CU men at the regionals.

"They're kind of a head taller than the rest of us," Wetmore said. "Then there's a big group of teams. With a perfect day, we can be high in that next group. But we haven't had one of those this year."

The CU men don't have quite as much depth as their women counterparts, but Wetmore believes they do have the talent to improve on their eighth-place finish of last season. To do that, the Buffs will need solid performances from All-Americans John Dressel an Eduardo Herrera, along with steady Ryan Forsyth, who had a career-best 10th-place finish at the regionals, and Ethan Gonzales.

Both CU teams raced the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course earlier this year at the Nuttycombe Invitational, and the men returned to race there again in the Pre-Nationals meet.

"This course doesn't have any complications that we worry about," Wetmore said. "What we learned on Sept. 29 was sufficient for us to prepare and plan for Nov. 17."

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Madison, Wis. (Thomas Zimmer Championships Course)
Women's 6K race: 9:45 a.m.
Men's 10K race: 10:45 a.m.
Live Stream: FloTrack.org (subscription required)
Results: NCAA.com