Wetmore-Wednesday Top Races: Ritzenhein Races To The Title

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.

In 2003 Dathan Ritzenhein battled injuries all year long but miraculously came out on top at the NCAA cross country championships, giving Colorado the first back-to-back different individual champions since Iowa State in 1989 and 1990. The Buffs were just the fourth-ever team to achieve the feat and are the last to do so.

RITZENHEIN BATTLES TO TITLE
The 2003 season was a tough one as Ritzenhein was unable to put in a full summer of work after recovering from stress fractures that sidelined him for the entire 2002-03 academic year. He finally was back up to 80 miles per week at the beginning of October and put his short training to the test at Pre-Nats where he won the race with a two-second lead over Arizona's Robert Cheseret.

Two weeks later, Ritzenhein was back with another win, this time in the Big 12 Championships where he was challenged by Texas' Paul Morrison and teammate Billy Nelson, beating the pair by 14 and 23 seconds, respectfully. He carried the momentum of the slow season start into another win at the NCAA Regionals, this time at 10,000 meters in 30:22 to defeat Kip Kangogo of BYU by 25 seconds.

Finally proven in shape, Ritzenhein was onto the final test.

"I want to win," said Ritzenhein earlier in the week. "That is the goal for everyone in my position. But there are a bunch of guys out there who think they are going to win it. It is going to be a big battle. I saw last night that is is supposed to be cold, snowy and rainy. I could care less. I would rather it be cold and crappy, but if it is nice it is all the same to me."

"I try to be flexible going into all my races; they always unfold differently than you expect them to," said Ritzenhein on his confidence entering the race. "If a pack break away early, I will respond. If not, I can sit back. I am confident in my kick and confident in running up front. What it takes to win, I think I have it. This race is something that I have been thinking about for a year and a half. When I was banging out pool workouts this was in the front of my mind. I'm excited."

Race day was as miserable as could be dreamed up. The Iowa course was dusted with snow the night before with temperatures hovering around three below zero. The race went out with Gavin Thompson of Eastern Michigan, Stanford's Ryan Hall and Morrison from Texas all leading the pack while Ritzenhein stayed behind. At the halfway mark the quartet were on 14:44 pace.

One-by-one, the pack began to drop, with only Hall and Ritzenhein moving away, led by Hall through nine kilometers.

Entering the final stretch, Hall made a move with 800 meters remaining that looked to be the difference with a considerable 10 meter lead. The Stanford harrier was looking strong and poised to take himself and his team to the top, while Ritzenhein looked to be in considerable pain.

What happened in the next 70 seconds as the two moved past the 600 meter mark could only be explained as one of the most courageous acts a CU runner has ever done.

Ritzenhein put on the burners with a quarter mile left, going shoulder-to-shoulder with Hall after covering the gap in just 12 seconds. Ritzenhein pushed past Hall to build a small three meter lead as Hall responded to close it to just a body length. The two kept pushing as Hall closed the gap in the final 80 meters, but Ritzenhein pushed again to drop Hall and finish a second and a half ahead for the title.

"The NCAA Championships in 2003 was probably one of the most painful races I have ever run," said Ritzenhein when asked about the moment 16 years later. "I had been sidelined with injury most the year before. We had a very short period of time to get ready but Coach Wetmore got me from barely running at camp when school started to undefeated going into the race. I was very nervous going into the race but Mark told me I was the toughest person on the starting line. As the race went on, I was not feeling good. I worked my way to the back of the lead pack. The goal was to take the lead after six kilometers. I moved to the lead and the race began to break up. By the last 800m, Ryan Hall had begun to drop me. I was about 10m behind and I used everything I could to catch up. It was a long drawn out kick and it took everything I could to hold Ryan off. In the recovery tent after, Mark put his arm around my shoulder and told not many people could go to that dark of a place. It meant the world to me after the race to see him and Coach Burroughs. They knew all I had been through the year before and how I got everything out of myself that day."

The 20-year old put everything on the line, spending the next 20 minutes and more "laying in comatose, staggering around," as Wetmore described it. Even in the post championship press conference as he talked with the media he claimed, "I'm shivering part from adrenaline and nerves, part from the cold. I still haven't warmed up. Every race is hard, but this was definitely the hardest race this year. I was pushing it all the way to the end."

With just five weeks of training and his sights set on the Olympic Trials in the following summer, Ritzenhein had returned from broken and captured a title on guts and determination. He would go on to break the American 10,000 collegiate record and finish as the national runner up in the 5,000 the following outdoor season. Despite finishing 22^nd at the 10,000 in the trials, Ritzenhein was the third-fastest American that season with the Olympic 'A' standard and was selected for the Athens Olympic Games. Following the news of his place on the team, Ritzenhein decided to forego his remaining eligiblility to go pro, enjoying a long professional career that included three Olympic appearances. Ritzenhein announced his retirement earlier this year following his final professional race, the 2020 Marathon Olympic Trials, at the end of February.

FINISH VIDEO

POST RACE INTERVIEW

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Sara (Gorton) Slattery National Title
At the 2003 indoor national championships, Sara Gorton doubled in the 5,000 and 3,000 after taking both titles at the Big 12 Championship. The 5,000 was a dominate performance by Gorton, winning the race in a championship record of 15:39.25 for her first NCAA title. She finished third in the 3,000 to give the CU women a 12^th place finish as a team.

PAST TOP RACES:
2002: TORRES CEMENTS LEGACY (VIDEO)
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)

Wetmore-Wednesday Top Races: Ritzenhein Races To The Title

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