Wetmore-Wednesday Top Races: Torres Cements Legacy

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.

2002 saw Jorge Torres cement his legacy as arguably the best cross country runner in not only CU athletics, but one of the best ever in NCAA history.

JORGE TORRES CAPTURES INDIVIDUAL CROWN (VIDEO)
When a program has captured numerous team and individual national championships, it is hard to say that someone is the best. Numbers would say otherwise following the 2002 NCAA cross country national championship in favor of Jorge Torres.

Heading into the coveted race, Jorge Torres was on another undefeated path, but more remarkably was how he did it. In 2002, Torres set course records in every race he entered leading up to the national title bout.

Starting the season at the Rocky Mountain Shootout, Torres ran 24:07, beating his brother for second by 51 seconds. The record he broke was held by Adam Goucher in 24:12.

"It felt pretty cool to break the record, but in all of my years of running, I've always thought records were meant to be broken," said Torres afterwards. "It's nice to know that I'm leaving here as the course record holder. But the only thing I want to do is be able to come home with an individual title."

"That's a heck of a record previously held by an NCAA Champion," said Wetmore. "I thought this was a course record nearly unbreakable, especially considering how fast his 800-meter time was."

At Pre-Nats Torres ran the course in 23:35, bettering the 2001 national champion, Boaz Cheboiywo of Eastern Michigan's record by three seconds. Teammate Steve Slattery finished second, 20 seconds behind Torres.

Fast-forward to the Big-12 Championships and once again Torres was on top, running the course in a record 23:32 to capture his third Big-12 crown.

"Jorge was an excellent cross country runner coming out of high school," said Wetmore. "He's perfectly suited in style and disposition on this course … he was the horse on this course."

At the Mountain Region Championships, Torres saw one of his strongest competitors in BYU's Kip Kangigo who had defeated Cheboiwa earlier in the season. Torres led from the start with Kangigo on his heels, but after three miles Kangigo fell off Torres' pace and finished 28^th. Torres finished the 10k in 29:33 for a course record and a 38 second victory over Montana's Antony Ford.

"It was a wonderful race for Jorge," said Wetmore. "Kangigo is considered one of the best two or three runners in the country early in the season, but Jorge handed it to him."

Entering the final race, Torres had only three losses in three seasons, two coming against Cheboiywo in 2001 and the other being a third place finish his sophomore year at nationals. As a junior Cheboiywo took the title and Torres was second with a team title. Torres had three runner-up finishes at NCAA championships in the 2001-02 academic year with one at every championship; cross, indoor and outdoor track.

The championship race had its stars; Arkansas' Alistair Cragg (future three-time Olympian for Ireland), teammate Daniel Lincoln (future US Olympian and steeplechase record holder), Alabama's David Kimani who was the 1999 National Champion and a six-time NCAA champion, and the defending national champion in Cheboiywo who also was a two-time 10,000 champion on the track. All of them were in the hunt the minute the gun went off, led by Cragg.

As the race unfolded, Lincoln, Kimani, Cheboiywo and Torres were with the pack through 3K with Cheboiywo leading them through the mark in 8:44. After the mark, Cheboiywo looked to string out the race like he did the year before, picking up the pace and separating from the pack.

Cheboiywo held the lead with Torres reeling him in until the 7K mark at 19:10 when Torres took over with Cragg and Kimani trailing. A kilometer later had Torres and Cragg running shoulder-to-shoulder with Kimani 20 seconds behind, and it stayed that way for the next three kilometers up to the very last 100 meters.

Cragg made a move to test Torres, one that was covered immediately as the two took the final turn into the straightaway. Torres made a surging move to build a 10-meter lead, blasting to the finish in a course record 29:04, just two seconds ahead of Cragg.

"I'm speechless," said Torres after. "I can't put this into words. I'm glad to say that I'm finally a national champion. This was my last college cross country race and to come away with this championship … I'm glad to say that I had the opportunity."

"To be honest, I didn't think it would be Cragg," said Torres. "I knew it was going to be a contest, but I visualized Kimani and Boaz with me at the finish. I knew with 3K to go that Boaz and Kimani were struggling. I had visualized the last 100 meters to be a kick at the finish. I had to keep pushing and tightening the screws. The pace was exactly like I pictured it. It was a tough race to the finish."

"I'm thrilled with Jorge's race," said Wetmore afterwards. "It was a titanic battle and a thrill to watch. Two men, side-by-side for three kilometers, it was really an amazing demonstration of courage."

To this date, Torres (3rd, 2nd, 1st) is just the fourth person to place top-three three times in a row since 1980, joining Yobes Ondieki of Iowa State (2nd, 3rd, 2nd), Samuel Chelanga of Liberty (2nd, 1st, 1st) and Edward Cheserek of Oregon (1st, 1st, 1st, 3rd). He is the only American-born athlete to do so.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Men's Outdoor National Team
The 2002 outdoor squad consisted of just four men scoring, Dathan Ritzenhein, Steve Slattery, Jorge Torres and Reggie DePass. Despite the small squad size, the trio recorded the only top-10 NCAA finish for the CU men after finishing ninth overall. DePass was the first to score with an eighth-place finish in the 400 hurdles, followed by Slattery who blazed to a NCAA runner-up finish in the steeplechase on Friday. Torres, Ritzenhein and Slattery all did a massive amount of scoring Saturday in the 5,000 with Torres finishing second, Ritzenhein fourth and Slattery eighth to give CU 23 points and seventh place with just the 4x400 remaining.

World Cross Country Championships
The 2002 indoor season had an interesting hitch to it, as both Dathan Ritzenhein and Jorge Torres represented USA at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland, March 24th. This was the first time in more than two decades that two collegiate runners were named to the team as Torres ran the 4k short course and Ritzenhein the 12k long course. Torres finished as the top American in 11^th overall while Ritzenhein was the third American, 17^th overall.

PAST TOP RACES:
2001: CU MEN CAPTURE FIRST TITLE (VIDEO)
2000: KARA GRGAS-WHEELER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1999: JAMES DAVIS 1999 4x400-METER RELAY ALL-AMERICAN
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)

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