BOULDER – Sara and Brent Vaughn won their respective races while leading the University of Colorado cross country teams to a pair of victories on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the 22nd Annual Rocky Mountain Shootout at the Buffalo Ranch on CU’s South Campus. The men’s team is currently ranked second and the women are ranked third in the USTFCCCA poll.
“Watching them train and knowing they are in great shape, it wasn’t a surprise,” head coach Mark Wetmore said. “We knew that Stephen (Pifer) and Erin (Marston) would be near it.”
Sara and Brent, who were married in July, were extremely excited about the sweep and even talked about the chances of it happening earlier in the week.
“It was cool and we actually talked about it a couple of days ago,” Sara Vaughn said. “We thought it was possibility. I never really thought about winning a cross country race before. But I’m fit and I’ve been training with Erin a lot and its fun.”
The victories were also the first career cross country victories for each of the Vaughns.
“It’s a big day for the Vaughn family,” Brent Vaughn said. “It’s fun and I am really happy for Sara. I knew that she was really fit coming into this race and this may have been Sara’s one chance to win a cross country race. It’s a big confidence booster for her.”
The women started the day by recording a score of 20 points, defeating Wyoming by 19 points. Northern Colorado was third with 83 points and the Air Force “B” team was fourth with 114 points. The Western State women won the Non-Division I race with 29 points.
The Buff men took top honors with 19 points. Wyoming was the runner-up with 44 points while the AFA “B” team was third at 75 points. Northern Colorado finished fourth (116). Western State College also won the men’s Non-Division I race with 16 total points.
Sara Vaughn won the women’s collegiate 5.8 k race in 21 minutes (21:00), setting a pr on the course. Vaughn ran the majority of the way with teammate and training partner Erin Marston, but broke away in the final 800 meters. Marston finished in 21:18.
“We knew that we were going to go out together,” Vaughn said. “We were chit-chatting and knew that we were going to run the same kind of race. We picked it up a lot on the second mile. It’s a really long race for me, so it was nice to have Erin there through two and a half miles and three miles. She got me up that last hill.
“I raced here two years ago and pr’d here earlier this week and then pr’d today by over a minute-twenty, so it looks like I am going to continue to improve. We are going to be really good this year and that is what is exciting for me; to be a part of that and to be a top scorer.”
Freshmen Laura Thweat and Allison Sawyer took sixth and eighth overall. Thweatt, who won the CU Time Trial earlier this month, finished in 22:12. Sawyer finished the course in 22:31.
Anna Chase rounded out the CU score by taking 11th overall, finishing in 22:37.
The CU women showed they have depth. Morgan Ekemo was 14th overall (22:43) and Allison Eckert was 15th (22:49). Jen Hooper finished in 22:52 to take 17th and Emily Hanenburg rounded out the top-20 with a time of 23:02.
Wetmore was happy with the performance from the women in their first team scoring meet of the season.
“We ran what we were hoping for,” Wetmore said. “In some cases we ran a little better, but no cases worse, so we are where we hoped to be.
“There are some people who might rejoin the team later down the season and so given where Sara, Erin and Laura Thweatt and some of the other freshmen are, I am very happy. I really think our trajectory for improvement between now and November can be even steeper than it normally is. I am very happy.”
Junior Jenny Barringer, the 2006 RMS Champion, did not race but is a healthy scratch. Sophomore Aislinn Ryan also sat out.
“I think we are really strong, even without Jenny, so with Jenny we are going to be awesome” Vaughn explained. “We are deep for the first time in a while. Our five through 10 are really up there and we have a solid base. We have a ton of girls who are going to be competing for a spot on the varsity roster. And that is exciting.”
Brent Vaughn ran the majority of the race with last year’s RMS winner Mark Korir. Vaughn finished in 24:46, 15 seconds ahead of Korir (25:01). Fellow senior Stephen Pifer was third overall, improving one position from last year’s meet, with a mark of 25:07.
“I made a big move around the four-mile mark and then I made a big move down the hill right after that,” Vaughn said. “It was a small pr for me. We definitely have a lot of room for improvement though. I’m feeling really good about (winning the race) it. The goal was really to win the race. I wasn’t too concerned about the time. I was just racing today and it felt really good. I’ve never won a cross country race, so it felt really good.”
Pifer showed his fitness and that he will once again be a leader for the Buffs in 2007.
“It (this race) is a huge indication of where I am at this year compared to years past,” Pifer said. “In the last four years, I haven’t dropped more than eight or 10 seconds at once and this year I dropped over 20 seconds, so that is huge improvement over the last couple of years.”
Vaughn’s mark was the sixth fastest time ever recorded at the shootout (24:46).
Kenyon Neuman earned his best varsity finish by crossing the finish in fourth place. He recorded a mark of 25:13, which was a personal record.
Freshmen Richard Medina and Matt Tebo finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Medina finished the 8k course in 25:42, while Tebo recorded a mark of 25:43.
“I think this year is a lot different than years in the past because we have a lot of older guys on the team who have been to the NCAA meet and have won NCAA titles,” Vaughn said. “The younger guys feel that they have a leader(s) who can lead them into every race. It helps a lot because they aren’t going to be as nervous going into the race. It can calm them down and help them get into a rhythm. Kenyon was phenomenal today and I am really very excited for the year. Kenyon is one tough man. He trains tough and is a tough racer.”
Colorado showed its depth on the men’s side by taking nine spots in the top 14. Pete Janson was ninth (25:49), Rob Thayer took 11th (26:11), Brad Harkrader was 12th (26:14) and walk-on Nick Miller was 14th (26:43) in his first meet as a Buffalo.
“In the case of our men, that is our whole team,” Wetmore said. “No one was held out that can enter the line-up later. The men looked good too, but nobody really new to put in except Chris Pannone.”
Pifer thinks this team has what it takes to win and be competitive this year and to prove some people wrong.
“I don’t really pay too much attention to the rankings,” Pifer said. “We have proved rankings wrong before and we would love to do it again this year. This is probably the deepest team since I have been here and I didn’t think I would be saying that after this race with all the youth we have on this team. But we have great leadership.”
The Colorado “B” team will compete next Saturday, Oct. 6 at the Fort Hays Invite in Hays, Kansas. The next meet for the varsity team will be pre-nationals on Saturday, Oct. 13 in Terra Haute, Ind.
--COLORADO--
Courtesy: CUBuffs.com
