Nichols Leads Buffs To Second-Place Finish

EUGENE – The University of Colorado women's track and field team placed second here Sunday afternoon in the 2022 Pac-12 Track and Field Championships, led by double Pac-12 Champion Abby Nichols.
 
Nichols, who set a Pac-12 meet record Friday in the 10,000, doubled back to win the 5,000 in 15:47.92. Her 20 points helped lead the Buffs to 102.5 points, the most for CU in Pac-12 history, and secured the second-place finish for the women before the 4x400-meter relay, the highest finish for the Buffs at the Pac-12s.
 
Nichols began the race in fourth and sat there for most of the 12 and a half lap race. Teammate Emily Covert sat in sixth for most of the race as the 41-women pack spread out and dwindled down to seven. Oregon's Alessia Zarbo took the lead along with Utah's Cara Woolnough, but with 500-meters remaining Covert blasted to the front with Nichols on her heels.
 
The two Buffs picked up a 15-meter gap on the rest of the field in the home stretch leading to the bell, then a lap later Covert waved Nichols on to the win as the two picked up 18 points finishing 1-2 with Covert running 15:48.88.
 
Nichols is the first double champion for the Buffs since Dani Jones in 2017 in the 1,500 and 5,000. She becomes the first Buff to double in the 5k and 10k since Sara Slattery in 2005 on the women's side and Joe Bosshard in 2011 on the men's side.
 
The Colorado women took the title in four of the five distance races, taking the 10,000 and steeplechase titles Friday and Saturday with Madie Boreman winning the steeplechase late Saturday. The defending NCAA Mile National Champion Micaela DeGenero picked up the third distance title in the 1,500 earlier in the afternoon, winning the race in 4:13.26 seconds.
 
DeGenero, Boreman and Rachel McArthur all raced in the 1,500, the same squad that all finished as All-Americans in the mile in March. McArthur took the early lead for CU in fourth, followed by Boreman in eighth and DeGenero in ninth. As the race progressed, DeGenero moved to third with 700 meters left but fell back as the Buffs lined up sixth through eighth. Similar to the NCAA mile, DeGenero made her move with 600-meters remaining and kicked down Stanford's Christian Aragon with 250 meters remaining. She built up a 10-meter gap on the curve and cruised home to the finish. Boreman finished fourth in 4:16.93 while McArthur finished ninth in 4:20.23.
 
Colorado's distance squad was on full display late as Eduardo Herrera gave CU the 5,000-meter sweep, winning the men's title in 13:33.95. Herrera, Andrew Kent and Charlie Sweeny all sat three, four, five through the first 3,000. At the bell, Herrera sat second with Kent third, then Herrera passed Stanford's Ky Robinson on the backstretch. Cole Sprout of Stanford chased Herrera but Herrera pushed the gap to 10 meters to take the title, the first in his career on the track. The men picked up 15 points with Kent finishing fourth in 13:37.18 while Sweeney was ninth in 13:42.05.
 
Both Herrera and Nichols won the Pac-12 Cross Country individual championships and picked up their first Pac-12 track championships this weekend.
 
Numerous athletes doubled up and scored in both events, including DeGenero who came back to finish third in the women's 800 in 2:04.55. Herrera picked up the same number of points as DeGenero with his third-place finish in the 1,500 at 3:40.78.
 
The sprinters and hurdlers made their mark, with Tyler Williams, Aaron McCoy, Abbey Glynn and Emma Pollak all picking up points in three events. All four ran in the 4x100-meter relays to start out their day with the women finishing seventh in 45.34, the fifth-best mark in CU history. The men finished eighth in 40.88 seconds.
 
Williams was the first from the group back on the track, running under 46-seconds in the 400 for the first time in his career. The Colorado-native finished fifth overall in 45.78 seconds. Not to be outdone, the hurdlers finished third and fifth in both the women's and men's 400-meter hurdle races. Abbey Glynn was the third-place finisher in 57.62 seconds, passing Eriana Henderson for second in CU history in the event. Freshman Emma Pollak finished fifth in 59.80 seconds. In the men's race, Aaron McCoy finished third in 51.29 seconds while Garrett Nelson finished fifth in 51.64 seconds.
 
