BIG 12 Results

TORRES AND AUSTIN DEFEND INDIVIDUAL CROWNS

COLORADO CROSS COUNTRY SWEEPS BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

BIG 12 CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS (Columbia, Mo.), 11-1

Men's Team Scores

1. Colorado 25-points

2. Texas 90

3. Texas A&M 114

4. Oklahoma State 132

5. Iowa State 141

6. Baylor 148

7. Nebraska 171

8. Kansas 208

9. Kansas 208

10. Kansas State 254

11. Oklahoma 274

12. Texas Tech 329

Colorado Finishers

1. Jorge Torres 23:32 (course record)

2. Ed Torres 23:48

4. Steve Slattery 24:00

5. Billy Nelson 24:01

13. Jon Severy 24:34

16. Bret Schoolmeester 24:42

29. Payton Batliner 24:57

36. Casey Burchill 25:08

Women's Team Scores

1. COLORADO 34-points

2. Missouri 107

3. Texas 109

4. Texas A&M 125

5. Baylor 136

6. Kansas 147

7. Kansas State 169

8. Oklahoma State 179

9. Texas Tech 197

10. Iowa State 237

11. Nebraska 257

12. Oklahoma 256

Colorado Finishers

1.Molly Austin 20:26 (course record)

2.Sara Gorton 20:37

3.Natalie Florence 20:40

11.Tera Moody 21:15

17.Christine Bolf 21:35

34.Jackie Zeigle 22:08

52. Kendall Grgas-Wheeler 22:49

65.Katie Kissane 23:28

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Paced by course-record wins by Jorge Torres and Molly Austin,

the third ranked Colorado men's and women's cross country teams won their

seventh and sixth Big 12 Conference championships, respectively, while Buff

seniors Torres and successfully defended their 2001 individual titles at

the A.J. Gustin Golf course here Saturday. The four-race sweep is the

fourth-straight for CU's storied distance programs.

"That was our goal coming in, but I was nervous about the Missouri women on

their home course and being particularly aggressive up front early," said

head coach Mark Wetmore. "But our people were more recovered (from colds)

than I thought. We brought 16 and 16 ran well. Across the board we had good

performances."

With their individual titles, Torres became just the second Buff to win three

conference crowns in the fall, as Adam Goucher won Big Eight and 12 titles in

1995, '97 and '98 while Austin became just the second CU woman to

successfully defend her title, as Kara Grgas-Wheeler won back-to-back crowns

in 1999 and 2000.

"It feels really nice to win again, " said Austin on her back-to-back titles.

"I tried really hard not to think about it and not add anymore pressure, but

I'm really psyched about the finish."

The women's race was anyone's at the 1k mark as both Colorado and Missouri

each had five runners among the lead pack of 20. The race had been decided

as early as the halfway mark of the 6k race contest, as Austin, Sara Gorton

and Natalie Florence were 1-2- and 4 respectively with Kansas State's Amy

Mortimer in third with Austin running a 10:24 split. At the 3-mile mark,

Florence (who would have a career-best finish) had taken over third with

Baylor's Debbie Thornhill and Missouri's Valerie Lauver trailing in fourth

and fifth which is the way the race would finish.

"Molly led sooner than I thought she would," said Wetmore. "That she went out

so soon didn't surprise me. An unheralded high school runner and not

recognized at FootLocker, her hard work and patience has paid off."

Although favored to win the race, the CU women were pleasantly surprised by

their 1-2-3 finish. Senior captain Tera Moody would score as CU's fourth

runner, followed by freshman Christine Bolf in 17th to round out CU's

32-point scoring efforts, a single point ahead of last year's win. Freshman

Jackie Zeigle, running in her first postseason environment, turned in an

equally impressive finish, crossing the line in 34th, and followed by Kendall

Grgas-Wheeler (52nd) and Katie Kissane (65th).

"We thought coming into the season that we had the best team ever at

Colorado," added Austin. "But we had a lot of injuries ealy in the season, I

never thought we would finish 1-2-3. But this race just proves that we're

going to be tough. Each meet has been more impressive for our team."

"We came in here a little nervous about the course," added Gorton who was

running her first conference meet in the fall since the '00 season. "But we

showed our full potential. Kansas State has a great team and Missouri has a

great team, but this was the start of a great season."

