CU Cross Country National Champions
Team National Champions
Kara Grgas-Wheeler, Catherine Wright, Sarah Gorton,
Assistant Coach Jason Drake, Jen Fazioli
2000 Women's Team
The 2000 women’s cross country team upended the defending national champion to claim the program’s first national title, the 18th overall at CU.
Coming off back-to-back team titles at the Big 12 and NCAA Mountain Region Championships, Colorado was the top-ranked team in the country entering the biggest race of the year. As is its goal each year, Colorado wanted to better its ranking, which would now be the biggest challenge in the program’s history.
Up for the challenge in wind-chill conditions that brought the late Midwest November temperature to 19-degrees below zero, Colorado methodically worked its way from the back of the pack to the front for the title. With a program-best 117 points, the Buffs finished 50 ahead of defending national champion BYU.
Kara Grgas-Wheeler won the program’s first individual crown while freshman Sara Gorton became the second-highest finishing freshman in the race and highest in program history with an eighth place effort. Jodie Hughes locked up All-American honors with a 30th-place effort while Lesley Higgins (52nd) and Tera Moody (71st) rounded out the CU scoring.
In the championship sweep, Grgas-Wheeler won CU’s first individual title sans AIAW to complete the nation’s only undefeated campaign. With the title, Grgas-Wheeler capped off a 1,035-0 season repeating her Big 12 Conference and Mountain Region titles before capturing her third national title, first in the fall. Her win marked the fi rst time since 1994 that the individual national champion was represented on the NCAA Championship team.
Dathan Ritzenhein, Jon Severy, Steve Slattery
2001 Men's Team
The No. 1 ranked team in the country from the preseason polls to the national championship podium, the 2001 men’s season came to a crescendo with a one-point national championship victory over nemesis Stanford in Greenville, S.C. to bring home to the University its 19th national championship, the last remaining title that had previously eluded Colorado’s storied distance program.
The Buffs’ successful run at the national title capped off the program’s first undefeated season in which they were uncontested at the Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder, won their sixth straight Big 12 Conference title in Norman, Okla., claimed their ninth national qualifying race in 10 seasons and improved from their runner-up finish in 2000 at the national championships.
The one-point difference, 90-91, in the final score was the tightest in race history, tying the Villanova men’s 1970 85-86 win over Oregon.
The Buffs were paced by a pair of top-10 individual performances in the run to the title. Among the favorites to win the individual national title, junior Jorge Torres made no secret about his intentions to sacrifice an individual crown for the team title, and finished as the individual runner-up in his quest. Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year Dathan Ritzenhein finished fourth and was the highest finishing freshman in a national championship race since Adam Goucher’s second-place finish in 1994.
Junior Ed Torres improved 12 places from the previous year’s national runner-up race to finish 15th for his second All-American certificate. Steve Slattery battled back from a mid-season injury before going on to score as the Buffs’ fourth runner, 28th overall. Senior captain Sean Smith, was the final factor in clinching the title as CU’s No. 5 runner, 56th overall.
Fifth-year senior Aaron Blondeau who had competed in four NCAA Championship races since his 1997 freshman year, sat out the first two meets of the season due to injury before marking his return five weeks before the NCAA Championships where he came in as CU’s sixth runner in the national championship win.
Redshirt freshman Jon Severy reaped the benefits of his redshirt season in 2000 solidifying his role on the NCAA Championship travel squad where he came in as the Buffs’ final runner.
With his fourth NCAA cross country title since becoming head coach in 1995, head coach Mark Wetmore became the first coach in the history of the championship to win a men’s individual title (Adam Goucher, 1997), women’s individual title (Kara Grgas-Wheeler in 2000), women’s team title (2000) and men’s team crown at one school.
Liza Pasciuto, Natalie Florence, Sara Slattery,
Laura Zeigle, Christine Bolf
2004 Women's Team
In a championship where the a team needed to run a perfect race, the Colorado women got the ball rolling when the then third-ranked Buffs did just that to claim the first of two titles on the day, their first since the 2000 season.
The women, paced by Renee Metivier’s second career national runner-up finish, placed all five runners in the top-30, to score a program best 63 points (it took 117 to win in ’00), 81 points ahead of runner-up Duke (144), Providence (164), Notre Dame (170) and pre-race favorite Stanford (175). The margin was the fourth largest in championship history.
