2023 NCAA Championships thread - CROSS COUNTRY (Charlottesville, VA; Saturday, 11/18; ESPNU; Race times: #17 Women- 8:20 AM MT; #27 Men - 9:10 AM MT)

[AztecBuff]

As is commonplace (although a little farther down than normal), both the men and women cross country teams have completed the regular season, Pac 12 Championships and NCAA regionals as qualifiers for this Saturday's Championships, once again proving to be, at worse, two of the top 31 teams (the # of teams selected to compete at NCAA's) in their genders in the country. (This realistically would be a great result in itself for probably any other CU team other than skiing in the vast majority of years.)

Now, it's time for the BIG races, as the teams will be heading off to Charlottesville, Virginia, at the Univ. of Virginia's "Panorama Farms" cross country course, in a few days to compete at the NCAA Championships this Saturday. The women's race is 1st off, scheduled to begin at 8:20 AM MT (10:20 AM Virginia time), with the men following with a scheduled 9:10 AM MT (11:10 AM Virginia time) start. Coverage is scheduled to be on ESPNU beginning at 7:30 AM MT.

Congrats and best wishes to the teams!

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Some prelim Championships links with detailed info -

Host (U. of Virginia's) Championships preview (Includes info for anyone wanting to attend, video coverage and live stats, etc..) - https://virginiasports.com/news/202...23-ncaa-cross-country-championships-saturday/

Maps of the 2 course routes:
Women's 6K - https://storage.googleapis.com/virginiasports-com/2022/08/0630d588-panorama-farms-6k-course.jpg
Men's 10K - https://storage.googleapis.com/virginiasports-com/2023/07/7e4e3cf4-panorama-farms-10k-course.jpg

NCAA release with lists of all the teams and individuals selected to compete at the Championships - https://www.ncaa.com/news/cross-cou...womens-cross-country-championships-qualifiers

Rosters (Right now the rosters are available through the live results link below, but I can't find dedicated documents like last year so will leave the below blank if or until separate document(s) are released. From the live results link below, the lists of runners selected by the qualifying schools (I believe they have to be the same as for the regional races) from which the 7 athletes per team and per gender who actually run on Saturday will be chosen has already been established. From that, the Buffs have 9 women and 12 men from whom Coach Wetmore and company will choose.):
Women -
Men -

List of (starting) box assignments (Not available yet as I type this.):
Women's -
Men's -

Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA's) information page for all this year's collegiate championships (Video and live result links, etc.. In addition to D1, the D2 and D3 Championships are also being competed Saturday, with coverage of the later 2 scheduled to be shown on ncaa.com live streams.) - https://www.ustfccca.org/meets-results/national-championships-central?sport=C

Final national polls before the Championships:
Women's - https://www.ustfccca.org/2023/11/fe...ns-cross-country-national-coaches-poll-week-6
Men's - https://www.ustfccca.org/2023/11/fe...ns-cross-country-national-coaches-poll-week-6

Replay of NCAA Championships selection show - https://www.ncaa.com/video/cross-country-men/2023-11-11/di-cross-country-2023-selection-show

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MAIN Championships' links:

Various running-related social media accounts:

Buffs - https://NOPE/CUBuffsTrack ; https://www.instagram.com/cubuffstrack/
Host Virginia - https://www.instagram.com/UVATFCC ; https://NOPE/UVATFCC
NCAA - https://NOPE/NCAATrackField
USTFCCCA (Coaches' Association) - https://NOPE/USTFCCCA

Live Video - (Quoting the University of Virginia's preview/ informational article.) - "The 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships will be broadcast live on ESPNU and the ESPN app beginning at 9:30 a.m. ." Assume that, for those whose subscriptions include access to ESPNU, they can also watch the Championships at https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/1e956cb9-a562-4b97-865c-c0e033b12a11 .

Live timing and scoring - https://live.pttiming.com/xc-ptt.html?mid=5806

 

[AztecBuff]

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For any running and/ or Buff fans in the Charlottesville area who would like to attend the Championships --

 

[AztecBuff]

Preview for Saturday's Chanpionships -



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/11/16/Buffs_Ready_For_NCAA_Championships.aspx

"
BOULDER - The Colorado cross country program looks ahead to the NCAA Championships this Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. where the Buffs competed in their first official meet of the 2023 season.

In Colorado's final year as a Pac-12 program it hopes to end the season on a positive note. Both the men's and women's teams have high standards for themselves and expect to have a good showing on Saturday.

"We have had some good races and some not great races," head coach Mark Wetmore stated before heading to Virginia. "We are still waiting to have a majority of athletes click on the same day, but maybe that will happen this weekend."

The championships are set to take place at Panorama Farms, where earlier this season Colorado's men's team placed 12th and the women placed ninth out of 23 teams. On Saturday, the women's race is scheduled for 8:20 a.m. MT, followed by the men's race at 9:10 a.m. MT.

All season, Emily Covert and Austin Vancil have been notable leaders for Colorado. While they have consistently led the Buffs on the course they have also been great role models off of it, helping freshmen Karrie Baloga and Isaiah Givens transition into college athletics.

"Karrie and Isaiah are talented and motivated," said Wetmore. "Each has done some very good running for us this season and they will be integral contributors for us for a few years."

Along with Covert and Baloga on the women's side, Ella Baran is a big name to look out for as she was the first Buff to finish at regionals. Colorado is also sending Samree Dishon, Katie Doucette, Elliot Pribramsky, Whitney Valenti and Tiya Chamberlin.

For the men, Paul Stafford, Noah Hibbard and Caleb Niednagel are expected to round out the scoring five for the Buffs. Joining them on the trip are Jake Derouin, James Overberg and Charlie Welch.

