CU Cross Country

SALT LAKE CITY — The No. 9 University of Colorado men’s cross country teams finished second at the NCAA Mountain Region Championship on Saturday to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship on November 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.

The No. 8 women’s team placed third overall, just missing an automatic bid but still have a good chance to earn one of the 13 at-large bids for the championship, which will be announced on November 14 at 5 p.m.

Colorado coach Mark Wetmore was very pleased with the results of the meet, as the goal is to make it through to nationals.

“I thought that both teams ran sound races today,” Wetmore said. “We wanted to try to leave a little in the well for next week.”

The men, who are now running a 10-kilometer course instead of the 8k course, recorded 66 points. No. 10 New Mexico put together a score of 45 points to win the team title, going 4-5-6-7-23. The Buffs defeated No. 15 BYU by 14 points (80 total points) and topped No. 7 Northern Arizona by 22 points (88).

“The men exceeded our expectations a little bit, finishing second and getting in automatically,” Wetmore said. “They went in ranked fourth [in the region] but again ran a very careful and conservative race.”

Joe Bosshard and Andy Wacker are proving to be an excellent 1-2 punch for Colorado as they placed eighth and ninth, respectively, by less than half a second. Bosshard’s time was 30 minutes, 8.0 seconds and Wacker clocked a mark of 30:08.5. Northern Arizona’s David McNeill won the individual crown in 29:24.1.

Sophomore Aric Van Halen raced to a 14th-place finish, improving from 42nd a year ago. He raced to a time of 30:08.3. Teammate Matt Tebo was just on his heels, finishing 1.5 seconds behind him (30:19.8) for 16th-place. Shortly after that, Christian Thompson crossed the finish for 19th to round out CU’s score. He finished the course in 30:23.7. All five of CU’s scorer’s earned all-region honors for their performances.

Cameron Clayton and Matt Biegner also ran for CU, though they did not score. Clayton placed 42nd (31:09.3) and Biegner was 60th overall (31:47.0).

The women recorded a team score of 59 points for their third-place finish. No. 10 New Mexico just edged out No. 3 Texas for the title by two points. The Lobos recorded a score of 53 points while the Red Raiders had 55 points.

“The women were third [in the region], but with the poll system the way that it is, there is no question they will get through. Even if they were fourth, they would have probably gotten through, and that is why they ran so conservatively today,” Wetmore explained.

Laura Tremblay led the women with a third-place individual finish, recording a time of 20:23.9, 21.4 seconds behind the winner, UTEP’s Risper Kimaiyo. Tremblay, only a sophomore, has been leading the team all season and ran a smart race to put herself, and the team, in a good position to advance to nationals.

“The goal was to make nationals and I wanted to do it as easily as possible,” Tremblay said. “I probably ran the first 4K in 20th place or so, but I started kicking in and caught a couple people and was able to do pretty well. My main goal was to do it without too much effort. By the end, I was pretty tired. The cold was a shock but thankfully Colorado just got a nice wave of cold so we were able to get ready for it.”

Laura Thweatt, the team’s only senior, earned her best finish at the regional meet, crossing the finish line in 20:42.7 for eighth place. Her previous best showing at this meet was 14th, which Thweatt did as a sophomore in 2008.

Freshman Shalaya Kipp raced to a top-10 finish in her hometown and clocked a mark of 20:48.2. She was a full second ahead of teammate Emma Coburn who finished 11th overall. This was also Coburn’s best finish at the regional meet. (Her previous best was 16th). All four earned all-region honors.

Junior Katie Cumming turned in a good performance for the Buffs as well, rounding out the team’s score with a 27th-place finish. She recorded a time of 21:28.3.

Camille Logan and Rachel Viger also ran for the Buffs but did not score. Logan was 43rd overall (21:54.4) and Viger was 69th (22:20.8).

All in all, Wetmore is happy with the results of the day’s meet.

“Nobody had a bad day and we are all healthy,” Wetmore said. “Now it’s back to work.”

The NCAA Championship is Monday, November 22 in Terra Haute, Ind.

2010 NCAA MOUNTAIN REGION CHAMPIONSHIP Results
Rose Park Golf Course (Salt Lake City, Utah)

MEN’S 10K TEAM SCORES

1. New Mexico, 45; 2. Colorado, 66; 3. BYU, 80; 4. Northern Arizona, 88; 5. U.S. Air Force Academy, 155; 6. Wyoming, 105; 7. Utah State, 209; 8. UTEP, 210; 9. Montana State. 217; 10. Colorado State, 245; 11. Utah Valley, 289; 12. New Mexico State, 311; 13. Texas Tech, 341; 14. Weber State, 356; 15. Idaho State, 412; 16. Montana, 440.

