Klecker Leads Buffs with Runner-Up Finish In 5,000

Friday, March 8

Birmingham, Ala.

All Day

Colorado

NCAA Indoor Championships

Photo by: Ben Ennis

March 08, 2019 | Track and Field

Results

Colorado earns three first team All-American honors

By: Shaun Wicen, Assistant SID

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Colorado track and field program concluded the first day of the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships with two first team All-American honors and a third secured, here Friday evening.

Colorado's Joe Klecker highlighted the first day with a runner-up finish in the men's 5,000-meter run. Klecker ran 13:42.79 to finish behind the NCAA cross country champion Morgan McDonald of Wisconsin. Klecker held onto McDonald for the entirety of the race, including going out and crossing the 2,000-meter mark in the back of the pack around 10^th place. McDonald made his final move with less than 400 meters left and Klecker was the only individual with the stamina to go with him. The duo battled it out, but McDonald cruised to the finish in 13:41.76.

"I'm very happy with Joe's race," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "He made no mistakes. There is always traffic and rearranging of positions and he stayed calm through all of that and let things unfold and waited for attrition to thin it out. He had a great last kilometer and that's a really excellent run for him. Very happy for him."

Klecker was the only athlete in the top-five that wasn't a senior, and his performance puts Colorado on the board and tied for fifth prior to the completion of the men's distance medley relays. Klecker returns tomorrow for the men's 3,000.

In the race right before that, Makena Morley went out with a strong group of women and finished seventh in the women's 5,000. She finished in 15:41.67 in a chaotic race that began with two false starts. Morley stuck with the pack group until Weini Kelati of New Mexico, who was the culprit of the false starts and received a warning by the officials, took the lead and ran away from everyone except Alicia Monson of Wisconsin who overtook Kelati for the title. Morley will be back in action tomorrow in the women's 3,000.

"There are two ways to look at it, one is that she went in ranked 15^th and finished seventh so that's obviously an impressive performance. Also if you compare what she ran to get there to all the other women she might have had the best race out of the whole field because people ran 15:14 to get there then ran 15:30 something. She ran within a few seconds of her best."

Also securing a first team All-American honor today was Colorado's Gabby Scott in the women's 400. Scott was matched up with Kyra Constantine of USC for the third time this season and edged her out at the line to take the heat win at 52.86. This was Scott's first head-to-head win against Constantine and puts herself in third, qualifying for the finals. Scott will race tomorrow with the field of eight trailing Kaelin Roberts of USC who ran 52.01, eight-tenths of a second better than the rest of the finalists.

"Honestly I feared that Gabby would have trouble with the banks and trouble with traffic, but she ran masterfully, particularly in the first 250 meters," said Wetmore. "She managed the break perfectly, she ran the cut-in straight away perfectly, maybe a little mistake trying to come through on the inside in the last 50 or 60, but a really nice race and through to the finals. She is going to be on the podium and maybe real high."

"She continues to surprise," said Wetmore. "She keeps getting better week after week. This wasn't her fastest time but a lot of people didn't run real fast here. This may not be as fast a venue as some of the places that they have run in the low 52s. She can be very high up."

Also for Colorado today, John Dressel ran in the men's 5,000 with Klecker. Dressel held onto the lead pack through the first 2,000 meters before falling off and ultimately finishing 11^th overall. Dressel finished in a time of 13:54.58 and earns a second team All-American honor.

"He (John Dressel) beat some real good runners and wasn't too far away from others," said Wetmore. "He actually responded a little bit in the last 400 but the front of the race got away from him after about 3500. He told me he felt well going in but he didn't feel well once he was in. Maybe we didn't rest enough this week but he is also pretty track race rusty. Remember he didn't have an outdoor track season and he didn't have an indoor track season so this is only about his third track race in a year and a half. It might just be that those track racing skills are rusty."

Also for Colorado, Tabor Scholl ran the women's mile, finishing 16^th with a time of 4:55.25.

Scott returns tomorrow for the finals in the 400 at 3:50 p.m. MT, while Morley and Klecker will both run the 3,000 beginning with the women's race at 5:10 p.m. MT.

