CU’s Van Halen is 1st team All American
Jun 7th
EUGENE, Ore. – Aric Van Halen finished his track and field career at the University of Colorado by earning All-America First Team honors with an eighth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday night at the NCAA Championships at Historic Hayward Field.
Van Halen, the 2013 Pac-12 Champion, finished in 8:44.50 to earn his best placing at nationals; his previous best finish was 10th in 2012 when he was named to the All-America Second Team.
The top three finishers went to the start from the gun and immediately pulled away from the rest of the field. The other nine racers ran together for the majority of the race and Van Halen was right near the front of that pack and led the group for four laps until just before the field entered the bell lap. It was right before that lap that he dropped down to around eighth which is where he would finish.
COBURN COMPETES FOR THE STEEPLE CHASE CHAMPIONSHIP at 3:57 MT on ESPNU
The top three competitors in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase finished very closely. UTEP’s Anthony Rotich won in 8:21.19 and Texas A&M’s Henry Lelei, the overall favorite, ended up second after taking a spill in the final water jump (8:23.16). Arkansas’ Staney Kebenei was third in 8:24.45. Curtis Carr (BYU) was the next to cross the finish in 8:40.87. The following four finishers were separated by less than 1.5 seconds. Dakota Peachee (High Point) was fifth in 8:43.04, Louisville’s Mattias Wolter was sixth (8:43.59) and Eastern Kentucky’s Ole Hesselbjerg was seventh (8:43.80). Van Halen beat out Wichita State’s Tomas Cotter for the eighth position by .60 seconds (8:45.10).
In the high jump, Mark Jones made his first attempt over the bar at 6-8.75, but missed all three tries at 6-10.75. He tied with two others for 21st overall as all three made it over 6-8.75 on their first attempt. He’s the first Buff since Jason Dudley in 1990 to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the high jump.
Emma Coburn will wrap up the championships on Saturday afternoon for the Buffs in the women’s steeplechase. She will be going for her second title in the event as she won the championship in 2011 before redshirting the 2012 season. Coburn’s final is at 2:57 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on ESPNU. Live stats will also be available at www.flashresults.com.
NCAA Outdoor Championships Schedule (CU Events Only)
Historic Hayward Field (Eugene, Ore.)
Track Events
Men’s 3,000-Meter Steeplechase Finals: (1. Anthony Rotich, UTEP, 8:21.19) 8. Aric Van Halen, 8:44.50
Field Events
Men’s High Jump Finals: (1. Derrick Drouin, Indiana, 7-8) t21. Mark Jones, 6-8.75
– release by Colorado track & field –
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Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks news
Jun 7th
Specifically:
• A report of a sinkhole forming in the middle of the Teller Trail. Collapsing edge was fenced off until repair could begin.
• A series of wildfires that occurred near Celestial Seasonings caused by a train creating sparks. A Ranger tied in with local crews to put out the string of small conflagrations.
• A mountain lion in a yard on a cache in the 700 block of Juniper. The lion was seen to have experienced some type of trauma. Rangers worked with CPW to tranquilize the cat in an attempt to relocate. The lion did not survive and upon examination had massive injuries consistent with a fight with another lion. Awaiting necropsy results.
• Rangers located a wanted subject camping along the S. Boulder Creek on the Van Vleet Property. His warrant was from Aurora for trespassing when he attempted to hitch a ride on a train.
• Another coyote attack on a dog. This one was on the Gunbarrel trail. RP was walking with 2 dogs one of which was attacked. The other dog attempted to help his buddy. No serious injuries.
• Injured hike in Bear Canyon. Twisted ankle. Rangers worked with AMR and Boulder Fire to evacuate the hiker from Mesa Trail at Bear Canyon.
•Two ill hikers at once. A Ranger assisted AMR and Boulder Fire evacuate an adult male who had overheated. The same ranger then assisted an 11 month old who had been hiking with his mother. No serious injuries.
•A Ranger happened upon an injured raccoon that needed to be put down.
•Rangers were called to an assault in progress on the Baseline Trail. A 67 year old male was photographing the Chautauqua meadow when an unknown subject approached him from the area of the Ski Jump Trail. The unknown subject had a 3 foot stick which he used to strike the victim on the left side of his head. The suspect struck the victim a second time but he was able to fend off that blow with his arm. The suspect then fled back up into the woods. A massive search was conducted by Rangers and the BCSO including a K-9. The suspect has not yet been located or identified. The victim did get 2 blurry photos of the suspect prior to being hit. Investigation on-going.
Towhee/Homestead
Seasonal employees have been in the area to remind people of these changes.
Outreach staff to hit the trails
As of the afternoon of 5/28/2013, the new regulations went into effect. We will be conducting outreach on the Towhee & Homestead trails. On Old Mesa we will not be conducting outreach, at least not now. We are going to break with tradition and have outreach staff hike the trails as we conduct outreach, rather than set up at the South Mesa Trailhead. The focus will be Towhee, as that’s the big change. Everything should be up to date as far as signs. Please keep me aware of contact numbers, public feedback & compliance. Here are the long awaited changes:
Towhee Trail: Will change to “NO DOGS”. There is a short section at the start of the Towhee trail that will remain voice and sight, until visitors come to the junction with the Homestead trail. That is where Towhee becomes “No Dogs”.