Colorado's men's team is coming off a sixth-place finish at regionals while the women's team is coming off a fourth-place finish.

"We weren't brilliant at the recent regionals," Wetmore stated. "We will hope to swing around, beat some of the teams that were ahead of us in Lubbock, and outrun our rankings."

Live results can be found here.

MEET INFORMATION
The events will be broadcasted live on ESPNU and the ESPN app with coverage beginning at 7:30 a.m. MT.

Tickets are sold out. If you already have a ticket, see below.

Parking is only available at Fashion Square Mall with shuttles beginning at 6:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. and returning 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Tickets include parking at Fashion Square Mall, entry into the event, and roundtrip shuttle service.
"

 

[AztecBuff]

Championships Day, with the 1st race only an hour or so away, and the broadcast starting in around 10!

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

The women's race is about to start.

 

[AztecBuff]

The injury depleted Buff women finish right around their #17 ranking with a 19th place finish. So, CU once again a top 20 team in the country.

BIG congrats to Ella Baran for her 27th place individual All-American earning performance!
(The Buffs 2nd and 3rd also finished with decent scores, but the 4th and 5th runners were way too far back to move the Buffs far up the standings.)

 

[AztecBuff]

The men are at the start.

 

[AztecBuff]

With the race finishing, looks like the men end a little ahead of their #27 ranking with a 25th place finish.

Big congrats to Austin Vancil on earning his 2nd straight All-American honor with his 39th place finish! (The next Buff finisher was 116th in the scoring (142nd overall), so the team could only finish so high in the results.)

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after today's Championships -



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/11/18/cross-country-buffs-close-out-season-in-charlottesville.aspx

"
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Colorado cross country program competed in its final meet of the season at the NCAA Championships here Saturday morning at Panorama Farms.

Two Buffs had All-American performances as the women's team placed 19th with 446 points while the men's team finished 25th with 551 points.

NC State took the title by one point over NAU in the women's 6K to start the morning while Florida's Parker Valby won the individual title. In the men's 10K, Oklahoma State won the team championship as Harvard's Graham Blanks became the first ever Ivy League runner to win the men's individual title.

Ella Baran led the Buffs with a 27th-place finish in 20:00.1. At the midway point, she sat in 82nd but made a huge jump in the next kilometer, jumping 33 spots to 49th. In the final stretch, Baran passed her teammate, Emily Covert, to finish inside the top-30.

Covert was Colorado's leading runner for the first half of the race before Baran made her moves. She cracked the top-40 with one kilometer remaining, but dropped back down to 50 as she crossed the finish line. Covert managed to place 50th with a time of 20:12.6.

The only other Buff to finish in top-100 was Karrie Baloga who finished 82nd. She was followed by Katie Doucette in 175th and Samree Dishon in 218th to round out the Colorado scoring five.

In the men's race, Austin Vancil did what he has done all season which is lead the Buffs across the finish line. He stayed in the 70-80 range for the majority of the race before he made a big push in the final two kilometers, moving up 29 spots. Vancil ended up finishing in 39th in 29:50.3.

The next four Colorado men to finish all came in a similar bunch. Noah Hibbard placed 142nd and was followed by Paul Stafford in 152nd, Isaiah Givens in 164th and James Overberg in 178th.

Both the men's and women's teams ultimately finished two spots lower than their rankings.


RESULTS

WOMEN'S SCORING: 1. NC State 123; 2. NAU 124; 3. Oklahoma State 156; 4. Notre Dame 237; 5. Florida 268; 6. Tennessee 294; 7. Alabama 314; 8. Washington 323; 9. Arkansas 329; 10. Oregon 335; 11. Lipscomb 353; 12. Stanford 357; 13. Utah 375; 14. BYU 399; 15. Virginia 400; 16. Michigan State 410; 17. CBU 414; 18. Georgetown 419; 19. Colorado 446; 20. Iowa State 458; 21. Ole Miss 459; 22. Wisconsin 487; 23. Utah Valley 501; 24. Furman 503; 25. Harvard 504; 26. Boston College 567; 27. Syracuse 591; 28. Providence 619; 29. Colorado State 720; 30. Texas A&M 775; 31. Penn State 787

...

MEN'S SCORING: 1. Oklahoma State 49; 2. NAU 71; 3. BYU 196; 4. Arkansas 211; 5. Iowa State 230; 6. North Carolina 249; 7. Texas 262; 8. Stanford 291; 9. Syracuse 299; 10. Wisconsin 330; 11. Princeton 345; 12. Air Force 368; 13. Montana State 374; 14. Notre Dame 398; 15. Harvard 398; 16. CBU 430; 17. NC State 435; 18. New Mexico 465; 19. Michigan 472; 20. Villanova 477; 21. Butler 484; 22. Virginia 512; 23. Portland 529; 24. Wake Forest 536; 25. Colorado 551; 26. Tennessee 556; 27. Florida State 620; 28. Gonzaga 647; 29. Iona 675; 30. Georgetown 686; 31. Eastern Kentucky 704
...
"
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Full results:
Women's - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/11/18/11_18_23_NCAAXC-WomenResult.pdf
Men's - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2023/11/18/11_18_23_NCAAXC-MenResult.pdf

 

[buffgal]

For the tradition at Colorado, I'm thinking this is a disappointing season. Might have something to do with the investigation in to Wetmore? I don't know if that is finished or not.

The runners work very hard and should be very proud of their accomplishments this season.

 

[AztecBuff]

Not big news (at least as far as CU is concerned both the women's and men's teams just ended with the same season-end ranking as they finished in the NCAA Championships), but acknowledgement that, even in what weren't great results based on past CU standards, both teams are still Top 25 programs.