An already damp and slightly heavy course on Sunday was worsened by overnight and early morning rains that subsided by the start of the women’s race and the skies were clear for the start of the men’s, conditions that obviously played in favor of the Buffs.
With Kim Smith (Providence) in control of the individual title, the team title was up for grabs as early as the halfway mark. Smith was running a 9:52.7 pace at the 3k mark, followed by Metivier (10:05) and BYU’s Laura Turner (10:14), with just four points separating the Buffs and Stanford at that mark, with Slattery in 16th and Bolf in 18th, followed by Duke and Providence.
The pleasant surprise for the day on the women’s team was that of freshman Liza Pasciuto. Pasciuto finished as CU’s No. 2 runner for the first time in her career, and her 13th place finish is the second best by a CU freshman in program history, second only to Sara (Gorton) Slattery’s eighth place freshman effort in ’00.
“Coming in I was trying my best to try and score and help the team achieve the goals that we set at the beginning of the season,” said Pasciuto. “But I’m definitely thrilled with my finish. I couldn’t have asked for more. I hope to come back next year and do it again.”
Christine Bolf (20:48.1) ran to her first All-American title in the fall with a 14th place finish, a career best for the junior that finished 63rd a year ago. In the final race of her collegiate career, fifth-year senior Sara Slattery finished 28th and came away as an All-American for the third time in her career, just the second CU harrier to do so, following current assistant coach Heather Burroughs (1994, 95, 98). She is also now the only runner in the program’s storied history to be a member of two national championship teams, as she was a freshman on that 2000 squad.
Natalie Florence (21:07.2) rounded out CU’s scoring, finishing 30th overall for her second All-American title. In her first national championship, freshman Amber Smith (21:44.3) finished 78th overall. Laura Zeigle (23:18.1) finished 224th.
“Our race plan was to try and be patient and not fight the conditions (which changed dramatically overnight). By the 600-m mark they had over-ruled my plan and my hope was that they held on. They kept going, so I’m glad that they overlooked my instructions,” said Wetmore.
Brent Vaughn, Bradley Harkrader, Jared Scott,
Jon Severy, Bret Schoolmeester
2004 Men's Team
Not to be outdone by their counterparts, the Colorado men capped what would be the best day in the program’s storied history with their second title in four years.
The men’s race was a battle for both the individual and team titles from the start of the race. At the halfway mark, a lead pack of 10-plus runners were separated by one second with Arkansas’ Josphat Boit in the lead at 15:16.1 and the 10th place runner at 15:17.1, with Vaughn (15:25) in 15th and Schoolmeester (15:26) in 19th. Vaughn had taken sole possession of fourth place at the 8k turn, having caught 13 runners in a 3k span, while Schoolmeester chased down 12. At that point, Wisconsin had control of the team race with 80 points to Arkansas’ 160, followed by Colorado.
Senior Jon Severy became the first men’s runner in the program’s history to have run on two national title teams. Classmate Jared Scott was on the team that season, but did not run at nationals. He was also a freshman in ’01 and ran the final cross country race of his career here this afternoon. It happen to be the best of his career, covering the 10k loop in 31:26.9 to finish 21st.
Severy made up as much ground as anyone Monday, as he was 39th at the halfway mark, and 25th at 8k, running down 18 in his final race.
“It was an incredible note to start on,” said Severy. “I was carried through a little bit on that 2001 team and it gave me a false sense of what it meant to be on a good team. Since then, I’ve sunk pretty low and learned an incredible amount of what is necessary to sacrifice for your team and carry it out. Today was just so perfect that I can’t describe it.”
Newcomers Stephen Pifer and James Strang rounded out the scoring for the CU men, with Pifer running 31:56.8 to finish 44th while Strang ran 31:59.9 to finish 49th. Jared Scott, also running in the last cross country race of his career, was off his junior year pace, but finished 80th in 32:25.0. Freshman Bradley Harkrader, who had scored during the season as CU’s third, fourth and fifth runner, finished 121st in 32:50.7 in his first national championship event. While five native Coloradoans ran in the men’s race, three scored.
