2009 Pre Nationals NCAA Cross Country Recap

The pre NCAA cross country meet is far from fan friendly. With 2 races for men and 2 races for women, it is not the easiest thing to follow. We try and give a brief take on the meet below.

Women's Blue Race: Colorado Women Surprise *CUBuffs.com Recap Here (link fixed)
Mark Wetmore's Colorado women were the big winners at the NCAA pre Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Indiana yesterday. Heading into the meet, the Buffs were only ranked #19 in the country (according to the coaches poll, in the LetsRun.com polls they were #7), but they stunned everyone and won the Blue race in Terre Haute quite convincingly. The Buffs finished in first 94 points comfortably ahead of #11 Florida State (who was a surprise 2nd) and #4 Oregon, who finished 3rd.

In the individual race there was no big surprise. Jenny Barringer who holds the NCAA records at 1500m through the 5k crushed the field and 2007 World Championship runner Susan Kuijken of Florida State by 30 seconds (Kuijken won this race last year by 32 seconds). Barringer's decision to not turn pro was a true gift to Colorado and coach Mark Wetmore.

Wetmore was asked in the Flotrack interview on the left what Barringer's return meant to his team, "First of all it takes a couple of hundred points off our score immediately. Secondly, they've gone from the point of being awed by her to just respecting and emulating her. Their training in the last year has come up a notch. They don't aspire to beat her right now, but a year ago they didn't even aspire to be like her and now they do."

Wetmore perhaps wasn't giving his team enough credit with how far they have come in a year as the surprising thing is even without Barringer today they would have still beaten Oregon. As for Oregon, the big news was that their #1 runner was prep phenom, Jordan Hasay, who finished third overall after only finishing sixth in her collegiate debut. The Ducks suffered as a team because Alex Kosinski their #1 in the first meet only finished 77th today. Put her up with Hasay and they are right with Colorado.

Results: *Team *Individual
Thread: Jordan Hasay THIRD at Pre-Nationals to Jenny Barringer and Susan Kuijken!
*Jenny Barringer Interview

    1    1   225 Jenny Barringer       Colorado                      9:46.6   19:50.9 
    2    2   373 Susan Kuijken         Florida State                10:10.5   20:20.8 
    3    3  1071 Jordan Hasay          Oregon                       10:09.7   20:33.0 
    4    4  1344 Risper Kimaiyo        UTEP                         10:10.5   20:33.9 
    5    5  1450 Janet Jesang          Western Kentucky             10:09.8   20:34.5 
    6    6   657 Beverly Ramos         Kansas State                 10:13.1   20:36.3 
    7    7   371 Pasca Cheruiyot       Florida State                10:10.2   20:36.6 
    8    8   569 Lisa Koll             Iowa State                   10:09.6   20:40.5 
    9    9   392 Emily Infeld          Georgetown                   10:15.5   20:45.1 
   10   10   230 Allie McLaughlin      Colorado                     10:10.5   20:45.6 
                                                

Men's Blue Race: Oregon Men and Puskedra are Back, Don't Overlook NAU
*GoDucks.com Recap: Luke Puskedra Wins and Leads Oregon to Victory over #2 NAU and #3 Alabama

The post-Galen Rupp era did not start well for the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks were only third at their home meet, the Dellinger Invite two week ago, as Luke Puskedra, who was fifth at NCAAs as a freshman was only 11th overall. Saturday in Terre Haute, Puskedra got the individual win and led the Ducks to the team title over #2 NAU and #3 Alabama. Alabama had won the Dellinger Invite convincingly over Oregon just two weeks ago.

Like their #1 returner Puskedra, Oregon got a lot better in two weeks. Kenny Klotz had only been their sixth man two weeks ago but this week he was 11th overall in the team standings. Meanwhile Tyson David who won the Dellinger Invite for Alabama, was only their fourth man today. Star Emmanuel Bor did run for the first time for 'Bama but he was only their sixth man. For Bama to challenge for the team title in a month, they'll need but Bor and David upfront.

#2 ranked NAU was only third in their race but things don't look as bad when you dig deeper into the results. NCAA outdoor 5000m runner-up and Australian 2007 World Championship team member David McNeill was NAU's sixth man. McNeill reportedly cramped according to Flotrack and fell on the course according to this LetsRun.com thread. Put him up front and NAU finishes just ahead of Oregon.

