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|  Stanford and Colorado prove their mettle at Pre Nationals By John Nepolitan October 16, 2004 Terre Haute, IN American Track & Field
Bring together over 20 of the country's top teams from the most recent
national ranking on a cool but pleasant day, with firm footing, and
exciting cross country will be the result. On a track of land that has
specifically been put aside for the sport of cross country, many of the
teams who will be on the starting line for the NCAA Division I
Championship and those who were hoping there performance will help
their chances for a return trip to Terre Haute for the November race, got
a chance to test themselves. Some teams left knowing that they now have a better feel for the course
and will be back, while others can only hope that the will be back in just
over four weeks. When the racing was finished a few questions about
the 2004 cross country season had been answered. 1- Ryan Hall was back and looked ready to contend for the individual
national title 2- Stanford may have graduated 6 out of the 2003 national
championship team (Hall is the only returnee) but they will not give up
the national title without a fight 3- Even without the 2003 individual national champion (Dathan
Ritzenhein has turned pro) the University of Colorado will be in
contention for a spot on the award podium in November. 4- Matt Gonzales (New Mexico) has turned his large improvement on
the track into an opportunity to contend for the national title in cross
country.
5- Nate Brannen and Nick Willis (Michigan) are rested after a long
outdoor season which for Willis extended to the Olympics, and ready to
roll once again. 6- The Stanford women's team is ready to return to Terre Haute and
claim the national that slipped through their grasp to BYU in 2002, the
last time the nationals were held on the Indiana State course. Women's Races (6000m) Blue Race The strategy for the day would be set in the first race and it would seem
that others were watching, because what worked for Alicia Craig and
her Stanford University teammates was repeated in all four races
contested. From the gun Craig went to the front or was not very far from
it as a pack of five (Craig, Carol Henry and Erin Donohue of North
Carolina, Molly Huddle of Notre Dame and Laura Turner of BYU) raced
off to a 14 second lead at the half way. Over the next 1500 meters
Huddle and Craig pulled away and content attempts would be made by
both athletes to gain an advantage that would carry them to the line first. With approximately 1000 meters remaining Craig (the NCAA 10,000
meter record holder) began to pull away and when she hit the final 400
meter finishing straight she was clear of any challenge. Once the move
for home was made by Craig, Huddle began to struggle and was caught
and passed by Henry and almost run down by Turner. As the pack
began to cross it was apparent that the up front power of Stanford would
be too much for anybody in this race. Passing half way with an 18 point lead, the Stanford runners continued
to press and finished with an easy 62 point victory over Notre Dame,
placing all of their scoring runners over the line in a swift 55 seconds. Individual results: 1 Alicia Craig Stanford 20:20.4 Team Results (including National Ranking as of Oct 15) 1. Stanford (#1) 49 White Race Seeing how it was done in the first race, Renee Metevier and her
Colorado teammates followed the Stanford plan of attack and put
themselves at the front of the second race of the day. The only
difference was the front pack was a duo. Metevier and Amy Hastings of
Arizona State jumped to the front together and pulled away to a 3
second lead over a select group at the halfway point. With Hastings willing to do most of the pacing work Metevier seemed
content to be pulled away from the rest of the field until it was time to
make her move. In almost the exact spot where Craig had made her
push for the win in the previous race, Metevier surged away from the
faltering Hastings and proceeded to cruise to an easy looking 13
second victory. The team battle would be much closer than the opening race, but
Colorado would win out as they built up enough of a cushion with the
placing of their first three runners (1-8-11 for Colorado and 4-18-21 for
Michigan - a 23 point lead for Colorado) to hold off Michigan for a 15
point victory. Metevier and Craig will be looking to return to the Terre Haute course
and a chance to cross the finishline first once again in November, but
sitting back in Providence, RI, is the 2003 NCAA runner up. Kim Smith
(Providence College) is not to be forgotten or overlooked when racing
returns for the NCAA Championships. Individual Results 1 Renee Metevier Colorado 20:03.6 Team Results (including National Ranking as of Oct 15) 1. Colorado (#4) 94 Men's Races (8000m) Blue Race After placing 30th (2001) and 156th (2002) at the NCAA
Championships, Matt Gonzales (New Mexico) sat out last year's season,
but ran to a 28:22.77 10K track best in the spring. And after a strong
front running performance in Terre Haute, Gonzales will be one of the
runners to be considered a possible individual contender. At the front of
the race from the start, Gonzales was joined by Benson Chesang
(Kansas) as the two had a 6 second lead at 5000 meters (reached in
15:02) over the Colorado duo of Brent Vaughn and Bret Schoolmeester
and Simon Ngata (Georgia). At the front Gonzales continued to push the pace which would have an
effect on Chesang who fell off the pace over the last mile. As Gonzales
