Head Coach Mark Wetmore
Cross Country Media Day Quotes and Notes
August 04, 2018 | Cross Country
BOULDER - The 2018 cross country season officially gets underway on Friday, August 31, at the Wyoming Invitational in Laramie, Wyo. The Buffs are coming off a great 2017 season and look to improve this season. Head coach Mark Wetmore was on hand to talk about the upcoming season at Colorado's Annual Fall Olympic Sports Media Day on Saturday.
Below is a transcript from the press conference.Â
Head Cross Country Coach Mark Wetmore
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Opening statement:
"On the 14th of August, the team will regather after their various adventures and we will resume our work towards the conference and national championships for both men's and women's cross country. The teams are both historically pretty good. These teams can again be pretty good depending on how they show up in 10 days and what work we can get done. Anyway, I hate to make predictions because our sport is a sport where things can go wrong fast and we are not allowed by the NCAA to have a third string, fourth string and fifth string, so if something goes wrong with your first string, everything comes undone."
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On Dani Jones and expectations for this season:
"Dani was not hurt during the outdoor season, but was during the indoor season, so she missed quite a bit of preparation, which we would have preferred to had to have a maximal outdoor. So we decided to red-shirt her and get her 100% healthy and get the work in the back so to speak and had her race late unattached. As you say, by late May she was completely healthy and ran well. She has been healthy since. I presume she has had a good summer. We are not allowed to conduct practices with them in the summer as you know, but we send out encouraging or threatening documents periodically. She has been around and has been checking in. I think she is in good shape and will be a big contributor this fall."
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On If The Team Has Ever Run Three Meets On The Same Course In A Season:
"I don't think we have ever raced three times on any one course in a season. This year the NCAA Championships are to be held at the University of Wisconsin. They have a wonderful cross country only race course. We have only been there with some emerging varsity people ever, and that was once, a year ago. We hope to take advantage of the chance to visit there twice this year in late September and middle October, with the hope that we may learn a little bit more about that race course, and should we advance to the NCAA championships, we could be a little more comfortable there."
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On The Similarities Between Dani Jones And Former Great CU Runners:
"I am superstitious so I will say she is not similar. She has no chance of being any good. Dani has good leg speed, she has good aerobic capacity, she seems to have good anaerobic capacity, and she has the will to train. I am probably cursing myself and Dani, but she has what the other big stars here have had. Now she needs the one component that is unpredictable and that is luck, which is staying healthy and having no big interruptions."
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On The Depth Of The Men's Squad:
"If the opposite of deep is shallow, our men's team is shallow this year. We have four returning, proven, and very good runners. We will need someone to emerge from the rest of the group as an NCAA contributor at that level. There are a lot of hard working people and sometimes it takes a year or two so I don't know who will fill that fifth through seventh spot to make a full team. We have fourth-fifths of an excellent team with Joe Klecker, John Dressel, Eduardo Herrera and Ryan Forsyth. Ethan Gonzales, Reilly Friedman, Paxton Smith, or maybe some of the freshman coming in are going to have to come on fast. If one, two or three does and the other four stays solid all year, we will be a very good team. There is just no room for error."
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On The Outlook Of The Women's Team:
"The women's team is not as shallow, but it is not as deep as it has been in the past where we have probably had varsity level contributors as deep as twelfth on the team. Dani Jones is back and she is very strong and will certainly be stronger than a year ago if we make no mistakes. Sage Hurta is very good, and Makenna Morley is very good. Madi Boreman, who was second in the NCAA Steeplechase two years ago and was hurt last year, returns. Tabor Scholl, who is a Colorado girl, returns, and there are quite a few people battling for those remaining three of four spots. The women's team should be very good and has a little more room for error."
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On Why There Is No More Rocky Mountain Shootout:
"We had done it for about 32 years, but due to the modern NCAA qualifications system, the system that gets teams to the NCAA Finals, smaller meets with only four or five Division One teams have been pushed out and are discouraged by the system. I will go into the details and you can decide how detailed and interested your readers are. To advance to the NCAA Finals, everybody in the country runs at one of nine NCAA Regional Championships. The top two from each of those nine Regionals advance and then there are some more that advance based on a point scoring system throughout the year based on who you beat from different regions throughout the year, what teams from other regions beat you, and how you did at your region. It is quite complicated and I am not sure I even understand it completely. The bottom line is we can't afford to stay here on October 1st and race against Division II and III teams, the B team from CSU, and maybe Wyoming if they come down with their varsity, while other teams around the country are racing dozens of Division One teams from other regions. We cannot afford to do that anymore. Should the men finish third, for an example, in our Mountain region which has the defending NCAA Champions in Northern Arizona, and the defending third place team in BYU, were we to finish anything other than first or second, then the points matter and having run the Rocky Mountain Shootout could harm us. We had to go elsewhere. We thought about holding the Shootout for our guests, and maybe for our non-varsity runners, but the preparation of South Campus is too much work for our facility management team to run a race for other teams, that may not even be for us. That was a long answer and I am sad to see it go, but it is okay. I'm sure there were people that were sad to see the telegraph go."
