Buffs Impress At NCAA Pre-Nationals

Published by Colorado SID on October 15th, 2016

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Colorado's second-rated women and sixth-ranked men's cross country teams looked sharp in their first major varsity races of the season on Saturday as the women's team won the NCAA Pre-National Invitational team title and the men came away with third overall.   
 
THE WOMEN'S RACE: Senior Erin Clark led both CU teams with a runner-up finish, crossing the finish of the 6-kilometer race in 20:08.4. She was 23.8 seconds behind Michigan's Erin Finn, who won the meet in 19:44.7, but was able to hold off Cal Poly's Peyton Bilo, who was right on her tail at third in 20:11.5.
 
The Buffs had a strong showing all around with two more harriers placing in the top 20. Junior Kaitlyn Benner came across the line 12th in 20:28.6 and sophomore Dani Jones was 17th in 20:30.4. Two newcomers to the CU program recorded the fourth and fifth place finishes for the team. Sophomore Makena Morley, a transfer from Montana, placed 26th overall (20:43.1), while freshmanSage Hurta placed 36th overall in her first uniformed race for CU (20:52.0).
               
Overall the women's team executed a great race plan, moving up steadily. After the first 2k, CU was third (160) behind California (134) and Oregon (152). Over the course of the next two kilometers, the Buffs took over the lead. They had a score of 85, which was almost double Oregon (152) and Stanford (159). CU hung on for the win, which wasn't very close as the Buffs totaled 93 points, over 60 points less than the runner-up, No. 9 Oregon (154).
 
THE MEN'S RACE: Sophomore Ryan Forsyth has been having a breakout season for CU and that continued on Saturday as he led the Buffs with a 15thplace finish at pre-nats, improving from a 51st place finish in 2015. Forsyth crossed the finish in 20:21.0, holding off Bradley's Michael Ward, who was just behind at 20:21.6.
 
Another Buff having a breakout year is redshirt freshman Joe Klecker, who placed 24th overall, second for CU, in 24:27.8. The top five racers for the Buffs placed between 15th and 30th as the next three runners were 27th, 28th and 30th. Sophomore John Dressel and senior Ben Saarel, racing their first meets in uniform this season, were 27th and 28th overall. Dressel clocked in at 24:30.9, while Saarel finished in 24:31.1. Junior Zach Perrin rounded out the team score at 30th (24:33.5).