Wetmore-Wednesday Top Races: Coburn Wins First NCAA & U.S. Titles; Buffs Make Statement Winning Inaugural Pac-12 XC Titles
NCAA Steeplechase Highlights | Interview After Winning U.S. Title | 2011 Men's XC Highlights | 2011 Women's XC Highlights
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.
There was a lot of excitement in 2011. Junior Emma Coburn continued to add to CU's legacy in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the conference, NCAA and U.S. levels, but was also becoming one of the best athletes to compete in the event as well. She won her first NCAA and U.S. titles that June, earning a trip to the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The University of Colorado also moved from the Big 12 to the Pac-12 Conference during the summer of 2011. The CU cross country teams were the first to compete at a Pac-12 Championship and made it quite memorable, coming away with both team titles.
REALIZING HER TRUE POTENTIAL
By the time the 2011 outdoor season came around, junior Emma Coburn had been running the 3,000-meter steeplechase for two seasons and had done pretty well. During her freshman year in 2009, she placed 11th at NCAAs and was fourth at conference. Then as a sophomore, she won the 2010 Big 12 Championship, was the 2010 NCAA runner-up and garnered All-America First-Team honors.
But the 2011 season was a turning point and really made her see her true potential in the event. After racing a few rust busters (800 and 1,500), she debuted in the steeplechase on May 1 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford Invitational. There she cruised to a world-leading mark of 9:40.42, which was a PR, but more importantly, was the Olympic and IAAF World Championship 'A' Standard.
Coburn took the lead from the start of the race and never looked back. She started to pull away from the field after the first two laps, although Sara Hall (a professional running for Asics) was just a few steps behind her. Coburn started to extend her lead on Hall and had a 20-meter lead on the chase pack with three laps remaining. With two laps left she extended her lead to 30 meters and with just one lap remaining, her lead was up to 40 meters. Coburn finished well ahead of Hall who crossed the finish in 9:48.85. Coburn was even named the USATF Athlete of the Week for her performance
After the race, Coburn remembers thinking, "Oh wow. That is currently the fastest time in the U.S. and I have the world standard. That is the best benchmark. I could be on a world team and maybe do this for real."
At that point, she started to look beyond college, beyond conference titles and NCAA titles. She started to think about potentially being on an Olympic or world team, which was a big deal. Especially since she was still just 20 years old.
Coburn went back to work with her next big race being the Big 12 Championship in Norman, Okla., May 13-15. There she successfully defended her conference title, winning in 9:57.39, which extended CU's streak to three straight in the event.
"It feels great and I couldn't have asked for anything better," Coburn said following the win. "Winning the last two titles has been really fun. We came in hoping that I would win and try to run as comfortable as possible to do that and it worked."
She kept making easy work of the steeple as she easily advanced to nationals after winning 2011 NCAA West Preliminaries in 9:55.03 on May 27 in Eugene, Ore. As the NCAA runner-up from the year prior, she was the heavy favorite as Bridget Franek, the 2010 Champion, had graduated. That was new for Coburn.
"I remember I was expected to win, I was favorited to win and that was a new experience," she said. "I had been ranked first in the conference the previous two years, so I was familiar with that pressure of winning at the conference level. But to be ranked first heading into NCAAs was a new experience and pressure."
But just like every other race she had run before, she had a race plan set up for her by her coaches, Wetmore and associate coach Heather Burroughs. She said Wetmore and Burroughs, "always set you up with the right expectations and make a good game plan," which helped her always feel prepared, no matter what the race.
At the end of the day, the race was Coburn's to win. And she did, finishing in 9:41.14. Coburn outkicked Virginia's Stephanie Garcia, who clocked in at 9:47.29 for second.
"Crossing the line in first was really special and felt like that was the job well done," Coburn said. "And that was what I was supposed to do so I wasn't shocked by it, but it was still a very special moment."
The Crested Butte, Colo., native did not celebrate long as she soon shifted her focus to the USATF Outdoor Championships just two weeks later (again in Eugene, Ore.). She had the time qualification to compete at the IAAF World Championships that year, which would take place late August in Daegu, South Korea; now she would just have to earn a top three finish against some of the best women in the country.
But Coburn had an ace up her sleeve. Not only did she have a wonderful training partner in teammate Shalaya Kipp, who had finished third at the NCAA Championship that season; but she also got to train with and watch her assistant coach, 2008 Olympian, Billy Nelson. The day before her final, June 25, Nelson won the men's U.S. steeplechase title.
"The mantra of the year for me, which Mark and Heather were telling me, was 'be like Billy,'" Coburn said. "Any time he would do water jumps, they would have me watch. For form and technique, they would tell me, 'be like Billy,'"
She entered the final with a plan that she trusted, just as she had all season. With about one lap remaining, there were four women still in the hunt for the three spots. Coming off the final water jump, Coburn remembers thinking, "be like Billy." It was a good jump and after that, she was able to kick away from the group and finished less than one second (0.79) in front of Franek as she finished in 9:44.11.
And with that, Coburn's track season was extended into August. Her training and preparation continued to help her along the way. In the prelim on August 27, she remembers taking the lead in the race but then panicking a bit. About 200 meters later she saw Wetmore in the stands and he gave her a thumbs up and she knew she was okay.
Coburn went on to make the finals after finishing fourth in the prelims (9:38.42). She was the only American to qualify for the finals where she ended up 13th.
When all was said and done on the track that season, 2011 ended up being a significant year.
"Making a world team in 2011. Winning a U.S. title in 2011. Those experiences made me comfortable racing at high-levels," Coburn said. "The 2011 season, both from an NCAA and Team USA perspective prepped me for future races where I was going to go into another with a target on my back or be in these big international races where I wanted to fight for my best race. The 2011 season definitely made me feel mentally prepared for the 2012 season. 2011 queued up 2012 to be good and then 2012 really set the tone for the rest of my career that this is what the standard is now."
