Saturday, November 23
Terre Haute, Ind.
All Day
University of Colorado
vs
NCAA Championships
Klecker Leads Buffs To 3rd-Place Finish
November 23, 2019 | Cross Country
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — On a wet, rainy course in Terre Haute, Ind., senior Joe Klecker led the Colorado Buffaloes to a third-place men's finish as he finished as the national runner-up in 30:37 at the 2019 NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
The CU men scored 164 team points to finish third, just a single point behind Northern Arizona in second while BYU took the team title with 109 total points. On the women's side, Sage Hurta marked her fourth All-America honor as the Buffs finished 10th overall.
Covered in mud and gutting it out, Klecker never left the top-10 in the race through any of the splits. The senior crossed the first 3,000-meters in 8:55, just two and a half seconds from first and in the eighth spot. He moved up one position at the halfway mark as John Dressel momentarily passed Klecker, but in the following second-half, Klecker eyed the lead. He moved up to third through 8,000-meters and made his final pass in the final 400 meters to finish as the national runner-up. His second-place finish is the highest for a CU Buff on the men's side since Dathan Ritzenhein's national championship in 2003.
Dressel finished in seventh for the men, giving CU the best 1-2 punch in the nation as the only team with two in the top-10. With the finish, Dressel becomes the fourth CU man to earn four All-America honors in cross country.
Possibly the breakout performance of the year goes to Alec Hornecker, a walk-on transfer from Golden High School. Hornecker began the race in fifth for Colorado in the 89th position through 3,000. In the next 2,000 meters, he began a strong surge to 60th, then jumped all the way to 36th overall by the 8K mark. Hornecker finished 38th overall for his first All-America honor.
Rounding out the men's top-five was Eduardo Herrera in 55th and freshman Kashon Harrison in 90th. Herrera began the race in 57th and moved as high as 47th through the halfway mark. Harrison started strong in 53rd but faded to 98th by the 8,000 mark. A strong surge made a huge difference in the team points as he finished eight positions higher.
For the women, the Buffaloes finished 10th with 294 team points. Arkansas completed the calendar sweep, winning the championship with 96 points to join their indoor and outdoor track titles from 2019.
Senior Sage Hurta led the women with a 37th overall finish, sealing her position in the CU record books as just the second four-time All-America recipient in school history, joining Shalaya Kipp.
Holly Bent was CU's next runner, crossing the finish line 44th overall. She never left the top-50 as she moved from 49th to her finishing spot in the final 2,000 meters. Rachel McArthur made up lots of points after dropping to 110th through 4K. She jumped 25 spots to 85 to finish as CU's third runner.
Annie Hill crossed the line fourth as she moved up 21 spots in the final 2K from 121st to 100th. CU's final fifth runner was Tabor Scholl in 126th.
MEN'S RACE:
The men opened the first 3,000-meters in third place with 172 points, just three points from second. Klecker started in the top-10 in the eighth-spot, followed by Dressel in 15th. The two seniors were less than three seconds from the lead and ran their 3K under nine minutes. Harrison crossed the mark in 53rd while Herrera was 57th and Hornecker was 89th. The men stayed there through the first half of the race as Klecker and Dressel moved into the top-10 in sixth and seventh. Hornecker made a big push to move to 60th, up 29 spots in 2,000-meters. The race began to unfold as Klecker made his move to third with 2,000-meters remaining as Dressel stayed in eighth and Hornecker moved up to 36th. Herrera was in 54th and Harrison in 98th overall as the men were tied for second with NAU. In the final 400 meters, Klecker moved into second where he would finish followed by Dressel in seventh, Hornecker in 38th to give CU three All-Americans. Herrera finished 55th and Harrison finished 90th as the Buffs finished just one-point behind NAU in second place.
