Cross Country Prepped For Exciting 2019 Season

Colorado cross country teams get ready for another season.

The expectations could be pretty high given the fact the women's team is the defending NCAA Champion, while the men's team recorded a fourth place finish at nationals. But, head coach Mark Wetmore told the crowd in attendance at CU's annual fall sports media day on Saturday, "Expectations are unspoken."

"Associate head coach Heather Burroughs and I know that the culture starts with us, and the team knows that if they arrive at 8:01 a.m. to the parking lot on a Sunday morning, we will have left," he said. "They know that the expectations are without discussing it. The ones that can't handle it, don't handle it."

On the women's side, the Buffaloes lost several talented athletes, including the individual NCAA Champion, Dani Jones. Jones, along with All-Americans Makena Morley, Val Constien and Tayler Tuttle are out of eligibility, but the Buffs do return a pair of All-Americans in seniors Sage Hurta and Tabor Scholl.

Hurta has earned All-America honors all three previous seasons for the Buffs, and will likely be one of the leaders on the team. Scholl will undoubtedly assist her as the other senior with varsity experience.

Additions will be key for the Buffs this year as they welcome a pair of transfers: Rachel McArthur and Emily Venters. McArther was the 2018 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Athlete of the Year, while Venters earned All-America honors in 2018. Both will look to add experience and depth to the women's team.

"Of the seven women on that championship team, four are gone," Wetmore said. "Of the five that scored, three are gone. The women's individual winner Dani Jones is gone, we are pretty cleaned out. There are some good people back from that team, we have a couple good people waiting on the shelf from last year, and we have a couple transfers this year who could be useful. We might be built to be a pretty good team."

The men's team, like the women, return a talented core with three All-Americans. Seniors John Dressel and Joe Klecker are joined by junior Eduardo "Lalo" Herrera. Dressel is a three-time All-American for the Buffs, while Klecker has recorded the honor twice in addition to winning the NCAA Mountain Region individual championship the last two seasons.

While several others return on the men's side, there are still some positions to fill, giving several athletes a change to step-up and make an impact.

"Our men's team finished fourth a year ago; they were fighting a little bit above their weight to do that. I think that they did better in the snow than some teams," Wetmore said. "The top two runners (Klecker and Dressel) from the team return, the number four runner (Herrera) from the team returns. The only person who we lost who was really critical to the score was Ryan Forsyth, who went on to grown up life.

"We don't have an immediate, obvious elder coming up like we do in the women's case. We are looking at some young guys. There are some redshirt freshman from last year, but also we have a couple true freshmen that might be the rare 18 year old that can help contend with the men's cross country team. We have three good runners I think, and we need a few more, which I'll find out in October."

CU will open up the season on September 6 at the Wyoming Invitational in Cheyenne, Wyo. After that, the Buffs will have almost a month to prepare for the Joe Piane Invitational, October 4. The Buffs, as usual, will also compete at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational (Oct. 19) before heading into the postseason.

This year's Pac-12 Championship will be November 1 in Corvallis, Ore. CU's men have won six league titles, while the women have won four since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. But the Pac-12 continues to be the best cross country conference in the nation, and this year looks to be more of the same.

"If you look at the top 10 at the NCAA championships in the last decade, you will find Colorado, Oregon, Stanford, Washington, occasionally UCLA, there was a while that Arizona would have a top level women's program," Wetmore said. "It's very difficult. You can lose the Pac-12, as our women did, then win the National Championship three weeks later, as our women did.

"Stanford has a very good class returning with a brand new coaching staff. Oregon loses almost all of the women who were third last year, but they are very capable of reloading. They recruit all over the world, and they can have brand new 22-year-old national caliber runners by this August. Washington has a new staff but a proven staff, and some good people returning. Everybody's had their challenges in the last 11 months, as have we with graduation, but everybody will be good again. Finally how good can we be, we can absolutely win both of them but so could Oregon, so could Washington, so could Stanford."

