Colorado Set For NCAA Championships

BOULDER — The University of Colorado cross country program sends both the men's and women's teams to the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships this Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.

The women will start off the championship with the 6K at 8:20 a.m. MT, followed by the men's 10K at 9:10 a.m. MT. Both races will be televised uninterrupted on ESPNU beginning at 8 a.m. with additional coverage on ESPN3 and the ESPN app afterward.

This is the 14^th year in a row the team has sent both squads as the No.7-ranked men are competing for their 31^st-straight year while the No.11-ranked women are competing in their 30^th championship in 31 years.

The men climbed two spots in the rankings last week after finishing third at the NCAA Mountain West Regional Championship. Despite being without Charlie Sweeney, the Buffs upset the previous-ranked No.5 Air Force by seven points.

Colorado will have a squad full of healthy runners Saturday for the 10K led by Austin Vancil and Andrew Kent. Vancil finished seventh at regionals, while Kent was fourth at the Pac-12 Championships. The two have traded top finishes for the Buffs all season and will be gunning for an All-American finish to lead CU a potential podium run.

In addition to those two, CU will run Seth Hirsch, Brendan Fraser, Sweeney, James Overberg and Hunter Appleton. Noah Hibbard will serve as the alternate for Colorado.

The Pac-12 Champion women dropped to 11^th in the rankings after placing fifth at the Regional Championships. Pac-12 Individual Champion Bailey Hertenstein has led every race for the Buffaloes and will look to stick with the top runners in the race. She was fifth at the Nuttycombe Championship where most of the top runners were present except for Oklahoma State's duo. Hertenstein will be joined by Emily Covert up front who is coming off of a tough run at regionals. She finished third at the Pac-12s and could be a major factor to the women returning to the podium.

The women will also run Ella Baran, Kaitlyn Barthell, Gabrielle Orie, Whitney Valenti and Alisa Meraz-Fishbein.

Live results of the championships can be found here.

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Players Mentioned

Hunter Appleton

Ella Baran

Kaitlyn Barthell

Emily Covert

Brendan Fraser

Bailey Hertenstein

Noah Hibbard

Seth Hirsch

Andrew Kent

Alisa Meraz-Fishbein

James Overberg

Charlie Sweeney

Whitney Valenti

Austin Vancil