WOMEN'S RACE:
The women hit the first third of the race in fifth place with 216 points, just three positions from the podium behind Wisconsin. Hurta led the way in 23rd overall, just a second behind the leader. Scholl and Bent hugged the top-50 in 46th and 49th, followed by Hill in 82nd and McArthur in 89th. All five women were under 6:43 and separated by just five seconds. The team dropped 100 points in the next 2,000-meters to 11th overall as Hurta held tight in 28th as the only Buff under seven minutes for both 2K splits. Bent stayed tight in the 49th position while Scholl dropped to 107th right in front of McArthur in 110th. Hill fell to 121st. The women made moves in the final third as Hurta fell to 37th overall but finished with her fourth All-America honor. Bent moved up five spots to finish 44th overall with the team's fastest final 2K split of 7:07, while McArthur made a huge 25-position jump to 85th overall. Hill jumped 21 spots to 100th and Scholl rounded out the top-five for the Buffaloes in 126th.
NOTES:
-Hurta becomes the second-ever CU Buff woman to earn four All-America honors in her career, joining Shalaya Kipp.
-John Dressel become the fourth CU man to earn four All-America honors
-Alec Hornecker joins an exclusive list: walk-on to All-American
-This is the women's seventh-straight top-10 finish
-The men have finished inside the top-10 for nine-straight years
QUOTES:
HEAD COACH MARK WETMORE
On overall performance: "That was a good day. Pleased to end up on the podium again. Wouldn't mind one point less. I should've yelled louder out there."
On Joe's runner-up finish: "I feel very happy for him. He's such a great guy and a great leader and to finish second here today is an excellent end to his cross country career."
On John's All-American career: "Not many men get four-time All-American. He had an excellent race today, his best race ever, obviously difficult conditions. But him and Joe overcome the difficulties."
On Alec's walk-on to All-American: "Everywhere I've gone all season people have been asking, 'Who the hell is Alec Hornecker?' and I say, 'He's the guy that knocked on my door and said I'm coming on to your team.' I didn't make it easy for him and he didn't need it to be easy and looked what happened. Alec should be super proud of All-American."
On only one point from NAU: "Kashon didn't have his best race of the year, he's been bulletproof since early September. Maybe the mud got him. I haven't seen him yet. He's one of the best freshmen in the country. I can't fault him. We tell him that we've won once by one point, but we'll tell him now that we've gotten third once by one point."
On pre-race advice: "We tell them to stay calm and everyone is in it so panic the least."
On Sage Hurta's run: "I know she's not happy with that position, but I know deep down she'll still be pretty satisfied with being a four-time All-American with it being as rare as it is. Our team wasn't brilliant, but they got around the course. It was a star-crossed year for the women, and I know they think they could've done some things differently since September to be a little further up but we'll talk about that after Thanksgiving."
On Tabor's injury: "She had an injury of her lower leg at the regionals eight days ago. Our training staff went into full speed ahead trying to get her patched up. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to run her at all, it was only yesterday that I felt confident she could race fairly well. Today she raced fairly well but not what she should've been based on six weeks ago."
On looking ahead to the future: "On the men's side, John and Joe go out and they have been impeccable leaders so I have to see who will rise up. I wouldn't have thought of this six weeks ago, but it might be Alec. He may be the guy to take the reins and take them to another level. The women's side, we need some leaders to rise up. Sage is completed her eligibility, although she will be here next year for indoor and outdoor track. Tabor will be done."
On Joe's time at CU: "The scholarship that he came on with was less than he deserved because we didn't have anything. But he wanted to be a Buffalo so badly that he took less than other teams were offering him with the promise that once people moved out, we'd put him where he belonged. It was fair but it was important that he made the decision to take less in order to come here and prove what a team guy he is. He's a very hard worker. He's a Minnesota guy not looking for easy conditions. His parents were very good endurance athletes. There's no easy way to do what he does, no easy way for them to do what they do. They gave him their work ethic. He brought it to us. We're used to that. He blossomed here."
