Cross Country Heads For Pre-Nationals
QUICKLY: The Pre-Nationals, the official warm-up to the NCAA Championships- on the championship course, will be decided between 86 men's (21 ranked) and 87 (23 ranked) women's teams in four team races and two open races on Sat., Oct. 14 at the La Verne Gibson Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Results will be posted on the Indiana State Athletics website upon the competion of each race. (http://www.indstate.edu/athletic/cross/)
11:00 a.m. Women's 6k Blue
11:35 p.m. Women's 6k White
12:10 a.m. Men's 8k Blue
12:50 p.m. Men's 8k White
1:30 p.m. Women's 6k Open Race
2:05 p.m. Men's 8k Open Race
LAST YEAR AT PRE-NATIONALS: CU's men's team took first in the "White" race, collecting 70 points to beat out Notre Dame by 23 points. They defeated 32 other teams in the race. Bret Schoolmeester placed third overall as CU's first harrier to cross the finish (23:43.7). Billy Nelson placed sixth (23:52.3), Stephen Pifer took 15th (24:09.4) and James Strang placed 19th (24:13.5). Rounding out CU's team score was Payton Batliner who placed 27th (24:23.9).
On the women's side, CU took fourth out of 34 teams. Christine Bolf lead the pack and won the "White" race in 20:12.3. Jenny Barringer took fifth overall and was second for CU (20:33.6). Kalin Toedebusch placed 18th (21:05.9), Liza Pasciuto took 39th (21:24.5) and Jackie Zeigle was 107th (22:13.2).
30th ANNIVERSARY: 2006 marks the 30th anniversary of the CU women's cross country team. Over the past 30 years, CU has won two national championships and two individual national championships. The Buffs also have two runner-up team finishes and one individual runner-up. Colorado has placed in the top-five 11 times in the team championship. In the first year of competition (1976), the team finished 16th at the national championship with Pam Allen leading the team with a 16th-place finish. Last year saw the Buffs stunning Duke by taking second at the NCAA's. Only time can tell what mark this season's squad will leave in the record book.
WHAT'S IN A POLL: Colorado continues to stay near the top of the men's and women's USTFCCCA Division I Cross Country Polls. The women are currently ranked second behind Stanford. They started out the season at No. 2, but fell to third last week, just one point behind Michigan. The Buffs rebounded this week and are back in the runner-up slot. On the men's side, the Buffs are fourth. Colorado fell from third to fourth last week, with Stanford moving up to third.
LAST WEEKEND: Members of Colorado's "B" team competed at the Fort Hays Invite in Fort Hays, Kansas on Oct. 7. Anthony Chiulli finished third overall in the men's 8k loop with a mark of 26 minutes and 3.68 seconds for CU's best finish of the day.Rob Thayer was the only other male harrier for CU at the open. He placed eighth at 26:17.12. The women placed fifth out of 11 teams. The highest placer was Anna Chase, who recorded a time of 19:25.28 for ninth in the 5k race. Jen Hooper finished 12th (19:39.28). Caitlin Schultheiss took 27th (20:11.13), Stephanie Ward placed 46th (20:52.42) and Kelly Shuma finished 50th (21:05.05).