“The front two ran as well as I thought they possibly could and Jon ran way better than I would have expected. All of the five scorers ran better than my most optimistic aspirations. And with Stephen, James and Bradley, all freshmen, the sky is the limit,” said Wetmore.
Stephen Pifer, Billy Nelson, James Strang, Brent Vaughn,
Kenyon Neuman
2006 Men's Team
The second-ranked Colorado men headed into the 2006 championship knowing the race was theirs to lose. The muddy conditions were just like those two years before when the Buffs captured their second national title and gave Colorado extra confidence as the race approached.
The field got out to a quicker start than CU normally likes and was led most of the way by Brent Vaughn. Vaughn finished 12th overall (31:13.0), earning his second straight top-15 finish at nationals and the second straight time he was CU’s first harrier across the finish.
While Vaughn ran a steady race, the men’s win can be traced to Pifer’s performance over the second 5,000-meters. At the 5k split, he had 52 runners ahead of him, but streaked past 32 of them to nab the 20th spot overall (31:24.2) in the individual standings and his second All-American title.
“I knew in the second half I had to come back and catch a lot of guys,” Pifer said. “So I paid attention to sensory data, which is something that Mark Wetmore has been preaching to us all year, checking your heart rate and breathing and things like that to make sure you are comfortable. The race doesn’t really start until the last 3k, so you really have to get going.”
Erik Heinonen had a story book year after receiving a sixth-year of eligibility from the NCAA for the season. He was the third Buff to cross the line, placing a personal best 28th overall (31:34.7), and earning his first All-American honor.
James Strang took 47th (31:54.5) and Billy Nelson, who passed over 15 in the last 1,000-meters, took 56th (32:02.7). Bradley Harkrader came in at 152nd (33:05.3) and Pete Janson was 213th (33:56.5) as Colorado’s non-scorers.
CU’s five scorers all finished in the top 56 overall, and in the top 34 of those attached to full teams. CU and Wisconsin were the only schools to have three place in the top 15 in the scoring column.
The Buffaloes recorded 94 points, soundly defeating defending champion and overwhelming favorite Wisconsin by 48 points. Iona (172), Stanford (195) and Oregon (196) rounded out the top five.
”I think the race was very fast for us,” head coach Mark Wetmore said. “Every coach has to know their team and how fast they can go. If other teams ran our way, it would certainly hurt them, like if would if we ran another team’s plan. We don’t talk a lot about expectations, its aspirations for us. We equaled our aspirations today.
“We did well here a couple of years ago too and everyone was telling me that the mud was perfect for us, but Boulder is like a desert and isn’t very muddy.”
Vaughn, Harkrader, Pifer and Strang joined Jon Severy as the only Buffs to win two national titles.
Connor Winter, Pierce Murphy, Ammar Moussa, Morgan Pearson
2013 Men's Team
Through cold, windy and muddy conditions, the No. 3 ranked University of Colorado men’s cross country team once again proved to be the top team in the land as they claimed the 2013 NCAA Cross Country team title, their fourth since 2001.
The Buffs soundly defeated top-ranked Northern Arizona (149-169) for the team crown after losing to NAU just eight days ago at the regional meet by eight points. Oklahoma State, the reigning NCAA Champions and ranked second team, was an overwhelming favorite heading into the race, and placed third with 230 points. BYU was fourth (267) and Oregon took fifth overall (274).
“I like it that people said that we were over ranked after the conference meet and after regionals,” head coach Mark Wetmore said. “That adds a little bit to the enjoyment of winning today.”
The team took a conservative start to the race and was 10th overall after the first 3,000-meters, but that didn’t last long as the Buffs jumped up seven positions to third at the midway point behind NAU and BYU. CU kept moving up and by the 8k was only 19 points behind NAU. Over the course of the remaining 2k, the Buffs overtook NAU for the win.
CU was led by true freshman Ben Saarel with an eighth-place finish, finishing in 30:14.1. It is the highest finish for a Buff since Richard Medina placed eighth in 2011. With the finish, Saarel became the first true freshman to earn All-American honors since assistant coach and Olympian Billy Nelson at the 2002 championship. That year Nelson placed 42nd overall.
