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2018 Pac 12 Track and Field Championships (Stanford; Multi-events, 5/5-6, remainder 5/12-13)

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Being held at Stanford, the last Pac 12 Championships of the school year for any Buff sport begin tomorrow, as:
  • The multi-event athletes (male decathletes and women heptathletes) compete through Sunday to kick off the Pac 12 Track and Field (T&F) Championships. Tomorrow's action starts at noon PT, or 1:00 MT, while Sunday opens up at 11:00 AM PT, or noon MT.
  • Then, next Saturday and Sunday, all the other events will be competed. They begin at 11:30 AM PT/ 12:30 PM MT Saturday, and then Sunday begins 10:30 AM PT/ 11:30 AM MT.
_______________________________________________________________________

Preview article on the Multi-events action- http://cubuffs.com/news/2018/5/3/tr...-12-multi-event-championships.aspx?path=track

"
Buffs to Compete in Pac-12 Multi-Event Championships

Seven track & field athletes are headed to Stanford to compete in the combined events Pac-12 Championships.

BOULDER – Colorado's track and field multi-athletes are headed to Stanford this weekend to compete in the Pac-12 combined events championships. The Buffs are sending three women to compete in the heptathlon and four men to compete in the decathlon.

Competing for the women will be sophomore Drianna Mustin, junior Maja Wichhart-Donzo and senior Michaela Wenning. Competing for the men will be sophomores Davis Butte and Aaron Carmichael, junior Nate Gravelding and senior Andrew Ghizzone.

The combined events will kick off the Pac-12 Championships, with the remainder of the events to be held May 11-12 in Stanford. The points earned by the multi-athletes this weekend are combined with the points earned next week for the Buffs final score.

"For some reason, this year the men's decathlon has not been a deep event on the Pac-12 level and so I think we have an opportunity to score some significant points for the overall team title," head Coach Mark Wetmore said. "There are 10 men entered in the decathlon, but only six have done decathlons so far this year, and four of those are ours. One would extrapolate from that, that we probably should have four out of the top six." Ghizzone is currently ranked No. 2 for the decathlon in the Pac-12, and right behind him are teammates Carmichael at No. 4, Butte at No. 5, and Gravelding at No. 6.

As for the women, the field will be a little deeper.

"I think there are 16 or 17 entries, we have three and they are all good," Wetmore said. "Maja is so far our best, I would think she will be in the top three or four."
...
"
_______________________________________________________________________

Various Championships links -

Pac 12 Championships homepage (With links to things like live results, etc.) - http://pac-12.com/track-field/championships

Pac 12 preview article (also with many of the links.) - http://pac-12.com/article/2018/05/09/2018-pac-12-track-field-championships-continue-weekend-stanford

Stanford University homepage - TBA

Multi-Events Pac 12 Information Release - http://pac-12.com/article/2018/05/03/combined-events-kick-pac-12-track-field-championships-weekend

Multi Event List of entrants - http://static.pac-12.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sports/trackfield/pdf/2018/18_Pac-12_multis_entries.pdf

Overall Championships schedule - http://pac-12.com/track-field/championships-2018/events-schedule

Non multi-events Entries List - http://static.pac-12.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sports/trackfield/pdf/2018/18_Pac-12_TF_Champs_entries.pdf

Heat Sheets - http://static.pac-12.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sports/trackfield/pdf/2018/18_Pac-12_Sat_heat_sheets.pdf

Live Video - Per the above-linked-to Championships homepage - "The final two days of the event will air live on Pac-12 Network, starting May 12 at 5:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. MT, while coverage on May 13 begins at 3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT."

Live Results - Multi-Events - https://trackmeet.io/meets/1160/events

Live Results - All other events - https://trackmeet.io/meets/1171

Note- Points scoring system for I believe all events is as follows-
1st- 10; 2nd- 8; 3rd- 6; 4th- 5; 5th- 4; 6th- 3; 7th- 2; 8th- 1
 
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The championships have begun for the decathletes and heptathletes.



