Air Force's Justin Tyner finished 21st in the men's blue race to lead the Falcons at Pre-Nationals on Saturday. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Things couldn't have been more different for the Colorado teams that traveled to the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute this past weekend.
For Colorado, things are looking as bright for the Buffaloes at this point in the season as they have in years--almost years out of memory.
The CU women won the blue race by a margin of 41 points over a very good Florida State team. All seven women finished under 22:00. Five of the seven women are graduates of Colorado high schools, making this one of the most Colorado-connected teams Mark Wetmore has ever coached. Olympian Jenny Barringer leads the team and had the best women's time in both races on Saturday. Clearly, this is a team that should be capturing the enthusiasm of cross country fans across the entire state.
For the CU men, the results were very nearly as exciting. In the men's white race, and despite having only six finishers, the CU men finished second to Stanford, beating the likes of BYU, Iona, and Portland. Christian Thompson's 24:04 8K led the CU men.
It was not as bright of a day for Air Force or Colorado State, however.
Running in the same white race as the CU men, the CSU men, depleted by injuries, finished 31st of 35 teams in the race. Daniel Wallis lead the Ram men with a 24:56.
The CSU women had a much better result, but perhaps a bit below what they would have like to have come away with. Led by Ellie Rastall's 21:36, the CSU women finished 16th in the white race. The bright spot on the day for the Rams, however, may have been the performance of freshman Sarah Heuer, who finished 89th in a time of 22:00.
The results for the Air Force women paralleled those of the CSU men, 32nd of 37 teams in the blue race and nobody placing higher than 130th.
For the Air Force men, however, it was a respectable 12th-place finish in the blue race. If the Falcons can close up the gap of 83 to 179 points between their fourth and fifth runners, they should be a very competitive team in the Mountain West and the Mountain Region. Justin Tyner led the Falcons' efforts with 24:16.
Conference meets come up for all three of these schools in a little less than two weeks.