“Ben was one of the best high school runners in American just six months ago,” Wetmore said. “We knew he was a big talent, but the NCAA Cross County Championship is a killer race with a lot of mature, developed young men. For him to be eighth overall is indicative of his talent.”
Colorado did quite well in the unfriendly conditions, placing four of its five scorers in the top-40, which earned each of them All-American honors. Morgan Pearson was CU’s No. 2 scorer, coming in at 17th overall (30:35.0). Theroux finished 23rd overall, improving from a 39th-place finish in 2012, to record his second All-American cross country honor (30:34.6). Pierce Murphy was the fourth runner for the Buffs and he was 39th (30:44.9); improving from 45th place last year. This was Pearson and Murphy’s first All-American honor.
Rounding out the team scoring and clinching the team title for CU was Ammar Moussa, who placed 95th overall as CU’s fifth runner. He finished in 31:17.1. Moussa also won a national championship with his high school team in 2010 to become one of the first men to win a high school and collegiate national championship.
Although they didn’t score, Zach Perrin and Connor Winter also raced for CU at the meet. Perrin placed 107th (31:23.3) and Winter was 177th (32:02.2). Oregon’s Edward Chesarek was the individual winner, finishing in 29:41.1.
Pierce Murphy, Connor Winter, Blake Theroux
2014 Men's Team
The University of Colorado entered the NCAA Championship as the top team in the country and lived up to the hype as it did all year. The Buffs put together a score of 65, placing all five of its scorers in the top 40, three in the top 10, to earn All-American honors. The team score is the lowest score since 2005 when Wisconsin won with 37 points. The team runner-up, Stanford, tallied 98 points and Portland was third with 175. Oregon’s Edward Cheserek won his second straight individual title in 30:19.4.
“This is probably our best team ever,” head coach Mark Wetmore said. “Again, I had the team that came here with Jorge [Torres] who won and the team that followed it and great other individuals who were followed by good teams but not winners. Certainly, this is the best third, fourth and fifth we’ve ever had and certainly I think it’s the best team score that we’ve ever had. So, they are real good and they belong in the pantheon.
“I’m really proud of those guys,” Wetmore went on to say. “It’s is hard to be the favorites, it’s so hard to have the attention. It’s so hard for nine or ten 21-year-old men to keep their egos in check and they really did it. They were talking each other up the whole time. I think any one would have sacrificed his day to have a bad day if it would have meant six good days for his teammates. So, that’s the biggest feeling I have. Pride, not for me but pride for them.”
Only four teams have won the NCAA Championship in the last 10 years and three of those schools have now won back-to-back titles. Oregon won the title in 2007 and 08, and Oklahoma State took home back-to-back titles in 2009 and 10.
Junior Ammar Moussa led CU with a top-five finish to earn his first All-American honor, finishing in 30:29.6. Two other Buffs have top-10 positions. Sophomore Ben Saarel was seventh (30:30.7) and senior Blake Theroux was ninth (30:31.3).
CU’s other two scorers were junior Connor Winter (24th, 30:45.0) and junior Pierce Murphy (35th, 30:51.7). Senior Jake Hurysz finished just behind those two, finishing 41st overall (30:57.6). Redshirt freshman Adam Peterman also ran for CU and placed 202nd (32:36.8).
“It went how I wanted,” Wetmore said. “We started out a little slower than I would have guessed but our fellas put themselves in a good position and were smart and patient. As I said yesterday, they were willing to sacrifice individual races for the team goal and some of them may have today. Ammar did amazing. I think that was a wonderful race for Ammar [Moussa]. Ben [Saarel] has had a difficult season trying to get completely healthy and I think he had a great race today. Blake was good. Everybody was good. Out of the men and the women, I can’t think of a disappointing race which is so hard to do here.”
Moussa and Winter earned their first All-American honors with the finish, while this is the second honor for Saarel and Murphy. Theroux became just the 11th Buff in CU history to earn the honor three times.
Makena Morley, Dani Jones, Sage Hurta,
Tabor Scholl, Val Constien
2018 Women's Team
When the Buffs woke up the morning of the national championship, two inches of snow covered the race course in Madison, Wis. and temperatures were below freezing. That only fueled the fire for the Buffs who used the adverse conditions to their advantage as they solidly defeated the top-ranked and reigning national champion New Mexico 65-103 to win its third NCAA title, it’s first since 2004.