pushed on the Colorado pair set their eyes on Chesang and coming
down the final 400 meter finishing straight. As the Kansas runner
started to falter, Vaughn reeled him in and even took a run at the leader,
although it did not seem as if Gonzales was really in danger of being
caught. Coming into the meet experts were questioning the strength of the
Colorado team without defending NCAA Champion Dathan Ritzenhein
(who had elected to forgo his final year to turn pro). They answered the
questions just as every highly ranked Colorado team had done in the
past---with a quality team performance. In the past, Colorado teams had
gone out easy and worked their way though the field, this year's team
put themselves right in the mix from the gun. The Buffalos can only get
better as high school All American Ryan Deak had a sup par
performance finishing 74th and 7th man for the team. Colorado may not be able to run with USA #1 Wisconsin (who were at a
meet in Wisconsin), but they will be in the mix with Arkansas (who were
hosting their own meet) and Stanford for the runner-up trophy. Behind Colorado many teams with hopes of getting to the National meet
and even on the award podium now see where they stand and can build
toward the November race. The team that took the biggest drop was
Iona. Coming into the Pre Nationals, the Gaels were ranked 4th in the
nation but wound up 8th here. In 2003 they used this meet to stamp
themselves as a podium contender. A few runners returning from injury
and in what Iona Coach Brynes called a team "that is 2 - 3 weeks
behind where we were last year", but there was little worry as Iona
should qualify from the Northeast Region with little trouble. Many others including Indiana, Butler, Central Michigan, Michigan State,
Columbia, Dartmouth, and LaSalle will need to re-group and be sure to
put out their best race at Conference and Regional Championships. Individual Results 1 Matt Gonzales New Mexico 23:47.2 Team Results (Including National Ranking as of October 15) 1. Colorado (#6) 63 White Race Coming into the weekend one major question was the status of 2003
National runner up Ryan Hall (Stanford). Following that race his racing
performances have been spotty at best, and if Stanford had any hopes
of defending its team title at the National Championship, they would
need Hall back contending for top honors. At the sound of the gun Hall put himself right at the front of the field just
as he had done at the 2003 Nationals. As Hall, Jason Bill (Illinois) and
Andrew Lemoncello (Florida State) pulled away to pass the 5000 meter
point in 15:02 with a 9 second lead on a huge 17 runner chase pack,
Hall was at the front pushing the pace. As the leaders approached the 4
mile post, Bill and Hall had broken away with Bill trying to distance
himself from the former high school All American miler. Hall hung close
and then with approximately 1000 meters to go, he launched an attack
for home and started to look like an easy winner as he pulled away with
ease from Bill. Behind Hall and Bill, Lemoncello was swallowed up by the large chase
pack who, much like the peliton in cycling, used the power of numbers to
close the gap on the two leaders. Inside that chase pack were the
Michigan duo of Nate Brannen and Nick Willis both who had redshirted
the past spring season to pursue the Olympic dream. Brannen missed
making the Canadian team while Willis represented New Zealand in the
semi final of the 1500 meters in Athens. Willis and Brannen worked
together to pick runners off as they tired. Making the last turn with 400 meters to go, Hall looked like a sure easy
winner, that is until Brannen and Willis took off and made a strong
charge at the leader. Hall was able to hold on for a 2.5 second victory
over Brannen, but the Michigan pair looked much better over the late
stages of the race as both were able to real in Bill down the final straight. Using the plan that put them on the top of the award stand at last year at
Nationals, Stanford went right to the front of the field and established
themselves as the race leaders. With three low placers (1-5-10),
Stanford ran to an easy 88 point victory over Notre Dame. Stanford had
a scant 16 seconds between their top 3 runners and only 42 seconds
from one through five. Michigan in 3rd could have room for improvement
as top 5 runner Victor Gras sat out with a slight achilles tendon injury. Individual Results 1 Ryan Hall Stanford 23:54.4 Team Results (Including National Ranking as of October 15th) 1. Stanford (#2) 77 Looking ahead to the Nationals For those who attended the 2002 championships at this site you will be
in for a few changes, but all changes for the better. First of all an
improved concession area in fact a dedicated building for this and a
second concession stand out on the course. Also in some areas
permanent chain link fencing has been installed for crowd control. At
first sight this looked like a bad thing, but it is not the entire course, there
are many controlled openings, and the fence is just over waist high so
no views are blocked. The controlled openings were selected at key
points to maximize flow of traffic. After reviewing video footage of past
championship races, high traffic areas were spotted and openings made
in the fencing. For those souls who do make the mad dash from one point to another
will notice that the high grass and cut down corn stalks that made up the
area between running paths has been cut down to make your race from
view point to view point much easier and safer. Complete results can be found at:
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