Still early on, but looks like the Buff men are in 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th in the decathlon through 3 events, while the women are in 4th, 8th and 13th through 2.
 
Looks like a SOLID start yesterday in the men's decathlon, an event whose winner has traditionally been called (in the Olympics) "the World's (or in this case the Pac's) greatest athlete". Via scoring (https://trackmeet.io/meets/1160/combined-events/143), there has already been quite a lot of attrition already. It started with 10 athletes, and 3 look to have dropped out after various events yesterday, with 5 more events on tap today.

With the top 8 finishers in all events at the Championships earning points (see note at bottom of the original post (OP) for point structure), all 4 Buffs, none of whom had to quit competing yesterday, look to be "in the points" when the event finishes later today, with senior Andrew Ghizzone pacing the Buff contingent in 2nd place. (I believe he's traditionally been stronger overall in the 2nd day events, so hopefully he can consolidate 2nd place with solid performances. With him being 472 points behind 1st, which I believe is quite a bit (unless there's a dreaded "no score" in any event by the leader), 1st is probably unlikely at this point.)


______________________________________________________________________________

In the (deeper) women's heptathlon (scoring at https://trackmeet.io/meets/1160/combined-events/142 ,15 athletes started, all still competing, junior Maja Wichhart-Donzo leads the way for the Buffs in 5th (just 6 points off 4th) with 3 events left to be competed today. She finished 8th in her 1st 2 Pac championships, so if she can, at minimum, keep close to that place today, or maybe even improve it, this could be a nice finish for her.




______________________________________________________________________________

And, in front of next weekend's competition in all the other events, nice cubuffs article on sophomore middle distance/ distance runner Sage Hurta, who's impressively already run NCAA regional qualifying times in 3 races, and it sounds like MAY try for a 4th next weekend, all while also evidently "killing it" in the class room.

Article link - http://cubuffs.com/news/2018/5/5/track-and-field-buffs-sophomore-hurta-already-in-rare-company.aspx

"
Buffs Sophomore Hurta Racing Toward Rare Company

BOULDER — Colorado sophomore middle-distance ace Sage Hurta is providing her coaches with a rather interesting dilemma.

It is a simple question with no simple answer: what events should Hurta run at next weekend's Pac-12 championships and the ensuing NCAA West Preliminaries?
Hurta could run the steeplechase. The CU sophomore finished second in the Pac-12 in the event last year as a true freshman, and she currently has the third-fastest time in the conference this year with a 10:04.85. (The Buffs currently hold the 2-3-4 spots in the league with Erin Clark, Hurta and Val Constien.)

She could also run the 800. She currently has the second-fastest 800 time in the Pac-12, a 2:04.43 that she clocked two weeks ago — one day after running the fastest steeplechase in her career. (That 800 time, by the way, also puts her among the top four runners in CU history, joining such names as Jenny Simpson, Lee Ballenger and current teammate Dani Jones.)

But then, she also might be fast enough to win a Pac-12 1,500 title. She is currently fifth in the conference in that event with a 4:13.68, just three second away from the best time. In a tactical race, her 800 speed could be the key to a win.

Or, she could run the 5,000, an event she's never run on the track. While that may seem a little aspirational, it's worth remembering this: she is already a two-time cross country All-American, meaning she has more than proven her chops at the longer distances.

So what's a coach to do?

"She has really complicated things for us," laughed CU assistant coach Heather Burroughs. "She will be in a couple of events for us out of the four. We have a few workouts left before we finalize entries, and she will definitely get a vote. So, we're still debating it and we'll see what happens."
...

Hurta did run into a bump in the road in the most-recent indoor track season, when she was sidelined by an illness.

But she even managed to find a positive in that development.

"I had to step back and tell myself that I can't force anything, that I have to be patient," she said. "I learned to enjoy the process, be part of my team and not put undue pressure on myself to perform every single day."

