The University of Colorado’s men’s and women’s cross country teams swept the team titles at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center here Monday. It is just the fourth time in the history of the championships, and second straight, that one school has claimed both titles in the same season. The championships are the second for both teams, first since the women won in 2000 and the men the following season.
The Wisconsin men and women swept the 1985 championships, as did Stanford in 1996 and ’03 and Colorado today.
Colorado’s title wins also mark the fifth-straight season that a CU team and/or individual has claimed national championship honors. The streak is second in the sport only to that of Villanova, which took a combined 12 women’s team and individual crowns from 1989 to 1994. It is also the sixth and seventh titles for the Buffs since the 2000 season, and seventh and eighth since Adam Goucher’s individual crown in 1998 started the crowning achievement.
A program best nine Colorado runners were named All- American, including Metivier, Liza Pasciuto, Christine Bolf, Sara Slattery and Natalie Florence on the women’s side and Brent Vaughn, Bret Schoolmeester, Jon Severy and Stephen Pifer on the men’s. Freshman James Strang, with a 49th place effort in the men’s place, missed the national honor by one place.
“I can’t remember a year when both teams had an outside shot,” said head coach Mark Wetmore, who now has coached CU to four team titles and four individual crowns since the 1998 season. “I thought that if a perfect day was had by both teams, then we could win. And everyone ran well, everyone contributed…I’m thrilled with everyone’s contribution. This is the most mutually respected of any teams I’ve had. They’re all great friends, they all wanted to be here, and they all wanted to win, and they did. I said entering the race that anyone who managed the day best could win, and I’m glad that we did it.”
Providence’s Kim Smith (20:08.5) had the race lead from the starting gun to the finish line, and Metivier was second over the entire 6k loop. It is Metivier’s second national runner-up finish in this race, as she finished behind Arizona’s Tara Chaplain in 2001. She was just 18 seconds off the winning pace, covering the course in 20:26.4), and four ticks ahead of Columbia’s Caroline Bierbaum (20:30.7). Wisconsin’s Simon Bairu (30:37.7), the school’s first individual title since ’85, outkicked pre-race favorite Matt Gonzales (30:40.9) of New Mexico for the win. Arkansas’ Josphat Boit (30:41.8) was third, followed by Vaughn (30:48.7) and Schoolmeester (30:56.3).
Jorge Torres’ national championship course record 29:04 remains in tact after today’s race.
The women, paced by Renee Metivier’s national runner- up finish, placed all five runners in the top-30, to score a program best 63 points (it took 117 to win in ’00), 81 points ahead of runner-up Duke (144), Providence (164), Notre Dame (170) and pre-race favorite Stanford (175).
Brent Vaughn and Bret Schoolmeester each had career best finishes here, coming in fourth and fifth, respectively, and led a contingent that had all five scorers in the top 50 for 90-points, matching their point total from their 2001 team crown. The Buffs finished a close four points ahead of Wisconsin (94), followed by Arkansas (202), Butler (243), BYU (267) and Stanford (269). Vaughn and Schoolmeester’s efforts mark the third time since 2001 that two Buffs finished in the top-10. In 2001, Jorge Torres and Dathan Ritzenhein finished second and fourth, and a year later in 2002, on the very same LaVern Gibson course, Jorge Torres was the national champion and his brother Edwardo, finished 10th.
“I didn’t really know what to expect in this race.. I had never raced against Kim (Smith) or Caroline (Bierbaum) before, but my goal was to run strong, be smart, and if I could, to close up on Kim which didn’t happen. But I went for it and held on for second,” said Metivier. “It’s good to be back (on finishing second again). I’m in better shape that I was in in 2001 and the competition is a lot better. I was confident that I could be second, but in a race like this, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m pleased with how it came out and ran the best race that I could. I’m so excited about the team title. I was thinking about it the whole race. To have our top five runners in the top 30 is really exciting. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I started looking for my teammates.”
An already damp and slightly heavy course on Sunday was worsened by overnight and early morning rains that subsided by the start of the women’s race and the skies were clear for the start of the men’s, conditions that obviously played in favor of the Buffs.
With Kim Smith in control of the individual title, the team title was up for grabs as early as the halfway mark. Smith was running a 9:52.7 pace at the 3k mark, followed by Metivier (10:05) and BYU’s Laura Turner (10:14), with just four points separating the Buffs and Stanford at that mark, with Slattery in 16th and Bolf in 18th, followed by Duke and Providence.