Â
On The Limited Time Between Races Late In The Year:
"About three years ago, the NCAA moved the Regionals and the National Championships five days closer together. They used to be thirteen days apart and now they are eight. We run the Regionals on a Friday, and eight days later we run the National Championships. There used to be an extra week in there. I don't love It. Those of you who have ever made the mistake of running a 10k, imagine if you had to do it as hard as you can for the glory of Acme College, and then do it all again eight days later, and try to do it as well or better. It is not optimal, but the NCAA doesn't ask the athletes or the coaches. It is what it is. The PAC-12 Championships, the Regionals, and the National Championships all happen within a month. Three important and pressurized races happen in a month. Someday maybe we will change it, but that is what we have now."
Â
On How There Is Never Any Let Down From The Program:
"The students are different every year and are completely different every four years, so I think a let down would have to come from me or from Coach Burroughs, and from our level of commitment and excitement. I think there is a pretty good chance that could happen in another thirty of forty years, but right now I am excited about the new people coming in. Our men didn't have a great year last year. We had an important injury, had a guy have a bad day, and we weren't very deep and we finished eighth, which isn't acceptable to me, to our veteran men, or to Coach Burroughs. We are energized by trying to solve the problem of having been eighth last year in the NCAA's and having lost the conference championship. However, I reserve the right to take up golf."
Â
On The Importance of Jenny Simpson As A Volunteer Coach:
"The last I've heard, she intends to be back. Her primary function here is to be a real-life person in their presence who is that good. Another program will see a Jenny on television, but they don't have her to stand next to live, and to see that she is a real-life person who is not that dissimilar to them. That level of accomplishment and that level of work load is not incomprehensible to the Dani Jones', Sage Hurta's, Joe Klecker's, John Dressel's, or the Eduardo Herrera's. They can see a real-life person who puts in that level of work and competes at that level of pressure and expectation and they know that she is a real-life person and not a character in a video game. That is the main thing that she does for us. She is with them and she asks them how they're doing. They see her when she has a bad day, and they see a lot of her good days. They see her on television with the beam of expectation on her with the Olympics or World Championships, and then on Monday she is back at practice. It makes it a lot more realistic and attainable for them."
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Below is a transcript from the press conference.Â
Head Cross Country Coach Mark Wetmore
Â
Opening statement:
"On the 14th of August, the team will regather after their various adventures and we will resume our work towards the conference and national championships for both men's and women's cross country. The teams are both historically pretty good. These teams can again be pretty good depending on how they show up in 10 days and what work we can get done. Anyway, I hate to make predictions because our sport is a sport where things can go wrong fast and we are not allowed by the NCAA to have a third string, fourth string and fifth string, so if something goes wrong with your first string, everything comes undone."
Â
On Dani Jones and expectations for this season:
"Dani was not hurt during the outdoor season, but was during the indoor season, so she missed quite a bit of preparation, which we would have preferred to had to have a maximal outdoor. So we decided to red-shirt her and get her 100% healthy and get the work in the back so to speak and had her race late unattached. As you say, by late May she was completely healthy and ran well. She has been healthy since. I presume she has had a good summer. We are not allowed to conduct practices with them in the summer as you know, but we send out encouraging or threatening documents periodically. She has been around and has been checking in. I think she is in good shape and will be a big contributor this fall."
Â
On If The Team Has Ever Run Three Meets On The Same Course In A Season:
"I don't think we have ever raced three times on any one course in a season. This year the NCAA Championships are to be held at the University of Wisconsin. They have a wonderful cross country only race course. We have only been there with some emerging varsity people ever, and that was once, a year ago. We hope to take advantage of the chance to visit there twice this year in late September and middle October, with the hope that we may learn a little bit more about that race course, and should we advance to the NCAA championships, we could be a little more comfortable there."
Â
On The Similarities Between Dani Jones And Former Great CU Runners:
"I am superstitious so I will say she is not similar. She has no chance of being any good. Dani has good leg speed, she has good aerobic capacity, she seems to have good anaerobic capacity, and she has the will to train. I am probably cursing myself and Dani, but she has what the other big stars here have had. Now she needs the one component that is unpredictable and that is luck, which is staying healthy and having no big interruptions."