Still, Hurta's competitive nature is apparent, and it stretches into the classroom. She is majoring in chemical and biological engineering (considered to be one of the most difficult majors on the CU campus), and she still grimaces slightly when asked about the B-plus she received last semester that ended her hopes of a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

It is thus far the only "blemish" on her GPA.

"I'm learning to adjust," she said with a laugh. "I'm shifting from a student who also does sports to more of an athlete who also does school. In some ways I've had to become less of a perfectionist. Part of it is just growing up and learning how to deal with all the things that both areas offer."
...
"
 
Buff women get on the board in the 1st completed event of the championships, as junior Maja Wichhart-Donzo does retain her 5th place finish from day one to earn 4 points in the heptathlon.

Best finish in the championships ever for her!
 
The decathlon just finished up, and looks like BIG points for the Buffs, as they finish 2nd (senior Andrew Ghizzone, 8 points), 3rd (Davis Butte, 6 points), 5th (sophomore Aaron Carmichael, 4 points) and 7th (junior Nate Gravelding, 2 points).

If I can add, looks like the Buffs men end up with a total of 20 points in their 1st event of the championships!

Welcome and congrats to them!

Decathlon_Final results_ 2018 Pac 12.png
 
The Entries List is now out for the rest of the Championships - http://static.pac-12.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sports/trackfield/pdf/2018/18_Pac-12_TF_Champs_entries.pdf

I was waiting for this to come out. Unless something changes in later entry lists, it DOES look like a few of THE top Buff distance runners, who hadn't raced at all yet this outdoor season, are probably taking red-shirt years for the outdoor season, as they aren't showing as entered in any event here either. This will make it an interesting challenge for both the men and women to score as high as they did last season at these Championships. Namely:
  • the women will be missing (at least) 2 runners (Dani Jones and Madi Boreman) who earned 30 of the 78 points the Buffs earned last year at Pac's, while
  • the men look to be missing (at least) Joe Klecker and John Dressel, who earned 15 of the men's 73 points last year.
  • Thankfully, I believe a lot of the Buff scorers last season were non-seniors, so hopefully many will be able to finish higher this year. (Just QUICKLY eyeballing last years results, NONE of the women's points look to have come from seniors, while the men had ~21 points produced by (two) seniors.) And, the men will of course also be helped by the nice 11 point head-start over last season (20 this vs. 9 points last season) already earned in the decathlon. And, the women are also up (3 points) over last season after the heptathlon.
In the long-term, of course, hopefully all 4 of the (I'm guessing) red-shirts will be back bigger and stronger than ever next season. All 4 had red-shirt years to take, so nothing lost there. And, other than Ms. Jones, the other 3 had already taken red-shirts in cross country, so this will just make their cross country and outdoor track classes the same. (Klecker, Dressel and Jones will be juniors next season in outdoor track, while Boreman will be a sophomore.)
 
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Preview article for the rest of the Championships being held this weekend- http://cubuffs.com/news/2018/5/10/t...head-to-stanford-for-pac-12-championship.aspx

"
Buffs Head to Stanford for Pac-12 Championship

By: Rosie Jeffery, Interim SID Assistant
Release: May 10, 2018
Colorado's track and field team is competing in Stanford this weekend in the Pac-12 Championship

BOULDER – Colorado's track and field team is headed to Stanford this weekend for the Pac-12 Championships. The men are going into the weekend with 20 points and the women are entering the weekend with four points, earned by the multi athletes last weekend.

The two-day meet will take place at Stanford's Cobb Track and Angell Field. The Buffs will be competing against some of the nation's best athletes, something they have been preparing for all year.

"All season we have been attempting to get qualified and take steps of progress towards our readiness for this weekend," Head Coach Mark Wetmore said, "I tell the athletes, you have all year for us to send you around for your individual needs, but the conference championship is team points, it's the money weekend, be ready to do full team duty." So, this weekend many of the track and field athletes will be participating in more than one or two events, making it a busy weekend for everybody.