SENIOR JOE KLECKER
On strategies for the race: "It was a matter of being patient. It was a very muddy course today, so it would've been very hard for someone to run away with it from the beginning of the race. I just tried to stay patient and wait until the last two kilometers to really go for it and fortunately I was able to beat everyone except one person, so I was happy with that. Just being patient was the name of the game in these muddy conditions."
On finishing 3rd as a team overall: "I don't think anyone in our top seven is going to be happy with finishing third. We had higher goals than that. But to finish third and have it be a pretty off day is encouraging and moving forward the team is in a good spot to do well in the next couple of years with upcoming guys."
On Alec Hornecker: "Alec's very hard working. It's not a surprise to anyone on the team that he was an All American today. He trained all summer, all season, every day. It's not much of a surprise for him to finish 38th , I think that just kind of shows where he's at. I think honestly, he would've wanted more out of himself than 38th today.
SENIOR SAGE HURTA:
On the feeling of being an All-American: "I'm really honored. More than anything I feel lucky because it's so rare to have four dates where you can be top 40 and be on top of your game. I've had good days here; I've had bad days here. To be All-American no matter what happens is really a testament to hard work every day and also just a little bit of luck."
On racing with this group of women: "It's hard to imagine given last year we were the national champions but I'm just as proud to be running with the women today. Everyone here was fighting their own personal battles. The expectations for each person and each team are different year to year. I was just proud of how tough everyone was and how we were able to come together and run as a team."
2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships
LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Terre Haute, Ind.
Women's Team Standings—1. Arkansas 96; 2. BYU 102; 3. Stanford 123; 4. New Mexico 168; 5. NC State 190; 6. Michigan State 209; 7. Wisconsin 235; 8. Air Force 259; 9. Furman 290; 10. Colorado 294; 11. Washington 296; 12. Florida State 308; 13. Michigan 395; 14. N. Arizona 406; 15. Notre Dame 415; 16. Utah 471; 17. Boise State 474; 18. Penn State 482; 19. Indiana 509; 20. Boston College 514; 21. Ole Miss 541; 22. Illinois 549; 23. Ohio State 566; 24. Villanova 575; 25. Tulsa 584; 26. Oregon 618; 27. Columbia 624; 28. Minnesota 691; 29. Cornell 693; 30. Texas 713; 31. Harvard 782.
Women's Individual 6-Kilometer Leaders (252 finishers)—1. Weini Kelati, UNM, 19:47.5; 2. Alicia Monson, Wis., 19:57. 1; 3. Katie Izzo, Ark., 19:59.3; 4. Taylor Werner, Ark., 20:11:1; 5. Courtney Wayment, BYU, 20:16.1; 6. Erica Birk, BYU, 20:16.1; 7. Whittni Orton, BYU, 20:17.0; 8. Ella Donaghu, Stanford, 20:17.9; 9. Ednah Kurgat, UNM, 20:18.4; 10. Elly Henes, NC State, 20:20.7.
CU Finishers: 38. Sage Hurta, 20:44.3; 43. Holly Bent, 20:54.0; 85. Rachel McArthur, 21:10.2; 100. Annie Hill, 21:16.2; 126. Tabor Scholl, 21:52.2; 189. Karina Mann, 21.58.1; 216. Madison Boreman, 22:13.3
Men's Team Standings—1. BYU 109; 2. N. Ariz 163; 3. Colorado 164; 4. Iowa State 211; 5. Tulsa 243; 6. Stanford 248; 7. Michigan 250; 8. Notre Dame 269; 9. Oregon 307; 10. Portland 314; 11. Purdue 338; 12. Iona 348; 13. Indiana 367; 14. Furman 379; 15. Harvard 384; 16. Utah State 428; 17. Virginia Tech 451; 18. Wisconsin 462; 19. Washington 466; 20. Virginia 468; 21. Boise State 525; 22. Ole Miss 535; 23. Villanova 556; 24. Alabama 582; 25. Texas 588; 26. NC State 605; 27. Syracuse 610; 28. Georgetown 676; 29. Florida State 694; 30. Arkansas 728; 31. Mid. Tenn. State 865.