The Buffs, who were tied for third in the coaches poll, posted the third lowest score (65) since the race changed from 5K to 6K in 2001. CU put all five scorers in the top-25, including three in the top-15, and had another finish in the top 30.
Senior Dani Jones had led the Buffs all season, which included her second straight Pac-12 individual championship, and this race was no different as she became CU’s first NCAA women’s individual champion since Kara Grgas-Wheeler in 2000. Jones out-kicked UNM’s Weini Kelati, the overwhelming favorite, in the final stretch to win the title by 2.5 seconds.
Jones was not the only top-10 finisher for the Buffs as another senior, Makena Morley, placed eighth. The Buffalo stampede continued with junior Tabor Scholl (15th), junior Sage Hurta (22nd) and senior Tayler Tuttle (24th) crossing the finish. For good measure, CU’s sixth runner and first non-scorer to finish, was Val Constien who earned a 30th overall placing. All six recorded All-America honors in the race, which was the most by any women’s team in the field. Colorado’s seventh runner was redshirt freshman Holly Bent, who also had a solid performance with an 80th-place finish.
"This is incredible," Jones said in her post-race interview. "We were just talking about the 2000 team that won the individual and team title 18 years ago. We did it again and it's unbelievable."
Wetmore, who was named the national coach of the year after the performance, was very proud.
"I'm as happy as I could be," he said. "We had seven good races. Every one of the women is going home feeling well about themselves. They were in it the whole way. They were aggressive and confident the whole way. They have every reason to be really proud."
Individual National Champions
1978 Mary Decker (AIAW Women's Champion)
Tenth months after she bettered her own world record in the 1,000-meter run, Mary Decker won Colorado’s first national cross country title in her last race, on CU’s then-home course, Kent Denver Country Day.
Her course record 16:59.4 bettered the course record she had set earlier that year by a minute.
At the national championships she grabbed the lead from NC State’s Julie Shea and defending national champion Kathy Mills of Penn State (who had led the race by as much as 20 yards going into the final loop). Shea passed Mills, and Decker passed Mills and kicked by Shea to win the race by 10 yards.
1982 Mark Scrutton (NCAA Men's Champion)
Mark Scrutton took the lead 300 yards from the finish and beat Zakarie Barie of UTEP by two seconds for the NCAA men’s title in Bloomington, Ind.
His first goal when he came to CU in 1980 was to dominate the Big Eight Conference. He did that to the tune of 14 conference titles, surpassing Kansas great Billy Cunningham’s record 13 in the early 1930s.
He lost just one Big Eight race, the indoor two-mile run his freshman season. By his senior year he turned in the best two-mile indoor time in the NCAA in winning his second national title.
Shortly after winning that title, he set an unofficial world record in the Newport Beach Back Bay Run with a time of 22:25.8 over the 8k course.
1998 Adam Goucher (NCAA Men's Champion)
The sign of things to come was on Nov. 21, 1994 when then-freshman Adam Goucher crossed the finish line of the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. as the national runner-up.
His sophomore year he finished sixth.
He redshirted the ‘96 season and improved to third in the national race as a junior in Greenville, S.C. , a race he was predicted to win.
In the last race of his collegiate career, Goucher took the title that had eluded him for five seasons.
Goucher, buoyed by what he called an unbelievable crowd, bettered the Rim Rock Course Record in 29:26.9, 23 seconds ahead of Arizona’s Abdi Abdiraham, who had kept pace with Goucher until the last mile when he pulled away from the field.
With the win, Goucher would become the first American to win the fall classic since Bob Kennedy won in 1992, and the first CU runner to complete the distance trifecta of winning national titles in cross country, the indoor and outdoor track seasons.
2000 Kara Grgas-Wheeler (NCAA Women's Champion)
In the women’s championship sweep, fifth-year senior Kara Grgas-Wheeler won CU’s first individual title sans AIAW to complete the nation’s only individual undefeated campaign. With the title, Grgas-Wheeler capped of a 1,035-0 season beating the next opponent by a total margin of 2:07.
