NCAA XC Countdown #3: Colorado Men and Stanford Women

Sep 3, 2013 by Isaac Wood

For the next month, The Wood Report will be counting down projected team finishes in this year's NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, IN. Make sure to stay up-to-date with The Wood Report throughout the season. You should follow Isaac Wood on Twitter, too.

View the full NCAA Top 31 Countdown HERE.

#3 Colorado
Head Coach: Mark Wetmore (19th Season)

2012 National Finish- 3rd

Key Returners from 2012

Blake Theroux (Jr., 3:45 1500m, 8:11 Open 3k, 8:49 3k Steeple, 39th NCAA XC '12)
Jake Hurysz (Sr., 3:40 1500m, 8:01 Open 3k, 32nd NCAA XC '12)
Hugh Dowdy (Sr., 3:47 1500m, 8:50 3k Steeple, 9th Pac-12 XC '12)
Pierce Murphy (So., 14:04 5k, 29:36 10k, 45th NCAA XC '12)
Connor Winter (So., 3:44 1500m, 14:09 5k)
Ammar Moussa (So., 3:47 1500m, 8:11 Open 3k, 13:57 5k, 88th NCAA XC '11 (Frosh)

Impact Recruits/Transfers

Ben Saarel (Fr., 1:51 800m, 4:02 1 Mile, 8:49 3200m (Alt. time), 4th FL '12)
Zach Perrin (Fr., 8:55 3200m, 10th FL '12)
Adam Peterman (Fr., 8:57 3200m)

Season Preview

One of the most iconic teams in the NCAA are the Colorado Buffaloes. Year in and year out, somehow, the Buffs always come around when it matters most. You can credit much of this to the enigmatic Mark Wetmore. No one does a better job with developing talented, but untapped, talent in the country than Wetmore. Every single year when NCAAs rolls around, the Buffs are always ready to roll and produce at the right time.

This will be the case again this season as Colorado is reloaded with talent and have some outstanding freshman coming in that will be incredible additions to an already excellent program.

It is interesting how both teams that were placed at #3 in the preseason, both finished 3rd last year at NCAAs. Pure coincidence. The beauty of Colorado is that they have a great mix of high school studs, that are still studs, and diamonds in the rough, that are now All-American-good. The mix of Jake Hurysz's and Ammar Moussa's (big time prep athletes) with the Hugh Dowdy's and Pierce Murphy's (more diamonds in the rough-although still solid preps) is what makes Colorado so great and Wetmore such a good coach.

The leader of the Buffs is Jake Hurysz. Although he has been hurt this offseason, he will be back in time for Pac-12s and will still be an asset to this squad. In fact, he might be better of being hurt at this time in the season. Much of the time when athletes are too fit too soon, end up seeing their wheels come off at the end of the season. If Hurysz can time this right, he should be looking at All-American honors in Terre Haute and an improvement from his 32nd finish last season in Louisville.

Blake Theroux is the legit no. 2 on this team and as consistent as they come in xc for the Buffs. In every race he ran last xc season, except for NCAAs (where he was 39th and All-American), Theroux finished in the top 15. That is including Pre-Nats, Pac-12s and the brutally tough Mountain regional. This consistency will definitely benefit the Buffs this season as with Hurysz out for a good chunk of the year, Theroux will need to step up in a leadership role and be a solid front-runner.

Connor Winter might have had the best outdoor track season of the entire bunch returning from 2012s 3rd-place team at NCAAs. Winter ran, as a freshman, 3:44 for 1500m and qualified for the West regional. Winter is still quite young and is only going to get better. He was impressive as a freshman at NCAAs XC in 2012 where he finished 65th.

Even though he did not compete in 2012, due to an injury, Ammar Moussa will be back in action in this season and will look to improve upon his solid freshman year for the Buffs in 2011. Moussa lived up to his hype coming out of high school his frosh year where he finished 88th at the NCAA meet. Moussa was finally healthy for outdoors this past spring and had a solid year where he ran 3:47 for 1500m and 13:57 for 5k. Having him healthy and rolling in the front of their pack is a good sign for CU.

Hugh Dowdy, Pierce Murphy, Dillon Shije and Morgan Pearson are all solid contributors to their top seven and are going to be interchangeable parts to an already stacked front pack for the Buffs.

What makes Colorado even scarier is incoming freshman-stud Ben Saarel. He is all the hype. he is the real deal. Having watched him run in person on a handful of occasions (15 plus times), I can assure you that he is the complete package. There might not be an incoming freshman in the country with the kind of range and ability that he has, mixed with the race savvy of an elite-college athlete. Saarel dominated the outdoor track season with big wins at Arcadia and the Dream Mile. His 8:49 3200m run at altitude, breaking Luke Puskedra's Utah high school state record, was unreal to watch. Besides Ed Cheserek, there might not be another freshman in the NCAA that will make as big of an impact in their first year than Saarel.

Oh yeah, don't forget Zach Perrin of Montana who was 10th at Foot Locker this past year and is a sub-3200m kid along with fellow Montana prep Adam Peterman who will be in the mix up front as well.