"It's hard to predict because on one hand they are leg weary but on the other hand they are excited," said Wetmore. "There will be people in those races that are fresh, but there will be people in those races that are tired from either the 5,000 or the mile or the DMR. We are hoping to continue to add a few points to the team scores."

"I wanted to get both teams on the scoreboard," said Wetmore. "You know there is a big competition called the Directors Cup which is a nationwide Division I competition among all the sports ranking athletic departments. Getting on the team scoreboard matters for the overall team points for the year. For our own selfish immediate reasons of doing well and having the individuals do well is important, but also to contribute to the big athletic department score at the end of the year matters too."

The men concluded the first day tied for sixth with eight points, while the women are tied for 26^th with two points.

TIME (MT)	INDIVIDUAL	EVENT	RANKING	ENTERED TIME	RESULT	PLACE
Friday
4:35 PM	*Tabor Scholl*	Mile Prelim	9th	4:34.98	4:55.25	16th
5:27 PM	*Gabby Scott*	400-meter dash Prelim	6th	52.32	52.86	3rd Q
7:07 PM	*Makena Morley*	5,000-meter run Final	14th	15:37.23	15:41.67	7th
7:27 PM	*Joe Klecker*	5,000-meter run Final	5th	13:35.97	13:42.79	2nd
	*John Dressel*	5,000-meter run Final	15th	13:41.00	13:54.58	11th
Saturday
3:50 PM	*Gabby Scott*	400-meter dash Final	3rd	52.86
5:10 PM	*Makena Morley*	3,000-meter run Final	14th	9:02.47
5:25 PM	*Joe Klecker*	3,000-meter run Final	4th	7:48.32

RESULTS:
Women's 400m prelims: 1. Kaelin Roberts (USC), 52.01; 3. Gabby Scott (CU), 52.86
Women's Mile: 1. Alexis Fuller (BSU), 4:36.27; 16. Tabor Scholl (CU), 4:55.25
Women's 5,000m final: 1. Alicia Monson (WISC), 15:31.26; 7. Makena Morley (CU), 15:41.67
Men's 5,000m final: 1. Morgan McDonald (WISC), 13:41.76; 2. Joe Klecker (CU), 13:42.79; 11. John Dressel (CU), 13:54.58

Women's Team Scores:			Men's Team Scores
Pl	Team	Pts	Pl	Team	Pts
1	New Mexico	17	1	LSU	20
2	Oregon	14	2	Wisconsin	12
2	Stanford	14	3	BYU	11
4	Miami	10	4	North Dakota St.	10
4	Northwestern St	10	4	Notre Dame	10
4	Wisconsin	10	6	Houston	8
4	Alabama	10	6	South Dakota	8
4	Arizona State	10	6	Stanford	8
9	Kennesaw State	8	6	Texas	8
9	Texas A&M	8	6	Colorado	8
9	BYU	8	11	Indiana	7
12	Florida	6	11	Kansas	7
12	Oklahoma State	6	11	Akron	7
12	Texas	6	11	Alabama	7
15	TCU	5	15	Florida	6
15	UC Davis	5	15	Georgetown	6
15	UCLA	5	15	Georgia	6
15	Villanova	5	15	Texas A&M	6
19	Indiana	4	19	North Carolina	5
19	Ohio State	4	19	Oklahoma State	5
19	Arkansas	4	21	Iowa State	4
22	Michigan	3	21	Texas Tech	4
22	UC Santa Barbara	3	21	Arizona	4
22	Air Force	3	24	MTSU	3
22	Central Michigan	3	24	Arkansas	3
26	Georgia	2	24	Campbell	3
26	Incarnate Word	2	27	Sam Houston St	2
26	Washington	2	27	USC	2
26	Bowling Green	2	29	Missouri	1
26	Colorado	2	29	Ole Miss	1
31	Houston	1	29	UCLA	1
31	McNeese State	1	29	Baylor	1
31	North Dakota St.	1	29	California	1
31	Boise State	1