Colorado and Oregon Lead the Challengers Behind the Lobos

Published by Adam Schneider/RunnerSpace.com/College on November 19th 2015

In a year with record-setting performances and high future expectations for talented runners, a team may make a historic run. New Mexico has already crushed the Wisconsin Adidas meet record. The only team to beat the Lobos this year has been Colorado. Outside of them the trophy race is up in the air. 

You have to think that New Mexico head Joe Franklin waited to announce the newcomers to make sure his group of transfers made it to the Albuquerque campus. All-American Courtney Frerichs (13th in 2014), European cross country champion Rhona Auckland (also 19th at this year’s World Cross Country Championships), and two Harvard graduate transfers Molly Renfer and Whitney Thornburg led the group. This group joined 2014 all-American returnees Alice Wright (20th) and Calli Thackery (43rd) to improve expectations at the start of the season.

What has happened has probably been better than expected. When they have run hard, they have helped push the front pack to course records and put in exceptionally low team scores. The first meet that this group ran was at Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. Frerichs (2nd), Auckland (4th), Wright (5th) and Thackery (6th) made up a group only joined by North Carolina State’s Ryen Frazier, 1st in 16:22.9 (third best winning time with meet record 16:09 from last year) and Notre Dame’s Molly Seidel, 3rd in 16:28.3.  They scored 29 points and 2nd was North Carolina State with 78. 

When New Mexico next ran they were more impressive. They took on the Wisconsin Adidas course with five runners in the top 13 at 4000m and when freshman sensation Allie Ostrander (meet record 19:19.5) and 2015 NCAA 10,000m champion Molly Seidel (19:22.4) made a push with 2000m to go they stayed near the front of the remaining group and only three-time NCAA indoor track champion Dominique Scott (19:32.5) of Arkansas was able to pull away from Frerichs (19:39.3), Auckland (19:41.1), Thackery (19:42.7) and Wright (19:43.8). Molly Renfer was 10th in 19:55.5 behind all-Americans Sarah Collins of Providence (19:50.8) and Regan Rome of William and Mary (19:54.4). They scored an amazing 32 points, significantly superior to the previous best of 78 by Duke (when half as many runners ran) and last year’s champion Michigan State with 87 (two runners under 20:00). 

Since then New Mexico easily won the Mountain West Conference title at home in Albuquerque, 24-71 over #5 Boise State, as 2014 #5 NCAA runner and full-time soccer player Heleene Thambeet had her best race and ran with the Lobo pack as their #6 runner. At the Mountain Region championships at 4500’ of altitude in Reno, Nevada they ran a controlled race in anticipation of the NCAA championships 8 days later and finished second to Pac-12 champion and second ranked Colorado, 49-50, without Alice Wright.

#2 Colorado started the season with high hopes from head coach Mark Wetmore. He claimed this was the best men’s and women’s combined teams in his history at Colorado. The men have won two consecutive NCAA titles and he has a very good group of women. In the Buffalo’s first race against D1 teams Colorado was second at the NCAA D1 Pre-Nationals on the NCAA championships course in Louisville, Kentucky. #6 Michigan (131) beat Colorado (151), #3 Oregon (175), #11 Stanford (244), #16 Mississippi State (247), Utah (350) and #15 Georgetown (381). 

Many of the teams’ top runners had odd performances (Allie Cash was 53rd?), early season performances (Pac-12 runner-up Kaitlynn Benner was 15th and Melanie Nun was 67th both of Colorado), or even performances that have not been repeated (Shannon Osika of Michigan was 13th but she hasn’t been close to that performance since). Erin Clark (20:00.05) won the Pre-Nationals meet with Kaitlyn Benner 15th, Maddie Alm 18th, freshman Dani Jones 62nd, and Melanie Nun 67th.

Colorado next raced at the Pac-12 championship and in the toughest conference in the country eeked out a 45-51 victory (four in the first eight) over Oregon (five in the first 15).  Benner beat Pre-Nationals champion teammate Clark (4th) for second and Nun was seventh ahead of Alm in 8th and Jones in 24th. 

Before the Pac-12 meet coach Wetmore said that the team would run hard at the conference meet and do what was needed at the Mountain region. They won the meet as Benner was 2nd, Clark 3rd, Alm 7th, New Mexico put their five from ninth to 13th, Jones was 16th, and Nun (22nd) and Cosine (23rd) came in together as Colorado beat New Mexico 49-50. It was enough to get one USTFCCCA.org voter to make Colorado #1. 

With Benner likekly ready to be a consistent #1 or #2 with Clark, Alm running consistently well, and Nun likely saving her energy and body strain for the most important races the Buffaloes have a very solid top four. Jones has improved throughout the season and junior Carrie Verdon or even freshman Val Constien could help. It is unlikely though that they will defeat New Mexico. 

#3 Oregon started this season slowly with a pre-training meet at Bill Dillinger won by Allie Cash as at least three runners had run very lightly during the summer. At the Washington Invitational on October 2nd Cash (19:44.6) lost only to 2013 NCAA fourth placer Aisling Cuffe of Stanford (19:41.0) and beat Mountain Region and Pre-Nationals runner-up Hannah Everson of Air Force (5th in 19:50.2). Maggie Schmaedick (19:50.2) was fourth in by far her best race of the year, Waverly Neer 6th (19:56.8), Frida Berge 11th (20:09.3), and Molly Grabill 13th (20:11.2) as Oregon averaged 19:58 for their top five that all finished in the top 13.