NCAA Mountain Region Championships will be in Salt Lake City, Utah, this year on Nov. 15. The NCAA Championships return to Terre Haute, Ind. For the 12^th time in 16 year and will take place on Nov. 23.

A complete transcription from the media day press conference is below.
The press conference video is here: https://youtu.be/0bdjFc6aOPI

Head Coach Mark Wetmore
Opening Statement
"Thanks for coming, cross country is prohibited by the NCAA for beginning practices for the next three weeks, and we cannot compete at the varsity level until October 4th. We are a long way from getting going, but students are returning to town and it is great to see them and whatever damage happened to them over the summer. With that, I would rather take questions than give a statement."

On how students limit the damage over the summer
"Well they know the whole time that some of the team is training. I think that if there were an uprising or a revolution where they all agreed to do nothing over the summer I would be in trouble. They all know that Joe Klecker ran 15 miles today and he will murder them if they come back out of shape. It is a mutually supportive culture of fear."

On what the women's team is going to look like this season
"Of the seven women on that championship team, four are gone. Of the five that scored, three are gone. The women's individual winner Dani Jones is gone, we are pretty cleaned out. There are some good people back from that team, we have a couple good people waiting on the shelf from last year, and we have a couple transfers this year who could be useful. We might be built to be a pretty good team.

On if expectations are spoken or unspoken
"Expectations are unspoken. Associate head coach Heather Burroughs and I know that the culture starts with us, and the team knows that if they arrive at 8:01 to the parking lot on a Sunday morning, we will have left. They know that the expectations are without discussing it. The ones that can't handle it don't handle it.

On who will fill in the holes on the men's team
"Our men's team finished fourth a year ago, they were fighting a little bit above their weight to do that, I think that they did better in the snow than some teams. The top two runners from the team return, the number four runner from the team returns. The only person who we lose who was really critical to the score was Ryan Forsyth, who went on to grown up life. We don't have an immediate, obvious elder coming up like we do in the women's case. We are looking at some young guys. There are some redshirt freshman from last year, but also we have a couple true freshmen that might be the rare 18 year old that can help contend with the men's cross country team. We have three good runners I think, and we need a few more, which I'll find out in October.

On CU's annual recruiting style.
"A cross country runner, or a distance runner at the University of Colorado has to be in the elite of the NCAA division one. When we are recruiting, we are looking at a small population in general of the whole country. A handful of people in the whole country. I get a lot of emails from coaches that say that their guy is a conference champion. I have yet to find a way that I am comfortable with of saying he is a minute too slow. We are among the very best in the whole country. We only look at a population of 20 to 25. We occasionally recruit people that are optimistic investments. That is the case this year, we have a couple of people who are going to grow fast. It's hard, it is very elite, it's hard. There is a place in the NCAA for almost anybody who wants to compete in cross country or track and field in the NCAA. Between divisions one two or three and the subdivisions along the way, there is a place for everyone somewhere.

On what Pac-12 will be like this year.
"I'm glad that you mentioned that, the Pac-12 is the most difficult cross country conference in the country. If you look at the top 10 at the NCAA championships in the last decade, you will find Colorado, Oregon, Stanford, Washington, occasionally UCLA, there was a while that Arizona would have a top level women's program. It's very difficult, you can lose the Pac-12 as our women did then win the National Championship three weeks later as our women did. Stanford has a very good class returning with a brand new coaching staff. Oregon loses almost all of the women who were third last year, but they are very capable of reloading. They recruit all over the world, and they can have brand new 22 year old national caliber runners by this August. Washington has a new staff but a proven staff, and some good people returning. Everybody's had their challenges in the last 11 months, as have we with graduation but everybody will be good again. Finally how good can we be, we can absolutely win both of them but so could Oregon, so could Washington, so could Stanford.

Players Mentioned

John Dressel

Ryan Forsyth

Sage Hurta

Dani Jones

Joe Klecker

Rachel McArthur

Makena Morley

Tabor Scholl

Tayler Tuttle

Emily Venters

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