Competition will begin on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. with the women's hammer throw, and most of these events are preliminaries. A total of 29 events are slated to take place on Saturday, with the event schedule ending at 7:50 p.m. The athletes will finish their competition on Sunday with another 27 events throughout the day.

"Historically, we are a middle team in the Pac-12. Last year we had a good year, we were a little higher than that. I think our women will be a little better than our men this year, but on both sides we are sitting out some banged up people that were big points for us a year ago," Wetmore said, "Anyway, let's see who rises up, let's see who has their best day on their most important day."

Live results and meet information including the event schedule will be available on the Pac-12 website.

Buffalo Women's Entries: Kaitlyn Benner (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Tashay Brown (100 meters, 4x100-meter relay), Cheyenne Cheshier(triple jump), Erin Clark (5,000 meters, 3,000-meter steeplechase), Val Constien (3,000-meter steeplechase), Elisa Grandemange (Discus, Hammer, Javelin), Eriana Henderson (400-meter hurdles, long jump, 4x100-meter relay, 4 x 100-meter relay), Sarah Hopkins (triple jump), Sage Hurta (5,000-meters, 3,000-meter steeplechase), Annie Kelly (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Elissa Mann (800 meters), Karina Mann (800 meters), Lucy May (1,500 meters), Makena Morley (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Melanie Nun (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Rajon O'Quinn(200 meters, high jump, 4 x 400-meter relay, 4 x 100-meter relay), Alexandria Peters (400 meters, 4 x 100-meter relay, 4 x 400-meter relay), Abigail Regner (1,500 meters), Tabor Scholl (5,000 meters), Gabby Scott (400-meter hurdles, 4 x 400-meter relay), Mariah Walker (Shotput, Discus), Valerie Welch (100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, 4 x 400-meter relay, 4 x 100-meter relay), Michaela Wenning (High Jump), Maja Wichhart-Donzo (High Jump, Triple Jump)

Buffalo Men's Entries: Alexander Billing (110-meter hurdles), Matthew Denton (Hammer), Ryan Forsyth (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Andrew Ghizzone (Pole Vault, Long Jump), Ethan Gonzales (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Aaron Haigler (Shotput, Discus), Eduardo Herrera (1,500 meters, 5,000 meters), Chris Herrick (5,000 meters, 3,000-meter steeplechase), Nathan Hoy (400-meter hurdles, 4 x 400-meter relay), Brock Knechtel (Discus, Hammer), Jon Maas (200 meters, 400 meters, 4 x 400-meter relay, 4 x 100-meter relay), Duane McClurkin, Jr. (200 meters, 400 meters, high jump, 4 x 400 meters, 4 x 100 meters), Aaron McCoy (400-meter hurdles, 4 x 100-meter relay, 4 x 400-meter relay), Caleb Penner (Hammer), Zach Perrin (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters), Adam Peterman (5,000 meters, 3,000-meter steeplechase), Josh Ramos (800 meters), Justice Ramos (800 meters), Gunner Rigsby (Long Jump, Triple Jump), Ben Saarel (5,000 meters), Jaysean Skrine (100 meters, 4 x 100-meter relay), Kendal Smith (400 meters, 4 x 100-meter relay), Austin Swanson (Shotput, Hammer), Davion Taylor (100 meters, 4 x 100-meter relay), Grayson Webber (Discus, Hammer)
"

(Interesting to see if the above list is 100% accurate or not (pending of course possible scratches). Thought I'd seen in the Entries List Erin Clark was doing the 10000M/ 5000M double, but the above has her doing the steeple and 5000M.)
 
Big congrats to senior Ben Saarel for the big honor!



"
PALO ALTO, Calif. – University of Colorado senior Ben Saarel was honored Saturday as the Pac-12 Men's Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as the conference made the announcement at the start of the annual championship meet.