All of them came back in the 4x400-meter relays where the women finished fifth in 3:41.44 seconds, while the men finished fourth running 3:06.67.
 
Both team titles went to host Oregon with the men winning their 15th-straight title with 161 points while the women won with 167 points. The CU men finished eighth with 61 points. The distance squad picked up 32 points across the five races on the men's side and 72 on the women's side, the most combined for any school in the conference with 104 points. Washington's distance squad was second with 85 points led by the men's best total of 47 points. The CU women's 20 points in the 10,000 was the most from any school in a single event on the track and third to Cal and Washington in the hammer throw and pole vault, respectfully, scoring 21 points in each event.
 
 
QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
On The Meet
I would say overall men and women combined, we greatly exceeded my most optimistic expectations.
 
On The Distance Squads 104 Points
We're known for distances and I tell them this is the meet, this is the money meet, this is when you prove yourself. They came here ready to perform and almost all did.
 
On Having Six Championships
The women won every distance event other than 800 where Micaela got third 45 minutes after the 1,500 so the women were beautiful in those distance events. Lalo was excellent. His backup crew was great. Andrew Kent had a good weekend. The distance runners have a lot of expectations on them coming here, and for the most part they lived up to it. But, the women wouldn't have been second without the points from all the other event areas, so many of whom contributed.
 
On The Sprint Squad
Coach Bockman had a very good weekend. Same with the distance runners, his people came, they knew they'd have a lot of busy duty, a lot of hard running. They never complained, stepped to the line and got the job done. This is the meet, this is one of the only scored meets of the whole spring, it's the most important scored meet of the whole spring and the sprinters rose up.
 
On Madie Boreman
Well, last year was a bit disappointing for her and us in the steeplechase at the Pac-12. She spent a year working the hardest ever, making the most sacrifices ever, and got her title back. She should be very proud of that, we are.
 
On Abby Nichols
She had a great weekend, obviously. She's going to be one of the very few people who won two events, and she certainly won the two hardest events. I hope she's recognized for that. We have a month or more to go so we have to take a couple easy days, get back to work and try to do well at the nationals.
 
Associate Head Coach Heather Burroughs
On The Distance Squad
The distance runners, especially the women might have been the best we've ever seen at a conference meet. Five events and 72 points, four out of five champions. Couldn't have asked for more of them.
 
On What 104 Points Mean For The Distance Team
It means that when we tell them this weekend is important, they were listening. This is the weekend where they run their guts out for CU and I'm happy they were willing and able. Ready, willing and able.
 
On Madie Boreman
It's kind of a beautiful story because it's the same venue and the same event. She bookends the start and the end of her CU career with Pac-12 titles. If you kind of keep your head down and keep working hard, good stuff often happens. I think that's the lesson.
 
On Abby Nichols
Abby was a good runner last year, but she's at a whole different level this year. She's proved it all year, she proved it in cross country with a Pac-12 title and she's three for three in actual titles this year. We're not going to be able to replace her next year. We're going to miss her. I wish we had two more years with her.
 
Senior Abby Nichols
On Winning Two Titles
It was awesome. I mean, I can't ask anymore. I just had to come in and do what I had to do. I had amazing teammates next to me so I can't be more happy.
 
On What It Means After Withdrawing Last Year
It was really sad for me to withdrawal last year and I feel like I came back and I have had a lot I wanted to do. It's my last year so I'm just kind of going for it and taking the chances I have and just try and do my best. It just means so much to see the hard work pay off. You also just want to keep getting better too, so it's looking good going forward.
 
