Colorado Women Have Perfect Day On The Track

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Colorado women's track and field team advanced eight student-athletes and a relay to the NCAA Outdoor Championships here Saturday evening.
 
Colorado was perfect on the track in individual events, advancing all eight women that ran, then finished out 12th in the 4x400-meter relay to qualify.
 
Defending NCAA Mile National Champion Micaela DeGenero was the first Buff to qualify through, winning her heat in the women's 1,500-meter run in 4:18.93 seconds. She started the race sitting in second but quickly fell to eighth. Waiting and watching, DeGenero moved up to third with 500-meters left, then tried to take the lead at the bell from Stanford's Christina Aragon. DeGenero was finally able to make the pass down the backstretch with 200-meters remaining, then Arkansas' Krissy Gear tried to steal the win before DeGenero kicked past her in the final few meters.
 
In the second heat, Rachel McArthur sat fifth through the first 300 meters before falling to seventh halfway through the race. She was sixth with 500-meters remaining when a group of eight women broke out at the bell. She quickly moved to fifth with the group, then passed up to fourth in the final homestretch where she crossed fourth in 4:19.55 to secure her second bid for the Buffs in the 1,500-meter run.
 
The track turned to the steeplechase where Gabrielle Orie went out in the first of three heats. Orie started out eighth and moved up to sixth a quarter of the way into the race. A group of five broke out as Orie lost contact with the pack, but she passed a runner in the final lap to finish fourth in the heat in 10:03.31. She had to wait two more heats, but finished ninth overall with the fastest time qualifier.
 
In the second heat, Madie Boreman took the lead and stayed there for most of the race. She strung out the pack to five halfway through the race, then had dropped it to four with three water jumps left. With 500 meters left, Wisconsin's Alissa Neggemann took the lead from Boreman, who safely cruised to second in 10:02.36 seconds.
 
Abbey Glynn was next, running a clean race through the first 300-meters in the 400-meter hurdles. She was third coming off the curve and was temporarily passed by an athlete, but was able to pass for the third automatic qualifying spot in the final 10 meters
of the race. She crossed in a new personal best of 57.05 seconds, bettering her second-best mark in CU history.
 
The final individual event was the women's 5,000-meter run with India Johnson and Emily Covert doubling back from their 10,000-meter qualifying marks along with Abby Nichols who is second in the NCAA in the event. Johnson was up first in the first heat, sitting 12th through the first mile. She worked her way up lap-by-lap, then dropped a 73-second last lap, the second-fastest in the heat as she crossed the first line in sixth in 16:16.83. Like Orie, Johnson had to wait to see if her time would good through.
 
In the second heat, Emily and Abby made their way up to fourth and seventh in the first lap. The two Buffs began running shoulder-to-shoulder in the first 800 meters in the seventh and eighth positions. With a faster pace than the first heat, Nichols moved up to third while Covert was in 11th halfway through the race. Utah's Cara Woolnough took the lead and pushed pace, forcing Nichols to move to second to cover and Covert to make her way up the pack to sit third. With three laps remaining, a pack of four emerged with two Buffs in qualifying. The pack built a quick 10-meter lead, then Covert fell off the pace and dropped to fourth as Woolnough and Nichols pushed on. Nichols held onto Woolnough through the bell lap, passing her in the final homestretch and cruising to the win and top qualifying time in 15:49.51. Covert finished fourth in 16:05.75, and Johnson picked up the final time qualifier with a 12th-place finish to advance.
 
The night ended with the women's 4x400-meter relay as Grace Jenkins, Emma Pollak, Jaida Drame and Glynn finished sixth in the first heat in 3:34.47 seconds, the second-best time in CU history. Unfortunately, they were out of the time qualifying positions after the second heat and were 13th overall with three heats completed, one spot out of the time qualifier like the men were the previous night. Following a protest, Iowa was disqualified from the second heat for stepping outside their lane, bumping the Buffs into the NCAA Championships and giving CU a perfect day on the track.
 
Two other Buffs competed Saturday in the women's high jump. Allie Routledge was unable to clear the opening height of 1.66 meters (5-5.25), while Kylee Harr cleared 1.66 meters and 1.71 meters on her first try before hitting the bar three times at 1.76 meters (5-9.25). Harr finished tied for 24th in the event.
 
The Buffs advance nine women to the NCAA Championships with 11 total individual entries and both the men and women's 4x400-meter relays. The 12 women that are heading to Eugene tied the most in CU history and the 12 events that will be is a CU record, beating the 1996 women that had 11 entries with 12 women.
 
QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
On The Women's Perfect Day
"That's a success rate we would like to maintain."
 
On The Women's 1,500
"We hoped to get them both through. The NCAA is getting better and better. What used to advance easily does not anymore. Micaela looked quite easy. Rachel's been dealing with a little lower leg problem and bit the bullet hard and still got through for us so the 1500 was as successful as we could have hoped for."
 
On The Women's Steeplechase
"We were confident that Madie could get through barring any big mistake or mishap. Elle ran as well as she ever has, she might have PRd by a little bit I think in difficult, windy and warm conditions. Got a time qualifier and is of to Eugene and we are very, very pleased."
 
On The Women's 5,000
"We were confident again, as we were with Madie, that Abby would advance barring a problem. She looked very controlled. Ran down the leader right at the end just for fun. And then India and Emily doubling back after a very hard 10k the other night, surprised us a little bit. We thought maybe they could get through and on a night when people were going fairly fast, hot and humid, they both ran very well and doubled their qualifiers."
 
On Abbey Glynn And The 4x4
"Abbey had an excellent day because I don't know if there was an hour between the 400 hurdles and when she ran her fastest time ever, got a qualifying mark, came back on the relay and split 51.3 or 51.4. She ran great, but the three women in front of her also did. They ran their fastest time of the year, one of the fastest times ever at CU. Then another little miracle at the end, some team got DQd, we moved up a spot and off to Eugene."
 
On Both Relays Advancing By Protest
"I don't know if we've ever had one, and so to have two in the same track meet is certainly rare. Unique in our case, and we'll take it."
 
On The Meet Overall
"That's a fair question because well the women had an excellent meet, the distance men weren't what we hoped for. It was a combination of some bad luck, but also some race tactics we wish we could have back and try a different way. Certainly Andy Kent had a lot of bad luck. He gets knocked down twice, neither of which were his fault. Then comes back in a tactical 5k and just misses. He actually had a good weekend for us just an unfortunate weekend. And then Lalo was a disappointment, but maybe I should have given him a different race strategy. Anyway, the women were great, the men weren't perfect, but overall we're quite happy to be advancing who we did. The men's relay was very good. One of our fastest times ever. Both of Burke's teams are through which I don't think that's ever happened in my time here. More good than bad."