Results: *Team  *Individual
Thread: Oregon Men Win Blue Race in an Upset !!!
*A Look at NAU Star Jordan Chipangama A Transfer from JUCO  

    1    1  1087 Luke Puskedra         Oregon                  15:00.1    23:40.2 
    2    2   120 Andy Baker            Butler                  14:59.5    23:45.4 
    3    3   988 Jordan Chipangama     Northern Arizona        14:59.9    23:47.8 
    4    4   989 Diego Estrada         Northern Arizona        14:59.5    23:49.0 
    5    5  1500 Jon Grey              William & Mary          14:59.7    23:54.3 
    6    6  1085 Danny Mercado         Oregon                  15:00.8    23:59.6 
    7    7  1247 John Beattie          Tulsa                   15:00.0    24:00.4 
    8    8   451 Daniel Chenoweth      Harvard                 14:59.9    24:01.8 
    9    9   967 Ryan Hill             NC State                15:06.4    24:02.8 
   10   10    92 Ben Cheruiyot         Auburn                  15:07.1    24:03.5                                

White Races: #1 Stanford and #1 Washington Win
Women: Washington Cruises Without Full Squad
The Washington Husky women turned heads in 2008 as they swept the top 6 places at the PAC-10 meet on the way to the NCAA title. They are a very strong #1 in 2008 and they showed why on Saturday. They placed 3 in the top 5 to comfortably win the women's white race. Washington ran without Mel Lawrence who was fifth at the this meet last year (2nd at Pac 10s) and Lauren Saylor (12th at Pac 10s last year). The surprise was #9 Florida was ahead of #5 Princeton for third.

NCAA 5k champ Angela Bizarri got the individual win which shouldn't be a surprise (she finished 3rd at USATFs as well) but the way she did it was impressive. If the official race splits are accurate, she was 17 seconds back of Washington's Kendra Schaaf at half way yet still managed to get the win. Two weeks ago Bizarri finished second to BYU's Cecily Lemmon-Lew at the adidas Wisconsin Invitational.

Washington coach Greg Metcalfe was pleasd after the race. He told GoHuskies.com, "Our women's team got better today. Kendra, Katie, and Christine continue to run fantastic, but Kailey ran the best race of her career today."

Results: *Team  *Individual  
*GoHuskies.com Recap

    1    1   464 Angela Bizzarri       Illinois                     10:12.6  20:27.8 
    2    2  1397 Kendra Schaaf         Washington                    9:53.7  20:29.0 
    3    3   836 Megan Duwell          Minnesota                    10:12.4  20:31.5 
    4    4  1391 Katie Follett         Washington                   10:12.4  20:37.7 
    5    5  1387 Christine Babcock     Washington                   10:12.5  20:38.2 
    6    6  1111 Liz Costello          Princeton                    10:12.1  20:44.7 
    7    7   472 Kristin Sutherland    Illinois                     10:12.5  20:50.3 
    8    8   352 Stacey Johnson        Florida                      10:16.0  20:50.3 
    9    9   354 Rebecca Lowe          Florida                      10:13.2  20:51.1 
   10   10   940 Lauren Holesh         North Carolina               10:13.4  20:51.6 
                                                

Men: #1 Stanford and Derrick Impress

In case you didn't know already the #1 ranked Stanford Cardinal men are very good. They showed that on Saturday as they scored a meet low 47 points to convincingly win the men's white race.  Mark Wetmore's Colorado Buffs lack a star runner-up front but they packed together in typical Colorado fashion to take 2nd place. To show how impressive Stanford is, they had four runners ahead of Colorado's #1.

The surprise in the White Race was the men's race winner. After the freshman season Stanford's Chris Derrick had (7th at NCAAs in XC, scorer in the 3k and 5k indoors and 5k outdoors, breaking the American junior record at 5k), any race he wins at the NCAA level should not be much of surprise. However, he came from behind to beat Liberty's Samuel Chelanga who destroyed everyone at pre NCAAs last year (he was 38 seconds up at 5k last year and won by 44 seconds).  Chelanga likely is trying to time his peak better this year but his loss to Derrick shows winning the coveted NCAA XC title is never easy.

More
*Team Results  *Individual Results  
Men's White Race: Thread: Post Pre-Nats who is now individual favourite?
*Chris Derrick/Elliot Heath Post Race Flotrack Interview

    1    1  1178 Chris Derrick         Stanford                14:55.9    23:27.1 
    2    2   700 Samuel Chelanga       Liberty                 14:43.3    23:34.6 
    3    3  1181 Elliott Heath         Stanford                14:56.0    23:39.6 
    4    4   540 Ryan Sheridan         Iona                    14:56.4    23:46.7 
    5    5   853 Hassan Mead           Minnesota               14:57.4    23:49.2 
    6    6    77 Brandon Bethke        Arizona State           14:56.6    23:49.4 
    7    7   934 Jacob Kirwa           New Mexico              14:56.4    23:51.7 
    8    8  1105 Alfred Kipchumba      Portland                14:57.4    23:53.3 
    9    9   866 Barnabas Kirui        Mississippi             14:50.1    23:55.5 
   10   10  1183 Justin Marpole-Bird   Stanford                14:56.2    23:57.9 

Combined Races Men's Scores

Pre Nats always leads to one question. How would the teams have done in one race? This question causes LetsRun.com geeks to go and rescore the 2 races from pre Nats as if they were held at once coming up with combined scores.

And the winner according to message board poster stingray33... Stanford by a long-shot just like you all expected.

Full thread here:
1 - Stanford 76
2 - Oregon 186
3 - Colorado 212
4 - NAU 259
5 - Bama 267
6 - BYU 275
7 - William & Mary 290
8 - Portland 380

More Pre NCAAs: *Flotrack Post Race Interviews and Video
*Results of all the Races in One Place