Buffs Prepped For NCAA Championships on Saturday

BOULDER — The University of Colorado cross country teams are both looking to end the season on a high note as both will compete at the 2018 NCAA Championships this Saturday, November 17, in Madison, Wis.

The women enter the meet tied for third in the country, while the men are ranked eighth overall. This will be the 27th straight NCAA appearance for men, which is the longest active streak on the men's side. For the women, it's the 26th appearance in the last 27 years.

Head coach Mark Wetmore is excited for the meet and has his teams ready to compete.

"Our women's team will be a very strong contender," he said. "Our men's team will go in ranked eighth hoping to move up a little bit. The weather conditions are forecast to be useful for our purposes, kind of wintery I think. Everyone is pretty healthy and we are excited."

The women's 6-kilometer race is slated first and is scheduled for a 9:45 a.m. MT/10:45 a.m. CT start. The men will run the 10k course second at 10:45 a.m. MT/11:45 a.m. MT at Thomas Zimmer Championship Course. An awards ceremony will follow both races.

Of the 31 women's teams participating at nationals, the CU women will face four other Pac-12 schools in No. 2 Oregon, No. 7 Stanford, No. 14 Washington and No. 29 Oregon State. The men will have three other league schools in their race: No. 6 Washington, No. 7 Stanford and No. 12 Oregon.

The women's team has recorded three top-2 finishes this season, starting with an impressive win at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Sept. 28. CU also earned a pair of runner-up finishes at the Pac-12 Championships (Oct. 26) and the NCAA Mountain Region Championships (Nov. 9).

Senior Dani Jones was the leader for CU in all three of those meets and won her second straight individual Pac-12 Cross Country Championships, making her a strong contender at the national championships. Jones, a two-time All-American, will be looking to become just the sixth Buff in CU history to earn All-America honors three times in her career on the cross country course.

Jones is not the only Buff with strong credentials heading into the meet. Another senior, Mackenzie Caldwell is also an All-American, while junior Sage Hurta has earned the honor twice. Senior Makena Morley and junior Tabor Scholl have come close to finishing in the top-40 at NCAAs and will be looking to break into the elite group on Saturday.

The last two seasons, CU had gone into the meet ranked No. 1, but each year ended up third. This year is a little different as the Buffs are tied for third and are also going into the championship with a chip on their shoulder.

"We haven't lost a conference championship in a while and I think going in with that chip on our shoulder will be useful," Jones said. "Not having that kind of immense pressure might be good for us as well, but I think at the end of the day, everyone knows that there are four teams that could all easily contend for a title and it's just going to depend on what kind of day everyone is having."

The CU men enter the championship after a string of three straight third-place finishing (NCAA Pre-Nationals, Pac-12s and regionals). Like the women, they have one runner, junior Joe Klecker, who has led them in every one of those races, including an individual win at the regional championships for the second consecutive year. Last year that win did not work out in his favor at NCAAs as he finished 67^th, but this year, Wetmore believes he will have a better day at nationals.

"Joe won the regionals a year ago, 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, looked pretty controlled last week. I think he will have a better nationals than he did a year ago."

Klecker earned All-America honors in 2016 and will have two other All-Americans racing with him on Saturday, junior John Dressel and sophomore Eduardo Herrera. Dressel will be looking for his third All-America finish, while Herrera is looking for his second straight.

In addition, CU has another solid performer in senior Ryan Forsyth. In the last three meets, he has recorded 10^th place finishes as CU's second or third scorer.

The weather could be a concern with North winds expected between 5-10 miles per hour and highs near 33 on Saturday. There is also a 20 percent chance of snow on Friday night.

"Whatever we wake up to on Saturday morning, we won't panic," Wetmore said. "We've faced that here. Day before yesterday (Nov. 11) we had 12 or 13 inches of snow in Boulder, so the "coaching up" for conditions takes place all year round and while we have one of the best indoor facilities in the country for track, and even specifically for distance runners, we try not to use it unless we absolutely have to. We were in 32 and sleet three or four weeks ago and went out. So that's how we coach it up, we face it whenever we can."

2018 NCAA DIVISION I CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Madison, Wis. (Thomas Zimmer Championships Course)
9:45 a.m. (MT) - Women's 6k Race
10:45 a.m. (MT) - Men's 10k Race
Live Stream: FloTrack.org (subscription required)
Results: NCAA.com

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Caldwell

John Dressel

Ryan Forsyth

Eduardo Herrera

Sage Hurta

Dani Jones

Joe Klecker

Makena Morley

Tabor Scholl