Â
On The Depth Of The Men's Squad:
"If the opposite of deep is shallow, our men's team is shallow this year. We have four returning, proven, and very good runners. We will need someone to emerge from the rest of the group as an NCAA contributor at that level. There are a lot of hard working people and sometimes it takes a year or two so I don't know who will fill that fifth through seventh spot to make a full team. We have fourth-fifths of an excellent team with Joe Klecker, John Dressel, Eduardo Herrera and Ryan Forsyth. Ethan Gonzales, Reilly Friedman, Paxton Smith, or maybe some of the freshman coming in are going to have to come on fast. If one, two or three does and the other four stays solid all year, we will be a very good team. There is just no room for error."
Â
On The Outlook Of The Women's Team:
"The women's team is not as shallow, but it is not as deep as it has been in the past where we have probably had varsity level contributors as deep as twelfth on the team. Dani Jones is back and she is very strong and will certainly be stronger than a year ago if we make no mistakes. Sage Hurta is very good, and Makenna Morley is very good. Madi Boreman, who was second in the NCAA Steeplechase two years ago and was hurt last year, returns. Tabor Scholl, who is a Colorado girl, returns, and there are quite a few people battling for those remaining three of four spots. The women's team should be very good and has a little more room for error."
Â
On Why There Is No More Rocky Mountain Shootout:
"We had done it for about 32 years, but due to the modern NCAA qualifications system, the system that gets teams to the NCAA Finals, smaller meets with only four or five Division One teams have been pushed out and are discouraged by the system. I will go into the details and you can decide how detailed and interested your readers are. To advance to the NCAA Finals, everybody in the country runs at one of nine NCAA Regional Championships. The top two from each of those nine Regionals advance and then there are some more that advance based on a point scoring system throughout the year based on who you beat from different regions throughout the year, what teams from other regions beat you, and how you did at your region. It is quite complicated and I am not sure I even understand it completely. The bottom line is we can't afford to stay here on October 1st and race against Division II and III teams, the B team from CSU, and maybe Wyoming if they come down with their varsity, while other teams around the country are racing dozens of Division One teams from other regions. We cannot afford to do that anymore. Should the men finish third, for an example, in our Mountain region which has the defending NCAA Champions in Northern Arizona, and the defending third place team in BYU, were we to finish anything other than first or second, then the points matter and having run the Rocky Mountain Shootout could harm us. We had to go elsewhere. We thought about holding the Shootout for our guests, and maybe for our non-varsity runners, but the preparation of South Campus is too much work for our facility management team to run a race for other teams, that may not even be for us. That was a long answer and I am sad to see it go, but it is okay. I'm sure there were people that were sad to see the telegraph go."
Â
On The Limited Time Between Races Late In The Year:
"About three years ago, the NCAA moved the Regionals and the National Championships five days closer together. They used to be thirteen days apart and now they are eight. We run the Regionals on a Friday, and eight days later we run the National Championships. There used to be an extra week in there. I don't love It. Those of you who have ever made the mistake of running a 10k, imagine if you had to do it as hard as you can for the glory of Acme College, and then do it all again eight days later, and try to do it as well or better. It is not optimal, but the NCAA doesn't ask the athletes or the coaches. It is what it is. The PAC-12 Championships, the Regionals, and the National Championships all happen within a month. Three important and pressurized races happen in a month. Someday maybe we will change it, but that is what we have now."
Â
On How There Is Never Any Let Down From The Program:
"The students are different every year and are completely different every four years, so I think a let down would have to come from me or from Coach Burroughs, and from our level of commitment and excitement. I think there is a pretty good chance that could happen in another thirty of forty years, but right now I am excited about the new people coming in. Our men didn't have a great year last year. We had an important injury, had a guy have a bad day, and we weren't very deep and we finished eighth, which isn't acceptable to me, to our veteran men, or to Coach Burroughs. We are energized by trying to solve the problem of having been eighth last year in the NCAA's and having lost the conference championship. However, I reserve the right to take up golf."
Â
On The Importance of Jenny Simpson As A Volunteer Coach:
"The last I've heard, she intends to be back. Her primary function here is to be a real-life person in their presence who is that good. Another program will see a Jenny on television, but they don't have her to stand next to live, and to see that she is a real-life person who is not that dissimilar to them. That level of accomplishment and that level of work load is not incomprehensible to the Dani Jones', Sage Hurta's, Joe Klecker's, John Dressel's, or the Eduardo Herrera's. They can see a real-life person who puts in that level of work and competes at that level of pressure and expectation and they know that she is a real-life person and not a character in a video game. That is the main thing that she does for us. She is with them and she asks them how they're doing. They see her when she has a bad day, and they see a lot of her good days. They see her on television with the beam of expectation on her with the Olympics or World Championships, and then on Monday she is back at practice. It makes it a lot more realistic and attainable for them."
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Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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