Posts tagged women
Buffs Host Inaugural Jerry Quiller Classic
Mar 15th
BOULDER – The University of Colorado track & field team will host the inaugural Jerry Quiller Classic, March 15-16, at Potts Field.
The meet, which had previously been the Potts Outdoor Invitational, has been named in honor of the former CU track and field and cross country coach Jerry Quiller, who passed away in 2012 after losing a battle against multiple myeloma.
Quiller served as the head coach for the Buffs from 1985-1995. In that time, he coached the Buffs to three Big Eight Conference Cross Country titles and made a dozen (men and women) appearances at the NCAA Championships. He was named the league’s coach of the year five times in that span and directed 19 All-Americans (13 men and six women), including Olympians Adam Goucher and Alan Culpepper. In 1994, CU’s men placed second and the women were fourth at nationals, earning him national coach of the year accolades.
Colorado will compete against several Front Range schools this weekend. Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State, Air Force, Metro State, Northern Colorado and UC-Colorado Springs, along with South Dakota School of Mines will make up the majority of competitors with CU, but there will be several other athletes competing unattached or as a member of a club. The invitational is a non-team scoring meet.
The hammer throw and javelin will be the only events contested on Friday; starting at 2 p.m. Saturday’s events will start at 11 a.m. and will wrap up around 3:45 p.m.
The Jerry Quiller Classic is the first of two meets CU will host this spring. The Buffs will also host the CU Invitational April 12-13. Both take place at Potts Field on 30th and Colorado. Admission is free. The forecast for Friday is mostly sunny with a high of 70 degrees and Saturday has a high of 56 degrees and a 30 percent chance of rain (as of Thursday afternoon).
The tentative schedule of events is listed below:
FRIDAY THROWING EVENTS
2:00 P.M. WOMEN’S HAMMER
following women’s hammer MEN’S HAMMER
2:00 P.M. MEN’S JAVELIN
following men’s javelin WOMEN’S JAVELIN
SATURDAY THROWING EVENTS
11:00 A.M. MEN’S SHOT PUT
following men’s shot put/women’s discus WOMEN’S SHOT PUT
11:00 A.M. WOMEN’S DISCUS
following women’s discus/men’s shot MEN’S DISCUS
SATURDAY JUMPING EVENTS
11:00 A.M. WOMEN’S POLE VAULT
following men’s pole vault MEN’S POLE VAULT
11:00 A.M. WOMEN’S LONG JUMP
following women’s long jump MEN’S LONG JUMP
following men’s long jump WOMEN’S TRIPLE JUMP
following women’s triple jump MEN’S TRIPLE JUMP
11:00 A.M. WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP
following women’s high jump MEN’S HIGH JUMP
SATURDAY RUNNING EVENTS
11:00 A.M. WOMENS STEEPLE
11:20 MENS STEEPLE
11:35 WOMEN’S 4X100 RELAY
11:40 MEN’S 4X100 RELAY
11:45 WOMEN’S 1500 METERS
11:55 MEN’S 1500 METERS
12:05 100 METER HURDLES
12:20 110 METER HURDLES
12:30 WOMEN’S 400 METER RUN
12:40 MEN’S 400 METER RUN
1:00 WOMEN’S 100 METER DASH
1:10 MEN’S 100 METER DASH
1:25 WOMEN’S 800 METER RUN
1:40 MEN’S 800 METER RUN
1:50 WOMEN’S 400 METER HURDLES
2:00 MEN’S 400 METER HURDLES
2:10 WOMEN’S 200 METER DASH
2:25 MEN’S 200 METER DASH
2:40 WOMEN’S 3000 RUN
3:00 MEN’S 3000 RUN
3:20 WOMEN’S 4X400 RELAY
3:30 MEN’S 4X400 RELAY
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Th
CU in distant 2nd at NCAA Championship in Vermont
Mar 8th
The CU ski has little chance of overtaking the lead with only two events
remaining.
Defending champion Vermont has now led after all three days, and owns a 54-point edge over the Buffaloes. After Friday’s always-risky slalom races, the Catamounts ended the day with 564 points, followed by Colorado (510), Denver (484) and Utah (481). Those four schools remain in the hunt for the title, as fifth place New Mexico (449) and sixth place Dartmouth (405) are likely too far back of UVM to make up that much ground.
Vermont has recent history on its side, as the leader at the midway point has won six straight and 10 of the last 12 times, and schools leading after three days (six events) have won 16 of the last 18. Two of the last three champions, Denver (2010) and Colorado (2011) both led wire-to-wire.