She ran to a dominant finish on the Iowa State Cross Country Course in 20:30.5, 7.3 seconds ahead of the individual runner up in harsh conditions that included a temperature of 17 degrees with a wind chill of minus-19 at the start.
In textbook Colorado fashion, she trailed the lead pack by four seconds after the 1k mark. She had closed in by the 2-mile mark, never losing site of the defending national champion, Wisconsin’s Erica Palmer, who was in the lead, but succumbing to the cold. Soon after Grgas-Wheeler bridged the gap, took the lead, and never looked back... until the final crest of the course where she glanced over her shoulder for the first time of the season and began to savor the sprint to the tape.
The title was her third, first in the fall. Her win marked the first time since 1994 that the individual national champion represented on the NCAA Championship Team.
2002 Jorge Torres (NCAA Men's Champion)
With three NCAA runner-up finishes as a junior resting on his shoulders, Jorge Torres held off Arkansas’ Allister Cragg in the final meters to cover the Wabash Valley Sports Center 10k challenge in a then-course record 29:04.7 and win his first national title.
In one of the best men’s contests in recent memory, Cragg took the race’s initial lead, but before the race reached the halfway point, it was a four-man battle between Torres, Cragg, Alabama’s David Kimani and Eastern Michigan’s Boaz Cheboiywo.
Torres took the lead from ‘01 champion Cheboiywo at the 7k mark with Cragg and Kimani hanging on, and at the 8k mark it was Torres and Cragg running shoulder to shoulder for the remainder of the race. With the pro-Torres crowd chanting “Torres, Torres”, the two took the final turn into the straightaway and Torres made an unanswered surge to build a 10-meter lead ot the finish line to close out the nation’s only undefeated season and turn in his fifth course record in as many races.
With brother Ed just nine places behind him, the 1-10 punch was the best by a set of twins in the history of the championships.
2003 Dathan Ritzenhein (NCAA Men's Champion)
Twenty-four months after finishing fourth in the 2001 NCAA Championships as a freshman, Dathan Ritzenhein crossed the finish line in Waterloo, Iowa as CU’s fourth national champion in six seasons as a redshirt sophomore.
In temperatures that hovered below zero with the windchill factor. Ritzenhein outdistanced a heavily favored Stanford pack led by Ryan Hall in the closing meters to win his first NCAA crown in 29 minutes, 14 seconds, just 1.3 ahead of Hall for the crescendo in the nation’s only unbeaten season.
The win marked just the fourth time and first since the 1989 and ‘90 seasons that two different runners from the same school took back-to-back titles, as Jorge Torres won the race in ‘02 in Terre Haute, Ind. It was also the first time since 1987 and ‘88 that Americans had won two straight individual titles and likely the first time that both scenarios have played out simultaneously.
Ritzenhein’s rise as the best runner in the nation was even more impressive when considering he had resumed training 10 weeks earlier following femoral stress fractures suffered the previous cross and track seasons.
2018 Dani Jones (NCAA Women's Champion)
In the women’s 2018 championship sweep, senior Dani Jones won CU’s second individual title sans AIAW to lead the CU women to a dominant 65-103 win over top-ranked New Mexico.
Jones, who had won her second straight Pac-12 Championship in October, ran with the lead pack the entire race. The pack was very tight at 2K and Jones was tied for 17th, but they were less than two seconds off the leader. By the time the field hit the 4k split, Jones was tied for seventh and was less than one second off the leader.
Jones continued to work her way up. With about 1K left, she heard Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore yell, “The team looks great!” Knowing the team was in good position was the motivation she needed, so she kicked things up a notch. She rounded the final turn with about 300 meters remaining and saw the leader, New Mexico’s Weini Kelati. Using her 1,500-meter kick, Jones chased her down and defeated Kelati by 2.5 seconds.
"I'm very pleased with her race," Wetmore said. "She did everything she planned to do. She was calm and responded when she needed to. I felt that if she was near it with 500 to go that she could win the race. I told her that. Heather (Burroughs) told her that.”
Since 2001, the individual women’s champion has represented the NCAA Championship Team three times. This is also the second time CU has had an individual champion on a championship team as the Buffs took both titles in 2000.