Oregon finished third at Pre-Nationals as Cash was running with Neer through 4000m and then oddly fell back to 53rd. Any finish similar to what she has done all year would have won the meet for Oregon. Never finished eighth, Grabill 29th, redshirt freshman Sarah Baxter was 37th in her best collegiate finish, Ashley Maton was 63rd and Frida Berge was 83rd without Schaedick running the race.

At Pac-12 championships on October 30th Oregon pushed the pace for the first 4000m but couldn’t keep the front positions and lost the team lead to Colorado (45-51) over the last 2000m. On a flatter course than Washington Invitational, Neer finished fifth (20:00.7), Cash was sixth (20:05.3), Grabill was 11th (20:22.1), Berge 14th (20:25.3), and Schmaedick 15th (20:25.7) were the scorers. Annie Leblanc ran her first race to finish 26th (20:39.8), Maton was 33rd (20:47.8), Emma Abrahamson was 37th (20:52.3) and Sarah Baxter was 43rd (21:03.4). 

On November 13th the Ducks returned to Washington for the West Region championships where they ran on the same course as the Washington Invitational. They defeated Boise State 79-80 despite the fact Boise State took the win and put three in the top five. Neer led the Ducks with a 2nd place finish (20:32.2), Allie Cash was sixth (20:46.1), Berge 20th, Grabill 25th, and Schmaedick 26th. Abrahamsson was 57th and Maton was 80th and it is like Leblanc and Baxter will run at the NCAA meet with the top five.

#4 Providence came into this season as one of the most experienced teams along with #3 Oregon and #2 Colorado. Sarah collins rejoined Providence after missing all of last season. She was tenth as a freshman at the 2012 NCAA cross country championships and 39th for the 2013 NCAA team champion Friars. 

Junior Catarina Rocha (33rd) led the 13th place Friars last year but missed all of the track season. Early in the season Rocha and Collins shared the #1 spot for the Friars when the race was 5000m. When the race moved to 6000m at Wisconsin Adidas either due to health or distance, Rocha did not race. Junior Lauren Mullins (31st) was #2, Katie Lembo (42nd) was #3, Brianna Ilarda (58th) was #4 and Molly Keating (125th) was #5 at Wisconsin Adidas. 

Rocha returned for the Big East Championships as Sarah Collins won in 19:32.2, Mullins second in 19:47.4 and Limbo third in 19:50.6 as Rocha was sixth in 20:00.3. Providence scored 26 as Georgetown was second with 54. At the Northeast Region championships Collins was second as Lembo, Rocha and Mullins ran together 9-10-11 and Ilarda was 17th. With Rocha closer to her early season form, Providence has a solid shot of earning a trophy. 

There are other teams with a shot of trophying. #5 Boise State, #6 Michigan, #7 Arkansas and #8 Washington all have talented and deep groups that could put together a strong race to win a trophy. 

#5 Boise State was impressive at the West Regional meet. Ostrander provided the low stick once again as freshman Brenna Peloquin was fourth and Minttu Hukka was fifth. Peloquin was ninth at the Mountain West championships and Anna Holdiman was 11th. If healthy that provides four of their top five. Early in the season Boise State won Roy Griak with freshman Annie Bothma (3rd) in the line-up. It is likely they will need her in the line-up again to trophy. 

#6 Michigan Junior all-American Erin Finn was 30th in 2013 and she was won three consecutive outdoor Big 10 10,000m titles and this year’s cross country title (19:44.9). She has been in contention or won every race she has run this year. Shannon Osika has struggled since helping Michigan win Pre-Nationals. For the whole season Gena Sereno, Annie Pasternak, and Jaime Phelan, in no particular order, have complete the top five and need to run strong as a group to help the Wolverines trophy as only Phelan and Sereno joined Finn to run well at Big 10s and they lost the title to Illinois, 53-58.

Dominique Scott was on the cusp last year of winning the cross country title and both the 5000m and 10,000m titles on the track last year. Bad timing, missed opportunities and a collegiate record-holder (Emily Sisson of Providence) prevented those three titles from happening. This year with a brand new #2-#5 coach Lance Harter has re-focused former SEC freshman-of-the-year Kaitlin Flattmann, fifth at the South Central region and 6th at SEC, into being the #2 runner. Freshman Devin Clark (18th at Wisconsin Adidas and 8th at SEC) has been consistent this year and seems to be the #3 runner. Valerie Reina, Regan Ward and Kelsey Schrader help make a solid #4-#6 at the SEC meet and Nikki Hiltz who ran well at the South Central region (#3 for Arkansas in 10th).  

With the return of Katie Knight (ninth at West Region) as one of #8 Washington’s top three to go with front-running Maddie Meyers (third at Pac-12 and West Region) and talented Canadian freshman Charlotte Prouse along with a deep group behind them, they could challenge for a trophy spot. 

#9 Virginia has used a tight spread from #1 to #5 to win races and #10 North Carolina State has run well with Samantha George and Ryen Frazier leading the way. #13 Penn State has seen some varied improvement since their tenth place finish at Wisconsin Adidas but they could have a great race and trophy. 

In the individual championship I expect Allie Ostrander of Boise State to continue her winning ways but for Dominique Scott of Arkansas to not let her go as she did at Wisconsin Adidas. I believe Pac-12 and Washington Invitational champion Aisling Cuffe of Stanford and Molly Seidel of Notre Dame to attempt to stay with them. Others who may be in that group could be Erin Finn of Michigan, Waverly Neer of Oregon, Letitia Saayman of Coastal Carolina, Chelsea Blaase of Tennessee, and Courtney Frerichs and Rhona Auckland of New Mexico. I expect that the four likely together from New Mexico will watch each other closely to make sure whether they can handle the pace together or apart and let individuals battle for high spots overall.