UVM’s 54-point lead is the smallest heading into the final two events since 2009, when it led DU by two points, but the Pioneers overhauled them and won by 56.5 points. The only other school to rally on the final day in the last 20 years was Vermont in 1994, as the Catamounts started in third place and down by 49 points before rallying for a 21-point win.
“It was a tough day, as tough as slalom can be,” CU head coach Richard Rokos said. “There are two approaches, go out and give everything like Utah and Denver did, or ski conservatively and hope that everybody else will have bad luck or ski the same way. UVM knows this place well and they took advantage. With us being just behind them, our kids finished six runs diligently, it’s part of the deal. Unfortunately we didn’t catch enough points to catch up or even maintain with Vermont, so they’re still ahead of us.”
Denver won the women’s slalom with 101 points, followed by Dartmouth (90), Utah (86), Vermont (84), New Mexico (78), New Hampshire (67) and then Colorado (seventh, 59). In the men’s slalom, Middlebury won the day with 103, ahead of New Hampshire (95), New Mexico and Vermont (91) and the Buffs (82).
“I have a fundamental problem with the format, we used to throw out three results and use 21 of 24 scores, and that would allow kids to risk a little more in slalom,” he continued. “Now every single point goes in your pocket and you can’t hike and everything counts. And before that, you skied four and counted three. You could survive a crash, a hike, a bad run, etc., and the deeper teams had a little comfort zone.”
Denver freshman Kristine Haugen made it a sweep here, as she claimed the women’s slalom Friday to add to her win in the giant slalom on Wednesday; she is the first to win both since CU’s Lucie Zikova in 2008, and the fifth to do it since 1983 when the NCAA first sponsored women in the sport.
All of CU’s women are freshmen as well, with Jessica Honkonen posting CU’s best finish, her 1:40.78 time placing her 16th, but well behind Haugen’s time of 1:37.97. Brooke Wales finished 18th (1:41.16) and Thea Grosvold 27th (1:42.20). It marked just the second time in the last 14 national slaloms that CU didn’t have at least one finisher in the top 10, the other year coming in 2009.
“We were on the defensive today, we came in without a huge deficit to UVM, we wanted to maintain that difference, but I think we probably held back a little bit too much today,” Wales said. “Hopefully (CU) just finishing with decent runs will pay off and the ‘Nordies’ will get it done. Some other teams hurt themselves by not finishing some racers. But know that tomorrow we will be the No. 1 fans out there tomorrow getting them through the finish line.”
“I told them to make sure to finish, the girls maybe took it a little too much to heart,” Rokos pondered. “They skied fast and clean, it’s hard to compromise. On one hand, you ask them to ski fast, on the other if they don’t finish, it hurts the team. It’s a very hard compromise, and contradictory to what ski racers do.”
The men were led by freshman Kasper Hietanen, who earned second-team All-America honors in tying for eighth place with a 1:40.28 time; New Mexico’s Joonas Rasanen won the top spot on the podium with a two-run clocking of 1:38.96.
“I had a little trouble on the second run, but I was able to make it in the top 10, the top eight, so it was good,” Hietanen said. “It was a little different than the first run, the sun came up, it was softer and slicker, I had a great run until a mistake right before the last flat. That probably cost me a few spots, but all in all it was a decent run. I was going for it, but also I was careful to save points. Even taking it carefully, I had a little mistake, but I kept it in there.”
“Kasper’s had one mistake that cost him probably being in third or even second, but it was still to finish eighth, especially in your first NCAA slalom,” Rokos said. “If you look at the podium, there were no favorites, they were all hiking.”
Freshman Henrik Gunnarsson finished 13th (1:40.76), while junior Andreas Haug tied for 16th (1:41.62).
The mass start freestyle races will finish off the NCAA meet on Saturday, with the women’s 15-kilometer at 8:00 a.m. MST, and the men’s 20k race following at 10:00 a.m.
“The Nordic races are a little more predictable, which is obvious after today here,” Rokos said. “We’ll see how we do tomorrow, we’re not out of it but need to have a great day. We’ll do everything to get every kid through the finish line in the fastest possible way, and we’ll be there cheering them on as much as we possibly can.”
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Buff skiers extend lead at RMISA Championships
Feb 24th
BOZEMAN, Mont. — The University of Colorado ski team picked up a third regional champion in taking all three top spots in a race for the second straight day in extending its lead as the second day of competition was completed here Saturday in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships, an event that doubles as the NCAA West Regional.
