CU Cross Country poised for consecutive breakout seasons
Boulder, Colorado has become quite the hotbed for distance runners, and the University of Colorado Boulder is poised to compete for a national title.
“Boulder is the running mecca of the world,” senior Abbey Nechanicky (Mathison) said at CU’s Fall Sports Media Day. “We have a whole community behind us here, and you don’t see that across the country.”
What is so seldom is the men’s and women’s teams both finishing in the top 15 at nationals. The men’s team finished 10th while the women’s team finished 13th.
“We’ve returned big pieces from our roster last year, and we added a lot of new additions,” head coach Sean Carlson said at Fall Sports Media Day. “I think we’re significantly improved from a year ago today.”
Nechanicky finished 76th among all runners at nationals last year, posting a 19:44.8 8k time. Also featured inside the top 100 were rising junior Jessie Secor and rising sophomore Mia Larochelle. Secor finished 69th at nationals, posting a 19:42.4, and was the first Buff across the finish line. Larochelle finished 99th, also posting a sub-20-minute 8k time at 19:57.3.
For the men’s team, Isaiah Givens had a personal best 10k time at nationals last year, posting a time of 29:31.5, good for 88th in the nation. Junior Dominic Serem was the top placer for the Buffs last year at nationals, finishing 58th with a time of 29:18.0. Sophomore Jake Liebert finished second among Buffs competitors and 68th overall.
Givens finished fourth for the Buffs, ahead of senior Dean Casey, who finished 92nd overall in the final race. James Overberg finished third among the Buffs and 74th overall.
Still, both Colorado teams are talent-laden.
“We’re not really worried about our ability this year; we know what we're capable of,” Givens said at CU’s Fall Sports Media Day. “The expectation is to be what we know we can be.”
“It’s been super cool to grow these past couple years,” Nechanicky said. “Coming into this season, it’s the most driven and motivated group of girls we’ve had so far.”
In his third year as head coach, Carlson has pushed CU and its athletes to help build a culture of success.
“More than anything, it’s the guys [that’s kept me here],” Givens said. “On top of that, the support we get from the university, the access to facilities, they give us absolutely everything we need, and I don’t think you can really find that somewhere else.”
The Buffs are about a week into their practices by now, and will change shoes three to four times a session.
“The amount of money we put into shoes is crazy. We have spikes, we have flats, carbon-plated, we have trainers. Depending on the different sessions we’ll switch out of those,” Carlson said. “The entire training philosophy has changed because of carbon-plated shoes; it’s becoming more science-based.”
Carbon-plated shoes are designed to give more of a spring in each step and propel the athlete forward, reducing race times and providing an improved running economy; it takes less effort to move forward.
Colorado begins its season in Cheyenne, Wyoming at the Wyoming Invitational on Sep. 4 and will also compete in the highly anticipated Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin on Oct. 9 as a part of their five-meet schedule.
The Buffs will then compete in the Big 12 Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Oct. 31 before the NCAA Mountain Regionals in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Nov. 13. The Buffs will round out their season in Terre Haute, Indiana for the NCAA Championships.
With a new recruiting philosophy and a new pep in their step, the Colorado Buffaloes will be a running giant in years to come because of the talent and culture Carlson and staff have built.
“It’s not just the talent pool, but I think the culture of the program in general has gone the right direction,” Carlson said. “We’re gonna be in the conversation this year.”
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