It's also fair to say that with Coburn's help, 2011 lifted CU to another level too.
INAUGURAL PAC-12 CHAMPIONS
When Colorado made the move to the Pac-12 Conference, it was no secret the Buffs would be competing in a tougher conference all around. But when it came to cross country, the Pac-12 was hand down the best conference, meaning winning a league title would be even harder than it had been in the past.
Said Wetmore of competing in the Big 12 prior to the first Pac-12 Championship in 2011: "We usually figured a bad day and we're second. But coming here, you could have a bad day and be fifth or sixth. That's the big difference."
CU had lost the last three Big 12 cross country titles (2008-10) on both the men's and women's sides and entered the Pac-12 hungry to prove it belonged with Oregon, Stanford and Washington, to name a few.
The Buffs had talent. The men were ranked sixth nationally, but were the second highest Pac-12 school behind fourth-ranked Stanford. The CU women were rated 16th, which was behind No. 2 Washington, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 California and No. 11 Oregon.
Arizona State hosted the inaugural championship at Wigwam Golf Course in Litchfield, Ariz., on October 29, 2011. The men were set to race first at 10 a.m. with the women following at 11 a.m. And even though it was the end of October, the weather was an important factor to consider since temperatures could range from the 70's to 80's during the races. To combat the weather, the teams wore white uniforms; a change from the traditional black the Buffs usually wore on race day.
"It was really hot," Coburn remembered. "Mark and Heather had the foresight to have us wear white uniforms. We showed up in our crisp white uniforms and I think we kind of blew everyone away with that hack for the heat."
That Saturday morning was full of excitement for the Buffaloes. The men's team kicked things off with a thrilling seven-point win over fourth-rated Stanford (46-53). Senior Richard Medina led CU in the 8-kilometer race with a third-place finish, crossing the line in 22 minutes, 54 seconds. He was quickly joined by teammate senior Andy Wacker who finished sixth overall in 23:24.
Junior Joe Bosshard ran in his first cross country race this season and recorded a top-10 performance by coming in ninth overall. He completed the race in 23:30. Senior Christian Thompson was 13th (23:37) and freshman Ammar Moussa rounded out CU's team score by taking 15th. He finished in 23:43.
Medina was the only member of the men's team that won a conference title previous to that as a member of the 2007 Big 12 Champions when he was a freshman. (Medina redshirted the 2010 cross country season.)
"Everything was so new then and I didn't realize how special it was to win a conference title," Medina said. "So to not have it for three years and then come back and win my senior year was pretty amazing."
After the men pulled off the offset, it gave the women a little boost heading into their 6k race according to Coburn.
"We all got chills watching the men's race and were so excited for them," Coburn said following the races that day. "The mood was lightened and we got a better perspective on what this meet is about. Seeing the men win you understood what kind of occasion this is and how special it would be if we won too."
And win they did, recording 50 points to blowout No. 2 Washington (73) and No. 8 Stanford (75). Sophomore Shalaya Kipp was the top female to finish for the Buffs, placing fourth with a time of 19:54. Senior Emma Coburn was fifth and finished one second behind Kipp (19:55). The duo ran the entire race together and helped pull each other along. It was the first cross country race of the season for Coburn.
"The world championships were at the very end of August, so I missed a lot of the traditional cross country training with the team," Coburn remembers. "I jumped in the best I could. It was so fun to be a part of."
Senior Lara Darco recorded a ninth-place finish as she finished in 20:18. Freshman Rachael Baptista was 14th overall (20:25) and senior Katie Cumming was the fifth harrier for the Buffs (20:30), placing 18th.
"We are so excited," Coburn said immediately after the races. "We thought we would have a good chance if we came out and raced today like we know we can. Shalaya and I really played well off of each other and our third, fourth and fifth runners really did well today."
It is hard to be disappointed when both teams do better than what they are projected to do, and it is safe to say Wetmore was very happy with how both performed that Saturday in late October.
"I would give each team an 'A' for today's performance," he said. "They came out and raced what they were capable of and some even exceeded expectations. It was a good day and we couldn't have asked for much more from either team."
And what did Wetmore think of how his teams announced their arrival in the conference?
"We like to be the conference champs, we like it a little better when we're new to the conference and we like it a little better when we're ranked 16th (women) and sixth (men)," Wetmore said. "So this was a fun one."
The sweep by the Buffs at that time marked the 13th time in school history that the men and women won both titles at the conference championship since the inception of a women's program in 1976. It was the first time CU has won both titles since the Big 12 Championships in 2007. Since the championship in 2011, the Buffs swept the Pac-12 Championship two more times (2015 and '16).
PAST TOP RACES:
2010: COBURN AND KIPP BECOME STRONG 1-2 IN THE STEEPLE; DODSON SPRINTS TO A STRONG FINISH
2010: BARRINGER BREAKS 6 COLLEGIATE RECORDS IN FINAL TRACK SEASON (VIDEO)
2009: BARRINGER AND NELSON TAKE BEIJING OLYMPICS
2008: MEN WIN BIG 12 OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP
2007: VAUGHN WINS 3 BIG 12 TITLES; BARRINGER TURNS DISAPPOINTMENT INTO FIRST U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP
2006: BARRINGER'S STEEPLECHASE LEGACY BEGINS; MEN'S XC WINS SECOND NCAA TITLE IN THREE YEARS
2005: METIVIER WINS INDOOR 3K; SLATTERY TAKES 10K TITLE
2004: BUFFS WIN MEN'S AND WOMEN'S NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
2003: RITZENHEIN RACES TO THE TITLE (FINISH VIDEO)
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)