If Hurysz can get healthy and not do it too quick, but quick enough to run at Pac-12s, the Buffs will be looking at a very good shot at a podium spot. In fact, Colorado might be a team that is scary enough that if they get the ball rolling at NCAAs in Terre Haute (which they perennially do), if Oklahoma State is not on their game--or has lost a few to injury, the Buffs have a legitimate shot at taking home a NCAA title in 2013.

#3 Stanford
Head Coach: Chris Miltenberg (2nd Season)

2012 National Finish- 3rd

Key Returners from 2012

Aisling Cuffe (Jr., 9:07 Open 3k, 16:15 5k, 21st NCAA XC '12)
Jessica Tonn (Sr., 9:10 Open 3k, 15:54 5k, 34:41 10k, 43rd NCAA XC '12)
Rebecca Mehra (So., 4:47 1600m (HS), 3 X NXN Qualifier- 13th '09, no. 7 at West Reg)
Julia Foster (Jr., No. 6 at NCAAs '12- 161st, 9:33 Open 3k)
Megan Lacy (So., 4:52 1600m (HS), 10:22 3200m (HS), no. 7 at NCAAs '12)
Cami Chapus (So., FL Finalist '11- 22nd, Dream Mile Champ- '11-12, No. 9 at Pac-12s)
Justine Fredronic (Sr., No. 6 at West Reg'l, No. 5 at NCAA XC '12- 150th)

Impact Recruits/Transfers

Sophie Chase (Fr., 4:48 1600m, 10:19 2 Mile, 3 X FL Finalist- 6th '12, 11th '11,
Emma Fisher (Fr., 4:56 1600m, 10:26 3200m,
Vanessa Webster (Fr., 4:58 1600m, 10:31 3200m, 16:59 5k NBON '12)

Season Preview

After being blessed with a team stocked full of talent in his first year as head coach, Chris Miltenberg has a chance to work with some of his own recruits and the ones left to him in 2013 in order to improve upon their 3rd place finish from 2012. Although the Cardinal were not incredibly deep in 2012, having four athletes in the top 45 was good enough to put them on the podium (even if Fedronic, their #5 was 150th).

This upcoming 2013 Stanford team is one of the most interesting teams in the country and here is why. Stanford must find a way to replace All-Americans Kathy Kroeger and Cayla Hatton who left for graduation and personal reasons, respectively. With these girls gone, Stanford needs to find some young guns to step up and fill the shoes of these two big-time talented runners, to help them see the podium again in 2013.

The good news for Coach Miltenberg is that All-American Aisling Cuffe is back and is now a leader on this Cardinal squad. Cuffe has been very solid and consistent as a college athlete and has seen improvement and progression during her post-high school days, even after being so good in high school. Cuffe had a remotely disappointing outdoor track season, finishing 13th at NCAA Outdoors in the 5k, and therefore will be doubly motivated to improve upon her 21st finish at NCAAs.

Jessica Tonn is in a similar boat as Cuffe as she is coming off of a poor finish to her outdoor season in the 5k where she finished 17th outdoors. That is not to take away from her excellent season prior to NCAAs. Tonn was big time for the Cardinal at Pac-12s where she placed 5th in the 5k and 2nd in the 10k outdoors. After placing 43rd at NCAA XC in 2012, being so close to All-American, Tonn is almost a guarantee to find herself somewhere in the top-40 in 2013.

This Stanford team could actually be deeper than the team they had in 2012 because of their depth having a little more experience and with recruits coming in that are studs in cross country. The rest of the top seven is going to be made up of Cami Chapus (high school mile star), Justine Fedronic (great middle-distance runner who solidified her spot in the stanford top seven last year, could be greatly improved in xc this season), Rebecca Mehra (good high school cross country runner--should see a big improvement in her this season, looking at a no. 4 or 5 spot), Tate Murray (who just ran great at the USF meet this weekend), Megan Lacy (another high school stud--made NCAA XC team in 2012, but struggled in Louisville) and Julia Foster (another NCAA XC runner, placed sixth on the team, coming off of a mediocre track season).

That was a lot. Anyway, Stanford is definitely deep and has a lot of girls that could step into the no. 3-7 spots. What makes the Cardinal even more interesting are the quality recruits that are coming again this season. Miltenberg proved last season that he can coach young talent (Weissenbach, Hatton, etc) and therefore should help some of the incoming athletes find their way on the travel team.

Sophie Chase is the biggest sign for the Cardinal and she is the type of runner that can immediately impact a big-time college program like Stanford. Chase is one of the more proven cross country runners coming from the high school level and is also just as good on the track. Improving every year at Foot Locker Finals in high school is a good sign of where her ceiling is at and she should be able to progress at a similar, if not faster rate, with Miltenberg.

Emma Fisher and Vanessa Webster are also quality recruits and could see their way onto the travel team.

Stanford is full of some very talented girls and is going to be in the mix at every big meet all season long. If they can stay healthy and find a couple of All-Americans in their depth, they will be looking at another podium finish at NCAAs in Terre Haute in 2013