The award is given to a standout athlete and scholar in each conference sport. To be eligible for this award, student-athletes must be a senior in athletics eligibility, on track to receive a degree, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled competitions in their sport, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, and have a minimum of one year residence at the institution.

Saarel, a native of Salt Lake City, is a distance runner for the Buffs. Saarel is an engineering physics major and computer science minor with a 3.97 grade point average. He is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and the recipient of the 2016 Pac-12 Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. Saarel holds the Colorado record for the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:38.40. He also earned NCAA All-America honors in 2014 and 2017 for that event.

"Ben's in a killer major. Good thing his sport is easy. I try to be careful what I say around him. Who needs him correcting me in front of the team?," CU head coach Mark Wetmore joked. "Other than having class conflicts with practice every semester, he has been a pleasure to have around. I wish I had ten of him. Just in some other major."

Saarel has nine total All-America finishes, five in track and field and four in cross country. He is also two-time Pac-12 First Team All-Academic and USTFCCCA All-Academic in track & field. He has overcome some significant challenges with his health, battling ulcerative colitis throughout his college career.

Wetmore went on to say, "Levity aside, Ben is everything we want at CU; smart, hard-working, humble ... plus we can have a great garage sale with all the stuff he forgets in the van."

Saarel is competing this weekend in the Pac-12 Championships in Stanford in the men's 5,000-meter run.
"
 
A couple Buffs have auto-qualified for tomorrow's finals in the 1500M with top 5 finishes in their heats- senior Lucy May on the women's side and sophomore Eduardo Herrera on the men's.
 
Today so far has consisted of some running prelims, along with women's field events.

Unofficially, looks like the Buff women are now on the board for the day as Buff senior Michaela Wenning looks to have returned after last week's heptathlon to finish 7th in the high jump, earning the team 2 points.

Congrats to her!
 
A little more than a half hour until TV coverage starts on the Pac 12 Networks (all 7 channels) at 6:30 PM MT. (If your cable/ satellite/ cord cutting option includes the Pac 12 Networks, assume then it can also be streamed via a link at http://pac-12.com/track-field/event/2018/05/12/pac-12-championships-2 .)

Their are 4 distance race finals this evening which are all within the scheduled televised window, and all could be point producers for the Buffs. Times of those races (converted to Mountain Time) -
Women's steeplechase (6:30 PM)
Men's steeplechase (6:50 PM)
Women's 10000 meters (8:20 PM)
Men's 10000 meters (9:00 PM)

(Actually, think the men's 10K typically goes right around 30 minutes, so hope they don't cut off coverage before it finishes.)
 
In the men's 100 yard dash prelims, football player/ sprinter Davion Taylor runs his fastest time of the season (10.51) and just snags the 9th and final qualifying spot in tomorrow afternoon's finals (looks like it's scheduled to start at 5:15 PM MT)!
______________________________________________________________

And, confirmation on Ms. Wenning's 7th place high jump finish.
 
The Buff men look to get one point from the men's steeple as senior Adam Peterman finishes 8th overall.

In the women's 400 meter hurdles prelim, both Buffs entered advance to tomorrow's final, with an impressive run by both, with sophomore Eriana Henderson (59.29) taking almost a half second off her seed time, while junior Gabby Scott (58.30) takes almost an 8th of a second off hers, with the later having the 3rd best time overall (so I assume she'll have a nice lane for the finals also).
 
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Buffs do seem to be picking up some nice hurdle talent. In the men's 400M hurdles, frosh Aaron McCoy finishes 2nd in his heat to auto-qualify, and has the 4th best time overall going into tomorrow's finals.

And, more on Ms. Hurta-
 
Not quite as many points as the women, but the Buff men also impressively get 3 scorers in their 10000 meters, as Forsyth earns 3rd, Perrin 5th and Gonzales 7th. If I'm counting right, that's 12 points for the Buffs in the last race of the evening.

