Nov. 25, 2002
2002 NCAA DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Men's Results: Team | Individual
Women's Results: Team | Individual
Terre Haute, Ind. - After individual runner-up finishes in last year's cross country, indoor 5k and outdoor 5k national championships, University of Colorado senior Jorge Torres claimed his first individual national title with the men's crown in Monday's NCAA Cross Country Championships in a course record 29:04.7 at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center Monday.
The CU men, paced by Torres' title and his twin brother Ed's 10th place finish, finished fourth in the men's team standings while the CU women, who were led by Sara Gorton's 10th place lead, finished fifth.
"I am happy with our overall results," said coach Mark Wetmore. "We ran the races we had within us. We are leaving here satisfied and are excited about our future lineup for next year."
"I'm speechless," said Torres. "I can't put this into words. I'm glad to say that I'm finally a national champion. This was my last college cross country race and to come away with this championship.... I'm glad to say that I had the opportunity."
NCAA runner of the year Shalane Flanagan of North Carolina won the women's individual championship, establishing a course-record 19:36, 12 seconds ahead of Yale's Katie O'Neill (19:48). The top-ranked Brigham Young women successfully defending their team title, edging Stanford 85-113. The Stanford men put on a clinic, as four Cardinal finished among the top-10 and their fifth scorer finished 25th to win the men's team trophy.
The women's race was a 2,000-m battle between Briana Shook of Toledo and Shalane Flanagan of North Carolina before Flanigan took control of the race with a 30-m lead at the 3k mark with Yale's Katie O'Neill behind her and Colorado's Sara Gorton and Stanford's Alicia Craig leading a chase pack at the 3k mark of the race.
From the gun of the men's race, Arkansas' Alistair Cragg took the race's initial lead, but it would soon turn into the best individual race in recent years between Cragg, teammate Daniel Lincoln, Torres, Alabama's David Kimani, Eastern Michigan's Boaz Cheboiywo and Dartmouth's Tom McCardle.
At the 2.5 kilometer mark, it was Lincoln, Torres, Kimani and Cheboiywo. The 3k pace was 8:44 and Cheboiywo had the edge of the lead pack which continued to be Torres, Lincoln and Kimani. Just after the 3k mark Cheboiywo broke away with McCardle, Kimani, Cragg and Torres trailing.
At the halfway mark, the crowd was already chanting, "Torres, Torres, Torres," as the lead pack of Cheboiywo, Torres, Cragg and Kimani with Linoln and McCardle trailing as they passed the finish area. At that point of the race, Stanford already had four runners among the top-15 in the chase pack.
Cheboiywo dropped off his lead after running a 19:10 7k and Torres picked up his pace with Cragg and Kimani hanging on. At the 8k it was Torres and Cragg running shoulder to shoulder with Kimani 20 seconds back when Cragg made a move and Torres covered. That's the way the race would continue as the tandem took the final turn into the final straightaway and Torres made a surge to build a 10-meter lead to the finish line with an all-Torres finish line crowd.
"To be honest, I didn't think it would be Cragg (that he would beat). I knew it was going to be a contest, but I visualized Kimani and Boaz with me at the finish," Torres explained. "I knew with 3k to go that Boaz and Kimani were struggling. I had visualized the last 100-m to be a kick at the finish. I had to keep pushing and tightening the screws. The pace was exactly like I pictured it. It was a tough race to the finish."
Torres would go on to set his fifth course record, finishing in 29:04, just two seconds ahead of Cragg (29:06). Ed Torres finished 43 seconds back for a career best 10th place finish, and capping off what was believed to be the best sibling finish in recent history, and trails just last year's 2-4 finish between Jorge and Dathan Ritzenhein in 1-2 team punches.
"Of course I'm thrilled with Jorge's race," Wetmore said. "It was a titanic battle and a thrill to watch. Two men, side by side for three miles, it was really an amazing demonstration of courage."
"I was scared at first because we were running so fast," said Ed Torres. "At the 4k I was going so hard, but I thought that I couldn't go slower. Between the 5 and 6k everyone started spreading apart and I needed to break into the pack. At 8k I was running a faster time and I knew I still had 20 percent of the race to go. But my goal was to get into the top 10 and I knew I could do it."
"Ed is a guy that is always overshadowed by me. I'm proud to say that he's my twin brother, my teammate and my best friend. He showed today that he's got the talent to be one of the best runners in the nation," said Jorge.
The Colorado men may have claimed a third All-American in freshman Billy Nelson who finished 42nd in 30:37.1. Senior Steve Slattery, battling mononucleosis, finished 64th in 30:50.7 while Jon Severy rounded out CU's podium finish in 116th (31:16.5).
"The men ran better than what we really expected," said Wetmore. "We came in ranked fifth and we finished fourth, and had Steve Slattery been 100-percent we maybe could have finished two spots higher."
The women's race was a 2,000-meter battle between North Carolina's Flanagan and Briana Shook of Toledo. Flanagan took control of the race at the 3k mark, taking a 30-meter lead with Yale's Katie O'Neill behind her; Colorado's Sara Gorton and Stanford's Alicia Craig leading a chase pack.
With 200-m to go the women's race started to break apart, as BYU and Stanford would occupy five of the top-15 finishes and Gorton would finish a team-best 10th.
"It was a good race, I felt really relaxed the whole way and in control," said Gorton. " I went out kind of fast and each kilometer I tired to get faster. The last 50-meters I lost stride and lost a few positions at the finish. It was definitely a faster race than at pre-nationals."
But the Buffs would be well represented on the All-American podium with Gorton and Molly Austin (20:15.9) and Natalie Florence (20:16.6) who would finish in tandem in 21st and 22nd, respectively. Tera Moody (21:14.5) and Jackie Zeigle (21:33.4) completed the Buffs' top-five scorers in 94th and 138th.
"I thought I'd do a lot better," said a visibly disappointed Austin. "The first kilometer I was where I wanted to be and I had hoped to catch the lead pack, but I just never warmed up or felt any better and the race just didn't develop the way I wanted. But Natalie had a great race, Sara ran really well and the team did okay."
"The race went the way I wished. Molly and I were together the whole race then with 800-m to go I passed Molly and with 10-m to go she passed me back. That was a long 90 seconds. But I felt great the whole race, even though it was a lot faster than nationals," said Florence.
"Six of the seven women ran faster than the last time we were here, and that's what we aspire to do," Wetmore said. "We finished within our expectations."