Homestead Trail: This trail will remain “Dogs must be under voice and sight control with a green voice and sight tag”, until you get to the bridge where it crosses the Towhee drainage. That small section (approx. 20 feet from either side of the bridge) will become “dogs must be leashed”.
If you have not been on this trail since the reroute, you should hike up there and take a look.
Old Mesa Trail: This trail (and surrounding drainage area) will now be “dogs must be leashed”, from the social trail just off the shadow canyon trail, down to our property line near Eldorado Springs. FYI there is no public access from the Eldorado Springs side as the trail leads you down to private property.
Visitors should consider this a down and back, not a destination trail.
We are now implementing regulations that were decided on during the West Trails Study Area planning process (WTSA) which included the Community Collaborative Group (CCG) which was an extended community input process. The input process began in 2009 was completed in 2011. Only recently have the regulations and signs been changed. If you would like to learn more about how that process worked, you can go to our website OSMP.org
The Towhee Trail’s new regulations help protect the riparian area it goes through. It is a heavily traveled wildlife corridor. The changes also provide a “no dog” experience for hikers. Most of the surrounding trails allow dogs.
The Homestead trail’s regulation change was made to protect the riparian area and sensitive vegetation through the Towhee drainage.
Trails news:
On Saturday, June 1st, we had 22 volunteers help construct the new trail re-route at Upper Big Bluestem as our National Trails Day project. (National Trails Day is a national trail volunteer event sponsored by the American Hiking Society.)
This year, OSMP volunteers constructed 240 feet of the new trail re-route, and installed a new pedestrian gate in the fence line. The weather was great; volunteers worked hard, and completed a lot of great work. It takes a small army to pull off these projects. Manythanks go to:
–Trails staff John Leither and Frances Boulding for project planning and logistics.
–Kristin Weinberger for promoting the project, recruiting volunteers, implementing day-of logistics (food, registration, etc), and arranging for great food from Black Cat!
–Trails crewmembers Sean Murphy, Beau Clark, Alex McClellan, and John Goepel for doing a great job of leading volunteers on crews!
–Jennelle Freeston and Lisa Dierauf for supporting project logistics and planning.
Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol is kicking off their trail work season by helping OSMP maintain the Springbrook Loop. The Bike Patrol worked on Prairie Vista Trail with us in 2011 and 2012, and is taking on a number of trail maintenance projects on Springbrook for 2013. Their goal is to do projects at least once a month, typically the last Thursday of the month during the evening hours. OSMP trails staff plan trail maintenance work, and meet up with the group to lead the project. On Thurs, May 30th, we had eight volunteers work with us for the first project of this year. They completed eight rolling drainage dips on Springbrook North to help shed water off of a roughly 500-foot section of trail that is experiencing moderate erosion issues.”
OSMP press release
CU’s Emma Coburn is running for the gold–again
Jun 7th
EUGENE, Ore. – Emma Coburn will have a chance to win one last NCAA 3,000-meter steeplechase title for the University of Colorado after cruising to an easy win in the semifinals on Thursday night at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Historic Hayward Field.
The 2012 Olympian clocked a time of 9:46.76 to win not only the first heat, but the semifinal round as well. She outran the rest of the field by more than nine seconds as Cornell’s Rachel Sorna had the next fastest time at 9:55.84. (Sorna was also in the first heat with Coburn.) The second heat was won in 9:58.82 (Weber State’s Amber Henry).
The finals are on Saturday at 2:57 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
Coburn went to the front of the pack at the start and put about 10 meters between her and the rest of the field. After that, she was able to run a very smooth and controlled race as she continued to put distance between her and her competitors. Entering the bell lap, Coburn had built up a commanding lead, approximately 50-meters, and was able to cruise to the finish.
Earlier in the afternoon, senior Joe Morris competed in his second event of the championships as he raced in the third section of the 200-meter semifinals. Morris ended up seventh in the heat and 22nd overall with a time of 20.81. Pac-12 Champion Bryshon Nellum (USC) won the semifinals in 19.99.
Although Morris did not advance to the finals in either event, he wrapped up one of the best sprinting careers at CU, finishing as the second best performer in the outdoor 200 (20.45) and tied for third in the 100 (10.27). He is also CU’s indoor 60-meter record holder (6.57) and won a pair of 2013 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor track and field titles in the 60 and 200 in February. This past May he was named CU’s Male Career Athletic Achievement Award winner. He also became the first Buff since Devlon Dunn in 1988 to qualify for both the 100 and 200 races at nationals.
Action at the NCAA Championships will continue on Friday for the Buffs, starting with sophomore Mark Jones in the high jump which starts at 3:20 p.m. PT and the beginning of the meet will be streamed on the Pac-12 Live Stream (pac-12.com/live/goducks). Senior Aric Van Halen will be on the track at 5:40 p.m. PT for the finals of the men’s steeplechase. That final will be televised live on ESPNU. Live stats will also be available at www.flashresults.com.
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