 
CU’s P12 woman’s steeple dynasty continues. Thank you, Ms Hurta.
 
So, team scores after day one. (With all the sprint finals tomorrow, it's expected Oregon and USC will both be heading on up in both the men's and women's standings. For example, I think that ALL NINE of the women's 100M finalists are either ducks or trojans, so they'll both be scoring huge points in that, and many other shorter, races.)

screenshot-trackmeet.io-2018.05.13-04-47-11.png

______________________________________________________________________________________________

screenshot-trackmeet.io-2018.05.13-04-48-18.png
 
(Basic) article on yesterday's results-


Direct link - http://cubuffs.com/news/2018/5/13/t...steeplechase-title-for-7th-year-in-a-row.aspx

"
Palo Alto, Calif. – Colorado defended their title in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase for the seventh consecutive year as sophomore Sage Hurta brought home the title for the Buffs today at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships.

The Buffs had an overall great day at the Cobb Track and Angell Field in Stanford. The men are going into tomorrow with 33 points and in third place, and the women earned 37 points and will enter tomorrow in fifth place. Many Colorado athletes will be continuing to the finals in their respective events tomorrow as well.

Hurta finished the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:57.28, a personal best for her, earning her first place. Behind Hurta was teammate Val Constien, clocking in at 10:02.78, a personal best for her as well. "My goal was to just play off [Grayson Murphy], you know she is one of the best in the NCAA, and if I can stick with her, I can stick with anyone out there," Hurta said of her race today.

Kaitlyn Benner and Erin Clark brought home second and third place respectively in the women's 10,000 meters. Benner clocked in at 33:11.50 and Clark followed closely behind at 33:14.48. Michaela Wenning finished in seventh in the women's high jump at a height of 5-6.00. Advancing to the finals for the women's 800-meter run is Karina Mann, placing seventh with a time of 2:08.61.
...

For the men, Davion Taylor finished in the men's 100-meters in the top ten, clocking in at 10.51. Duane McClurkin finished fifth in the men's 400-meter dash prelims, qualifying him to race again tomorrow. Aaron McCoy recorded a personal best in the men's 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 51.87, earning him fourth place. Alexander Billing will also represent the men tomorrow after qualifying today for tomorrow's finals in the 110-meter hurdles

Tomorrow's events will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the finals of the men's hammer throw, and the last event is slated to begin at 6:10 pm. Live results and meet information can be found on the Pac-12 website.
"

(As noted in the OP, Pac 12 Networks coverage today starts at 4:00 PM MT.)
_________________________________________________________________________________

Short interview with Ms. Hurta after her win-


Longer (~3 minute) interview with Ms. Hurta and 3rd place finisher Valerie Constien - http://pac-12championships.runnersp...12-Outdoor-Track-and-Field-Championships-2018

(2:22 minute) video with 10000M 3rd place finisher Ryan Forsyth.- http://pac-12championships.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=20&do=videos&video_id=243193
 
The track events have begun, and in the 4X100M relay a very nice 3rd place finish by the women for 6 points, while the men, although finishing last of the 7 teams competing, still earn 2 points.

the 1500 meter runs are next.
 
And, nice job in the men's 110M hurdles by junior Alex Billing, who looks to get his best time of the year (14.11) and finishes 4th for 5 more Buff points.
 
More Buffs on the board as it looks like there may be two more Buff 7th place finishes (2 points each):

  • Duane McClurkin JR gets 7th in the 400M sprint and
  • Maja Wichhart-Donzo comes back from also scoring in last weekend's heptathlon to place in the triple jump.
 
Davion Taylor earns 3 more points for the Buffs with a 6th place finish in the 100M. (He ran 10.60 wind-aided (+2.9 M/S).)

Note- Forgot to mention when listing his time yesterday that I believe that was also officially wind-aided.
 
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