The pleasant surprise for the day on the women’s team was that of freshman Liza Pasciuto. Pasciuto finished as CU’s No. 2 runner for the first time of her career, and her 13th place finish is the second best by a CU freshman in program history, second only to then-Sara Gorton’s eighth place freshman effort in ’00.
“Coming in I was trying my best to try and score and help the team achieve the goals that we set at the beginning of the season,” said Pasciuto. “But I’m definitely thrilled with my finish. I couldn’t have asked for more. I hope to come back next year and do it again.”
Christine Bolf (20:48.1) ran to her first All- American title in the fall with a 14th place finish, a career best for the junior that finished 63rd a year ago.
In the final race of her collegiate career, fifth- year senior Sara Slattery finished 28th and came away as an All- American for the third time in her career, just the second CU harrier to do so, following current part-time assistant coach Heather Burroughs (1994, 95, 98). She is also now the only runner in the program’s storied history to be a member of two national championship teams, as she was a freshman on that 2000 squad.
“I was sitting on the plane on the way out here thinking of the past five seasons and of this team and how bittersweet it is going to be to leave,” said Slattery. There are days when you’re in the weight room or out on long runs and you don’t want to be there, but then you look back on moments like this. It’s going to be sad to leave a great place like CU. We have such a unique combination of talent and determination on this team. And it’s a group that like to be with each other and we just push each other in practice and in races. I’m so proud that we put it together at the end.”
Natalie Florence (21:07.2) rounded out CU’s scoring, finishing 30th overall for her second All-American title. In her first national championship, freshman Amber Smith (21:44.3) finished 78th overall. Laura Zeigle (23:18.1) finished 224th.
“Our race plan was to try and be patient and not fight the conditions (which changed dramatically overnight). By the 600-m mark they had over-ruled my plan and my hope was that they held on. They kept going, so I’m glad that they overlooked my instructions,” said Wetmore.
The men’s race was a battle for both the individual and team titles from the start of the race. At the halfway mark, a lead pack of 10-plus runners were separated by one second with Arkansas’ Josphat Boit in the lead at 15:16.1 and the 10th place runner at 15:17.1, with Vaughn (15:25) in 15th and Schoolmeester (15:26) in 19th. Vaughn had taken sole possession of fourth place at the 8k turn, having caught 13 runners in a 3k span, while Schoolmeester chased down 12.
“It was pretty even throughout the entire race,” said Vaughn. “I went out slow and conservative and tried to catch people. At the end I did what I needed to do for team to win.”
“I’m too happy for words,” said Schoolmeester. “No matter what outcome, we couldn’t have done better than we did today. And I moved up 237 places from last year (242 a year ago), so I’m just escatic. I’m proud to be a member of this team. They’re all gamers.”
Senior Jon Severy holds the same distinction as Slattery, as both were freshmen on national championship teams, and both are fifth year seniors today. He is also now the only men’s runner in the program’s history to have run on two national title teams. Classmate Jared Scott was on the team that season, but did not run at nationals. He was also a freshman in ’01 and ran the final cross country race of his career here this afternoon. It happen to be the best of his career, covering the 10k loop in 31:26.9 to finish 21st.
“It was an incredible note to start on,” said Severy. “I was carried through a little bit on that 2001 team and it gave me a false sense of what it meant to be on a good team. Since then, I’ve sunk pretty low and learned an incredible amount of what is necessary to sacrifice for your team and carry it out. Today was just so perfect that I can’t describe it.
Newcomers Stephen Pifer and James Strang rounded out the scoring for the CU men, with Pifer running 31:56.8 to finish 44th while Strang ran 31:59.9 to finish 49th. Jared Scott, also running in the last cross country race of his career, was off his junior year pace, but finished 80th in 32:25.0. Freshman Bradley Harkrader, who had scored during the season as CU’s third, fourth and fifth runner, finished a disappointing 121st in 32:50.7 in his first national championship event.
“The front two ran as well as I thought they possibly could and Jon ran way better than I would have expected. All of the five scorers ran better than my most optimistic aspirations. And with Stephen, James and Bradley, all freshmen, the sky is the limit,” said Wetmore.
Colorado will graduate five runners and four All- Americans from today’s race, including Metivier, Slattery, Florence, Severy and Scott, but returns 11 runners that made the trip to Terre Haute this weekend.
“We have some important peolle going out, but some excenllent runners waiting in the wings, and some recruititng yet to be done. And today will help.”