Wetmore-Wednesday Top Races: Davis-Led Quartet Becomes All-Americans

BOULDER – The Colorado track and field and cross country program has a special history, one that began to hit full-stride under head coach Mark Wetmore.

CU track and field and cross country will take a look back at every year under Wetmore and recap the best races and teams of every calendar year.

1999 saw the final year of one of the fastest men to ever sport a CU uniform, James Davis. Before he was a USA Champion and a World Champion, Davis was working on one goal, take a 4x400-meter relay to the NCAA Championships.

JAMES DAVIS 1999 NCAA INDOOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 4x400-METER FINALS
Davis nearly didn't have a chance for a relay to make it to the 1999 NCAA Indoor Championships. It took the second-fastest relay in school history at 3:08.34 to capture an NCAA automatic qualifying mark with a win at the Cyclone Last Chance meet with Matt Queen, Jason Horton, Ben Kelly and Davis. Davis also qualified for the individual 400 with a time of 46.50. The other three relay members focused on the 200 where Kelly ran 21.53 for an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

This may not seem miraculous, but when compared to the team's best mark prior to the meet, it's unthinkable. Prior to the qualifying mark in Ames, CU had only put together a 3:18.50 squad. The large drop came after Kelly, a future NFL cornerback, joined the squad and started hitting his peak stride for track shape late in February.

"I remember going into the meet that we knew we had a chance to run fast and qualify for the NCAA Championships," said Davis. "Jason Horton was running some really strong 400s and Matt Queen was coming into form. We knew that with the addition of Ben Kelly on the team we had a shot. Relays are always tough because it's difficult to get everyone healthy, fit, fast and executing at a high level on the same day."

That was an understatement as the quartet began blazing apart the track at Iowa State. Horton ran a great lead off leg, as leg-after-leg kept the team in it against teams that had run 3:07-3:08 earlier this season.

"I knew we were running fast during the race and I recall Jason yelling a few 'words of encouragement' my direction before I hopped on the track so we were all aware of the situation. Those three guys performed so well that my main focus was to not mess it up by running a bad leg. The atmosphere was electric, the competition was top notch and to be honest, all I did was let the energy carry me around the track and focus on finishing strong."

Only 11 teams ran in the NCAA Championships that season, with four of those spots taken by quartets from the Big 12. Remarkably, Colorado never ran a 4x400 at the Big 12 Championships. Everyone had worked on individual events.

As the NCAA championships began, Davis missed qualifying for finals as he finished third in his heat in the 400 in 48.00 on Friday, leaving him a full day until the 4x400 finals on Saturday.

The Buffs ended up in the first heat of the relay along with Arizona State, Idaho, Norfolk State and Texas Tech. The team stayed competitive with their heat, running 3:10.78 as they finished third in the heat. Idaho edged Davis at the line with Tawanda Chiwara, the Zimbabwe national record holder, on their anchor leg to finish in 3:10.75. ASU took the heat win at 3:10.42. The second heat would go out much faster, taking the first four spots overall with Clemson winning the title behind Ato Modibo, future three-time Olympian for Trinidad and Tobaga, and a 3:07.80 team effort.

"Jason Horton had a great aggressive lead-off leg, tied his lead off time from Ames last weekend," said Wetmore. "Ben ran strong and James finished off with a strong anchor leg. Six (total) All-Americans today, a real good day."

"I definitely didn't put together my best series of races at that meet," said Davis. "I don't recall being injured or anything, I was really just off my game. I ran a terrible open 400 race and luckily I put together a decent relay effort, but it was nothing like how I performed at Iowa State. I'm never one for excuses so I've always chalked it up as a bad day on the track."

Davis left Colorado as one of the most prolific sprinters in CU history. He qualified for the NCAA Championships every single outdoor season and three of the four indoor seasons, the only sprinter in CU history to do so. As a two-sport athlete, Davis redshirted football his freshman year in 1994, and missed his only NCAA championship that following March with only a few weeks of training under his belt, having come to Colorado not even knowing indoor track existed. After qualifying for the Olympic Trials in 1996 and finishing 18^th overall, Davis decided to focus on track, quitting football and redshirting the entire 1997 season to get a full year of track training.

"1999 was a rebound season for me so it meant the world to me to finally be healthy and have the support of such great teammates (Jason, Ben, Matt and several other guys on the team; Lex Butler, Reggie Depass)," said Davis. "I don't recall a lot of the races we ran back then, but the experience with those guys during that season set the foundation for my professional career. They helped me realize that I could compete at the next level and the importance of putting your best foot forward on the biggest stages. I'm forever grateful to those guys and several of us are still friends to this day."

Davis was the 1996 Big Eight Champion in the 200 and 400 – the last outdoor sprint conference title for the Colorado men – and still owns both the indoor and outdoor school records in the 400. The 1999 4x400-meter relay is the only All-American 4x4 compile in CU history. Davis went on to win two USA Indoor Championships in the 400 and was a member of the 2006 and 2008 USA 4x400 indoor World Championships. Davis currently is the head track coach at Skyline High School in Longmont.

PAST TOP RACES:
1998: ADAM GOUCHER 1998 CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (VIDEO) (5,000) (3,000)
1997: ADAM GOUCHER INDOOR 3,000 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1996: ALAN CULPEPPER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 5,000/ WOMEN'S BIG EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
(VIDEO)

Wetmore-Wednesday Top Races: Davis-Led Quartet Becomes All-Americans

Related Videos