The Buffaloes finished the day with 711 team points, extending its lead over second-place Utah (625) from 40 to 86 points with two events remaining. Denver moved from fifth into third (616) with host Montana State fourth (550). Heavy snowfall overnight and into the morning made things challenging for all the skiers, especially those competing in the giant slalom.
Colorado is bidding for its 12th RMISA/West Regional title in the 23 years that Richard Rokos as served as the program’s head coach, as its 23rd overall in the 60-plus year history of the conference.
For the second straight day, Colorado’s women’s Nordic team posted a 1-2-3 sweep, this time in the 15-kilometer freestyle race, duplicating the effort in Friday’s 5k classical event. Prior to Friday, Colorado had not recorded a 1-2-3 sweep in women’s Nordic action since the sport went coed in 1983; with Saturday’s accomplishment, it matched the number of times Buff skiers had done in all other disciplines (two, once in men’s Nordic and in women’s alpine).
Senior Eliska Hajkova won for the first time this year, marking the first time in CU history that three different women’s Nordic skiers have captured races in the same season, joining senior Joanne Reid (eight wins) and freshman Maria Nordstroem (one). Hajkova’s eighth career victory (third in freestyle) also allowed CU skiers to win all 10 RMISA women’s cross country races this winter, another school first.
Hajkova led the pack of 27 skiers in the mass start format in a time of 51:25.7, with Reid next in at 51:40.2 and then Nordstroem in 51:45.9; the first non-Buff was Utah’s Rose Kemp, who crossed the finish line some 37 seconds later. The only “downside” to this was that Hajkova ended her teammate Reid’s string of seven consecutive wins, tied for the second longest in any discipline in Buff history.
“I wanted it so much today,” Hajkova said. “I had prefect skis. I was rested and my skis went so fast. On the last uphill, I just felt like I should try, so I did and it worked. It feels great when you’re at the end of the second lap and it’s just your teammates and friends around you. Sometimes when people get away from the main pack, they slow down and rest, but we worked really hard to make it a bigger gap, and I’m so proud of all of us.”
“I was thinking that we should keep a gap as a team,” Reid said. “I was in the lead on the final lap until the final uphill, which isn’t smart if you want to win a race, but we went 1-2-3, so it was worth it. It’s pretty perfect for us to all get podiums again, and helps our confidence going to NCAA’s.”
“We thought our biggest competition would be from the Alaska Anchorage girl Marine (Dusser),” Nordstroem said. “When she started falling back, I started pulling ahead on the flats. But then I was struggling, so my teammates took over and it was awesome. I’m a little relieved, the more you win in a row the more nervous you get and I’ve always said I want us to go 1-2-3 more than me winning, so I’m so happy right now.”
And with senior Mary Rose coming in eighth in 52:46.8, it marked the fourth time this winter four CU skiers, and the only four on the roster this year, finished in the top 10. It was Rose’s sixth career top 10 effort, all coming in her last 13 collegiate races, as she is one of the most improved skiers from freshman to senior seasons in school history.
In the men’s 20-kilometer race, Utah won as a team by placing four in the top five, including winner Miles Havlick in a time of 58:35.6. Colorado sophomore Rune Oedegaard took second, less than three seconds back in 58:38.2; the two finished in reverse order from Friday’s classic result.
Sophomore Arnaud Du Pasquier recorded his best collegiate finish, as his 59:28.1 time placed him seventh, also his second top 10 effort. Junior Andreas Hoye was CU’s third scorer, finishing 11th in 1 hour, 26.6 seconds. Rounding out the CU men on Saturday were freshmen Charlie Von Thaden (matching his career best finish,15th, in 1:01:13.8) and Gustav Nordstrom (16th, 1:01:22.0), senior Ian Mallams (17th, 1:02:00.0) and freshman Michael Vigers (20th, 1:02:33.7).
“At the beginning, I started really easy, since I was sixth in our lane, so I knew it wasn’t worth killing myself to have a good start,” Du Pasquier said. “You have to use a lot of energy out front anyway with these conditions. Then I just wanted to keep the pace for every lap. I was able to stay with the lead pack, I had some issues with pacing and I think that hurt me at points, but I was able to fight back and almost caught the lead pack again at the end.”
Hajkova, Reid and Oedegaard continued their climb up CU’s all-time podium (top three) list. The Nordic trio has 67 among them: Hajkova is third with 31; Reid is now tied for 10th with 19, while Oedegard pulled into a tie for 12th.
The meet concludes Sunday with the slalom races; CU will return to Boulder ahead of departing next weekend for the NCAA Championships in Vermont.
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