MEN’S FINISHERS (Top 25 and All-Region Honorees):

1. David McNeill, NAU, 29:24.1; 2. Miles Batty, BYU, 29:30.1; 3. Deigo Estrada, NAU, 29:33.0; 4. Keith Gerrard, UNM, 29:45.9; 5. David Bishop, UNM, 29:58.4; 6. Rory Fraser, UNM, 30:01.9; 7. Ross Millington, UNM, 30:04.0; 8. Joe Bosshard, CU, 30:08.0; 9. Andy Wacker, 30:08.5; 10. Justin Tyner, AFA, 30:11.9; 11. Travis Fuller, BYU, 30:15.3; 12. Patrick Casey, MSU, 30:17.0; 13. Jeremy Drenckhahn, AFA, 30:17.3; 14. Aric Van Halen, CU, 30:18.3; 15. Jared Ward, BYU, 30:19.1; 16. Matt Tebo, CU, 30:19.8; 17. Josh McCabe, UVU, 30:20.2; 18. Daniel Howell, USU, 30:20.6; 19. Christian Thompson, CU, 30:23.7; 20. Brian McKenna, USU, 30:24.1; 21. Ahmed Osman, NAU, 30:25.7; 22. Elkana Rotich, UTEP, 30:26.0; 23. Brock Hagerman, UNM, 30:26.3; 24. Daniel Wallis, CSU, 30:26.8; 25. Nathan Ogden, BYU, 30:30.1.

Other CU Finishers: 42. Cameron Clayton, 31:09.3; 60. Matt Biegner, 31:47.0

WOMEN’S 6K TEAM SCORES

1. New Mexico, 53; 2. Texas Tech, 55; 3. Colorado, 59; 4. BYU, 156; 5. Colorado State, 175; 6. Montana, 215; 7. UTEP, 218; 8. Weber State, 243; 9. Idaho State, 252; 10. Utah Valley, 287; 11. Southern Utah, 291; 12. Utah, 307; 13. New Mexico State, 313; 14. U.S. Air Force Academy, 335; 15. Northern Arizona, 347; 16. Wyoming, 358; 17. Utah State, 364; 18. Nevada, 486; 19. Montana State, 536.

WOMEN’S FINISHERS (Top 25 and All-Region Honorees):

1. Risper Kimaiyo (UTEP), 20:02.2; 2. Rose Tanui, TTU, 20:11.5; 3. Laura Tremblay, CU, 20:23.9; 4. Natalie Gray, UNM, 20:28.6; 5. Sarah Waldron, UNM, 20:30.8; 6. Ruth Senior, UNM, 20:32.9; 7. Winrose Karunde, TTU, 20:40.90; 8. Laura Thweatt, CU, 20:42.7; 9. Amanda Mergaert, UU, 20:45.2; 10. Shalaya Kipp, CU, 20:48.2; 11. Emma Coburn, 20:49.2; 12. Kate Bowen, BYU, 20:50.7; 13. Kathya Garcia, UTEP, 20:09.5; 14. Caroline Jepleting, TTU, 21:00.0; 15. Purity Biwott, TTU, 21:00.4; 16. Katrina Drennen, UM, 21:01.2; 17. Caroline Karunde, TTU, 21:03.0; 18. Vanessa Ortiz, UNM, 21:04.3; 19. Amber Henry, WSU, 21:08.8; 20. Kirsty Milner, UNM, 21:09.1; 21. Courtney Schultz, NMSU, 21:09.4; 22. Ellie Keyser, CSU, 21:10.6; 23. Katy Andrews, BYU, 21:17.7; 24. Christine Nelson, UW, 21:18.7; 25. Katherine Ward, USAFA, 21:20.3.

Other CU Finishers: 27. Katie Cumming, 21:28.3; 43. Camille Logan, 21:54.4; 69. Rachel Viger, 22:20.8

Colorado’s race directors, event planners, and resident running stars converge at the Westin Hotel, Westminster the weekend of October 23-25 for the first-ever Regional Athletic Conference for Events. The first year event, produced by Endurance Sports Marketing group, is directed at Colorado’s ever-expanding list of event and race directors, offering them the opportunity to meet with and attend lectures by key players in the event industry.

Racing with the Stars 5k

Lecture topics range from event marketing, promotion, sponsorship, fundraising, insurance, and law. A dinner and cocktail party Friday evening will benefit Colorado’s AIR Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fights homelessness and addiction through endurance running programs.

Approximately 50 locally based industry vendors, sponsors, and event service providers will attend the conference’s Expo to educate race directors and planners on their services and products.

On Sunday October 25, Racing with the Stars 5k offers local Colorado runners the opportunity to run with and be paced by a famous local athlete or Olympiad. Runners simply choose the pace in which they would like to complete their 5k run, and will then be placed in a pace group, led by an Olympic or professional athlete. A partial list of those attending: Alan and Shayne Culpepper, Mark Plaatjes, Matt Reid, Amy and Pat Manson, Justin Young, Melody Fairchild, Lorraine Moller. .

The race will also serve as a opportunity for the vendors, sponsors, and companies attending the conference to showcase their products and services. Runners should expect an “over-the-top” race production with great value, amenities, and swag!

BoulderRunning will be attending, sending out updates and photos so check back.

Conference Information
Race Information

Marshall Valley Trail

Well of course it is. It just snowed enough to gunk up the dirt on the trail. What I always seem to forget is how sticky the trails get along Marshall Mesa Trail, Community Ditch and Dowdy Draw. Its that wonderful soil that just like to build to a nice girth on the bottom of your shoe, making it very awkward to keep a decent stride. It was a chilly October afternoon with misty cloud cover but the landscape was fantastic, speckled with evergreens, reds, golds, sienna and white.

proof

View from Community Ditch

Coal Seam Trail, Marshall Mesa, Boulder, CO

In the past few days we have had drizzly snow, then warm again and today meets with snow. There was enough of the white stuff to get everyone excited and lead to many great photo opportunities.

Early Winter Snow Chautauqua

Welcome to BoulderRunning.com. This is my first post(in a while). I have added a photo for extra interest