The men's race unfolded like the women's but it was clear at the 1k mark that

it was Colorado's race to lose as just under three minutes into the 8k race,

the Buffs had five runners among the top 10 with Jorge and Ed Torres and

Steve Slattery running 1-2-3. At the 2,500-m mark Jorge Torres had begin to

pull away with Oklahoma State's Jason Woolhouse leading the chase pack that

included Ed Torres, Slattery and CU freshman Billy Nelson which is how,

5,500-m later, the race would finish with Jorge Torres running with a 16

second cushion.

"It would have been ideal to run 1-2-3 with Steve," said Jorge Torres. "We

came in together as a group, but Ed and I going 1-2 is something to be really

proud of. That combination has a sweet sound."

"Coming in behind him is great," added Ed. "Especially for our family. I

just wish Steve could have come in behind us. This is our best finish as a

team so far this year. Early this year we struggled a little bit, but

hopefully we will keep this going."

Jorge commented on the team's outlook since the loss of Dathan Ritzenhein to

a stress fracture, "We feel confident. To be a good team you have to go

through adversity. Year in and year out you have to be able to deal with

losses like that."

Billy Nelson's fifth-place finish was the top effort of the day by a

freshman, and he was followed by Jon Severy who finished 13th to round out

CU's low score of 25, the third-lowest score in a Big 12 title meet. Bret

Schoolmeester, just four seconds behind Severy, was the second highest

finishing frosh, coming in at 16th. Coming in as CU's seventh runner was

Payton Batliner (29th) and eighth was Casey Burchill (36th).

"Jorge was an excellent cross country runner coming out of high school. He's

perfectly suited in style and disposition on this courseâ?¦ he was the horse on

this course," complimented Wetmore.

The Buffs will take a two-week break between meets, as they will run in the

NCAA Mountain Region Championships, Nov. 16 for the first time in

Albuquerque. After that the NCAA Championships will be decided on Nov. 25 in

Terre Haute, Ind.

"We're aware that Stanford is a very good team. They're better and four and

five and look like 50-60 points better than us on paper. But Billy Nelson

ran such a race. If he does this at NCAAs, he'll take a big chunk of that out.

F E A T U R E S

Championship History

2000 MAAC Cross Country Championship Photo Gallery

PSAC

© Copyright 2002

PSAC

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Well, Nelson does gave them a ray of hope, there .. Wow, he's really come along. Severy and the rest not bad, either, but they still have ground to make up.

Man, would that top five be incredible if Dathan was in there, too, with Nelson running with Slatt? Wow.

Two Kansas men's squads? Where were the Mizzou men?

Anybody have full results????

iowa state had a hell of a race. placing 5th with runners 6,24,28,35,48...number 28 and 35 are true freshman... isu placed 11th last yr...i'd watch out for them in the future.

I think this race confirmed what most of us think: That Colorado will probably not defend its title.

They have a good 5th runner for most teams....but they're not most teams.

In addition, Slattery needs to be a little closer to the Torres brothers. It all comes down to him and #5 for them to have a realistic shot.

With Corey Ihmels coaching them now it seemed all about impossible they weren't going to get significantly better this year. It's great to see that things went so well for them at Big 12s.

Are you freaking kidding me about Colorado. Their 1-4 time gap was 29 seconds and you throw Dathan in there at Nationals and they are the Champs for a second straight year. Dathan will come back for nationals and still be top 15 or 20. 1-5 time gap or 45-60 seconds at nationals with your top guy being the national champ will win you the crown.

Jorge Torres looked strong and easy the whole way; I think he will be tough for anyone to beat at nationals. I know he was not really challenged, but the time he ran on the Mizzou is unbelievable (it includes a couple short fairly challenging hills and about a *very* tough half mile hill). The half mile hill is towards the end of the race (right around 4 miles, I think) and is called motherf*@&$# by the Mizzou runners who have to practice on it. MU men, in answer to the above post, were 9th (unfortunately) with a bright spot coming in the form or Ryan Hampton's race.

I agree that 29" is a great time gap between runners 1-4.

But I am basically stating that in order to beat Stanford, Slattery will have to stay within a FEW seconds of Ed Torres...and no futher back. Stanfords' depth is too good for Slattery to finish outside of the top 10. I see him as the wild card.

However, for a 4th runner to finish only 29" behind Jorge is pretty outstanding. Good point.

P.S. - I am assuming (and think) that Ritz will probably not run Nationals.

I'm posting everything on Trackshark.com as well while being reported through the day--so you can find all your results there if you wish :)

http://mutigers.ocsn.com/sports/m-xc/stats/110202aaa.html

(men)

http://mutigers.ocsn.com/sports/w-xc/stats/110202aaa.html

(women)