On What The Next Month Looks Like
I'm not really sure yet. I need to see what Mark and Heather think. Whatever they think I'm just going to trust and if that's doubling then I'll trust that and if it's choosing one I'll just have to go all in on one and not let the pressure get to me and just keep competing. I've been competing and  going for wins.
 
On Having The Best Pac-12 Finish
It's amazing. I feel like I'm surrounded by so many amazing runners and everyone had to double this weekend. I didn't have that much pressure on me because everyone was doubling and everyone was going to get out there and do their best.  I think maybe I led point wise, but I am surrounded by leaders and amazing people, so it's not just me.
 
Senior Madie Boreman
On Reclaiming The Pac-12 Title
I kind of knew going into it that it would be a full circle kind of feeling no matter how I finished. To come back and win it I honestly shocked myself. It's hard to put into words and I've had a day to process it and I still don't know how to explain it. I'm very excited.
 
On Lining Up With The Same Three Women From The NCAA Mile
That was cool to walk into another championship race and look down the line and have the field mainly be CU women. That's always a cool feeling. Especially when today it was all about getting points, so to be able to have three of us in, they're all in scoring positions and ready to go. That was really, really cool.
 
On Scoring The Most Points For CU At Pac-12s
We've been working at this for a long time and just waiting for all the right pieces to click. This year, we have heptathletes, we have sprints that are doing well and then to clean out all the distance events is awesome and this is the highest we've had obviously. That's really special and it kind of caps off a long three days of racing and makes it all worth it.
 
Senior Micaela DeGenero
On Lining Up With The Same Women As The NCAA Mile
It was a really special moment to be able to go into the final with my teammates. It's been a special season to get to share this with them and it's been really exciting. I'm really happy.
 
On The 800 Turnaround
It was a quick turnaround, but I was happy I was able to rally for the podium. It was a pretty good day overall.
 
On Running With And Against Abby Nichols
It's just really special. It's amazing to have success, but it's even more fun to get to share it with your best friends and your teammates.
 
Senior Eduardo Herrera
On Winning The Pac-12 Title
It means a lot to me, knowing that, this conference is probably one of the most competitive conferences in the nation. It's kind of a huge deal for me personally since I've been here for six years. Obviously, I caught the one in cross country last year and my goal at the beginning of the season was to capture one here outdoors for track and I came into this race a little worried. A little weight on my shoulders, thinking about it too much and kind of putting pressure on myself, but after that prelim on Thursday, I just kind of told myself 'Hey, you know what, just approach it as a regular race for the season and that's how I tend to do really well.' I do well in those races when it's not championship season, and so it was like a mental barrier for me. After that 1,500 meter final, I told Mark and Heather I'm going to win this thing, I feel really good. Im just happy overall, especially for my teammates, the women's team, they ran really amazing today. Proud of my guys, the boys here at CU, they ran really great.
 
On The Turnaround To The 5,000
It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was hurting the last 150, but it was one of those things where I knew it was going to be okay. During the season, even for indoors, after racing that 3k time that I ran, the mile time at 3:57, the race in Boulder, the race in Azusa,  something I kind of noted, I felt like I can continue to do workouts after those races. Once I got done with the 1,500-meter final, I basically told myself I'm not going to conserve any energy in the 1,500, I'm just going to worry about the 1500 and then the 5k I'll worry about that later. When the time came as soon as the 1,500 final was done, all I could think about was just resting up for the 5k and just feeling good. Thankful for our trainer Koki for obviously taking care of me and all that stuff. I felt really good going into the 5,000, a little tired at the beginning but I think once I got into the rhythm everything just kind of disappeared and I was just dialed in and zoned into the race.
 
On The Month Ahead And Returning For NCAAs
We are leaving Pac-12s on a good note, obviously attacking regionals and qualifying and then coming back to Hayward and hopefully repeating the same thing and doing the same thing that we did today here as a team. I think a lot of us are trusting Mark and Heather, and we trust them and I know that we're all fit right now. Coming back here and doing what we did today, if not even better. We're definitely looking forward to that.