Against tough competition, the CU cross country runners will fight to come out on top at the Big 12 Championships.
Taking place in Stillwater, Okla., the race place on Saturday is one of the most important events of the Buffs’ season.
Junior Emma Coburn placed 22nd in the race last year.
“The Big 12 Championship is the team’s biggest goal outside of Nationals… it’s what we’ve been training for,” Coburn said.
Last year, both the men’s and women’s teams earned second overall.
The men finished 32 points behind Oklahoma State and 19 points ahead of Oklahoma, their two biggest competitors.
The women were only 14 points behind first-place Texas Tech and 33 points ahead of Iowa State.
In terms of strategy, Coburn said that a runner’s place in the race in relation to competitors from other schools is more important than finishing time.
“You’re really just looking for the top schools and [trying to] beat these other girls,” she said.
Sophomore Laura Tremblay, who finished 15th in the race last year but is currently the No.1 runner on the women’s team, said she hopes for a finish in the top five this year, and after her second-place finish at Pre-Nationals, that goal certainly looks attainable.
Although, she won’t be the only CU women’s runner looking for a top finish.
“There are quite a few others on the team [who want to finish top five], and we’re all pretty similar talent-wise, so [hopefully we will] all have phenomenal races,” Tremblay said.
The CU men also want a win, hoping to overcome long-time rival Oklahoma State.
“Oklahoma State has beaten us for the last two years, so we really want to go out on top and win,” said junior athlete Christian Thompson.
Several Buffs have seen strong improvement over the course of the season.
The team’s No.1 runner, sophomore Joe Bosshard, earned 19th at the Big 12 Championships last year but more recently earned seventh at this year’s Pre-Nationals Meet.
Junior Andy Wacker, sophomore Andy Van Halen and Christian Thompson have also performed well for the Buffs this season overall and said they hope for top finishes on Saturday.
Thompson said every runner is vital to the team’s success.
“Andy Van Halen had a phenomenal race at Pre-Nats… [but] we really need all nine guys to hopefully run well to win this,” Thompson said.
Because the Big 12 Conference changes the location of the Championships each year, the course will be new to the Buffs.
“[We’ve] never run the course… [but] there was a race here earlier this year that we were able to watch to see what the course would be like… there are lots of up-and-down hills and things to jump over,” Tremblay said.
CU may have an advantage, since the team trains in the mountains of Colorado and at high elevation.
“Compared to other teams, coming down in elevation… will probably give us an advantage,” Tremblay said.
Regardless, runners on both the men’s and women’s side have big plans to dominate the Big 12 Conference this weekend.
“If everything works out as it should, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to win this year,” Tremblay said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Caryn Maconi at Caryn.Maconi@colorado.edu.
