TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — University of Colorado senior Jenny Barringer recorded her second individual victory of the season and led the No. 19 women to a first-place finish in the ‘blue’ race at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational on Saturday at the La Vern Gibson Cross Country Course.
The CU men, who are tied for fourth in the national poll, also had a solid performance and came away with a second-place team finish in the men’s ‘white’ race. Christian Thompson was the men’s top finisher by crossing the finish 14th overall.
Barringer ran the 6-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 50.9 seconds and finished almost a full 30 seconds ahead of Florida State’s Susan Kuijken, who ran a mark of 20:22.8. Barringer ran the majority of the race as a time trial, coming across the midway point at 9:46.6. She was 25 seconds in front of Kuijken, whose 3k split was 10:10.5, and was able to cruise to the finish.
The win for Barringer helped to propel the Buffs to the top placing in the team standings, but she couldn’t do it on her own. Two freshmen had an outstanding showing for the Buffs to help earn the top honor. Allie McLaughlin, who was the runner-up at the Rocky Mountain Shootout two weeks ago, recorded a top-10 finish by crossing the tape in 20:45.6. She was .5 seconds behind ninth-place finisher Emily Infield (Georgetown) and beat Michigan State’s Emily MacLeod by .6 seconds (20:47.2).
Laura Tremblay, another freshman, was the 24th harrier to finish the race (21:11.9) and was the third CU runner to finish. Tremblay was fourth at the Rocky Mountain Shootout, but ran that meet unattached. This was the first big race of the season for her in a black and gold uniform.
Junior Laura Thweatt was the fourth Buff to score. She finished 27th overall, recording a time of 21:15.2. Thweatt recorded a personal best with the performance, beating her previous record of 21:29.9. Sophomore Emma Coburn rounded out the team score by taking 32nd. She finished in 21:20.2. Coburn had a personal record as well, finishing 51 seconds faster than last season (22:12.0).
In total the Buffalo women recorded 94 points and defeated No. 11 Florida State by 46 points as the Seminoles tallied 135 points. Oregon, which is ranked No. 4, took third overall. The Ducks were lead by freshman Jordan Hasay who finished third in 20:33.00.
Thompson ran the 8k men’s course in a personal record 24:04.0. He defeated his previous best of 24:43.8 which he set a year ago when he finished 79th overall. Junior Richard Medina was just three places behind him (17th overall) and ran a time of 24:07.3. His mark was also a 16.7 second personal best.
Senior Jordan Kyle ran his first race for the Buffs in the black and gold this season and came away with a 28th-place finish. He ran a time of 24:14.2 and was closely followed by teammate senior Kenyon Neuman who took 32nd overall. Neuman ran a time of 24:16.3. Sophomore Andy Wacker was the fifth Buff to finish the race and came across in 24:22.5 and was 39th overall.
The men finished second with 130 points. No. 1 Stanford won the men’s ‘white’ race with 47 points. Portland, which is ranked No. 8, was third with 211 points.
The Buffs have next weekend off to prepare for the Big 12 Championship on October 31, in Columbia, Mo. The men have won 12 of 13 Big 12 titles, while the women have won 11.
NCAA PRE-NATIONAL INVITATIONAL
Terre Haute, Ind. (Indiana State University)
La Vern Gibson Cross Country Course
Top 10 Men’s Teams (‘White’ Race – 35 total)
1. Stanford, 47; 2. Colorado 130; 3. BYU 163; 4. Portland, 211; 5. Iona, 218; 6. Arizona State, 232; 7. New Mexico 278; 8. Florida State, 288; 9. Louisville, 289; 10. Iowa State, 301.
Men’s 8k Individual Top-10 Finishers (of 267)
1. Chris Derrick, Stanford, 23:27.1; 2. Samuel Chelanga, Liberty, 23:34.6; 3. Elliott Heath, Stanford, 23:39.6; 4. Ryan Sheridan, Iona, 23:46.7; 5. Hassan Mead, Minnesota, 23:49.2; 6. Brandon Bethke, Arizona State, 23:49.4; 7. Jacob Kirwa, New Mexico, 23:51.7; 8. Alfred Kipchumba, Portland, 23:53.3; 9. Barnabas Kirui, Mississippi, 23:55.5; 10. Justin Marpole-Bird, Stanford, 23:57.9.
CU Finishers: 14. Christian Thompson, 24:04.0; 17. Richard Medina, 24:07.3; 28. Jordan Kyle, 24:14.2; 32. Kenyon Neuman, 24:16.3; 39; Andrew Wacker, 24:22.5; 160. Seth DeMoor, 25:49.2
Men’s Open Race (CU Athletes Only)
8. Aric Van Halen, 25:20.7; 12. Martin Medina, 25:29.4; 15. Cameron Clayton, 25:33.5.
Top 10 Women’s Teams (‘Blue’ Race – 37 total)
1. Colorado, 94; 2. Florida State, 135; 3. Oregon, 169; 4. Georgetown, 200; 5. Stanford, 206; 6. Arizona, 225; 7. Iowa State, 231; 8. Iowa, 283; 9. UTEP, 284; 10. Michigan State, 302.
Women’s 5k Individual Top-10 Finishers (of 249)
1. Jenny Barringer, Colorado, 19:50.9; 2. Susan Kuijken, Florida State, 20:20.8; 3. Jordan Hasay, Oregon, 20:33.0; 4. Risper Kimaiyo, UTEP, 20:33.9; 5. Janet Jesang, Western Kentucky, 20:34.5; 6. Beverly Ramos, Kansas State, 20:36.6; 7. Pasca Cheruiyot, Florida State, 20:36.6; 8. Lisa Koll, Iowa State, 20:40.5; 9. Emily Infeld, Georgetown, 20:45.1; 10. Allie McLaughlin, CU, 20:45.6.