Men's Individual 10-Kilometer Leaders (249 finishers)—1. Edwin Kurgat, Iowa State, 30:32.7; 2. Joe Klecker, CU, 30:37.1; 3. Conner Mantz, BYU, 30:40.0; 4. Peter Seufer, Virginia Tech 30:40.1; 5. Vincent Kiprop, Alabama, 30:43.5; 6. Cooper Teare, Oregon, 30:49.2.; 7. John Dressel, CU, 30:52.2; 8. Amon Kemboi, Cambell, 30:55.9; 9. Gilbert Kigen, Alabama, 30:57.2; 10. Jaret Carpenter, Purdue, 30:58.7.
CU Finishers: 38. Alec Hornecker, 31:18.5; 55. Eduardo Herrera, 31:32.4; 90. Kashon Harrison, 31:55.9; 139. Gabe Fendel, 32:16.3; 150. Austin Vancil, 32:19.6.
The CU men scored 164 team points to finish third, just a single point behind Northern Arizona in second while BYU took the team title with 109 total points. On the women's side, Sage Hurta marked her fourth All-America honor as the Buffs finished 10th overall.
Covered in mud and gutting it out, Klecker never left the top-10 in the race through any of the splits. The senior crossed the first 3,000-meters in 8:55, just two and a half seconds from first and in the eighth spot. He moved up one position at the halfway mark as John Dressel momentarily passed Klecker, but in the following second-half, Klecker eyed the lead. He moved up to third through 8,000-meters and made his final pass in the final 400 meters to finish as the national runner-up. His second-place finish is the highest for a CU Buff on the men's side since Dathan Ritzenhein's national championship in 2003.
Dressel finished in seventh for the men, giving CU the best 1-2 punch in the nation as the only team with two in the top-10. With the finish, Dressel becomes the fourth CU man to earn four All-America honors in cross country.
Possibly the breakout performance of the year goes to Alec Hornecker, a walk-on transfer from Golden High School. Hornecker began the race in fifth for Colorado in the 89th position through 3,000. In the next 2,000 meters, he began a strong surge to 60th, then jumped all the way to 36th overall by the 8K mark. Hornecker finished 38th overall for his first All-America honor.
Rounding out the men's top-five was Eduardo Herrera in 55th and freshman Kashon Harrison in 90th. Herrera began the race in 57th and moved as high as 47th through the halfway mark. Harrison started strong in 53rd but faded to 98th by the 8,000 mark. A strong surge made a huge difference in the team points as he finished eight positions higher.
For the women, the Buffaloes finished 10th with 294 team points. Arkansas completed the calendar sweep, winning the championship with 96 points to join their indoor and outdoor track titles from 2019.
Senior Sage Hurta led the women with a 37th overall finish, sealing her position in the CU record books as just the second four-time All-America recipient in school history, joining Shalaya Kipp.
Holly Bent was CU's next runner, crossing the finish line 44th overall. She never left the top-50 as she moved from 49th to her finishing spot in the final 2,000 meters. Rachel McArthur made up lots of points after dropping to 110th through 4K. She jumped 25 spots to 85 to finish as CU's third runner.
Annie Hill crossed the line fourth as she moved up 21 spots in the final 2K from 121st to 100th. CU's final fifth runner was Tabor Scholl in 126th.
MEN'S RACE:
The men opened the first 3,000-meters in third place with 172 points, just three points from second. Klecker started in the top-10 in the eighth-spot, followed by Dressel in 15th. The two seniors were less than three seconds from the lead and ran their 3K under nine minutes. Harrison crossed the mark in 53rd while Herrera was 57th and Hornecker was 89th. The men stayed there through the first half of the race as Klecker and Dressel moved into the top-10 in sixth and seventh. Hornecker made a big push to move to 60th, up 29 spots in 2,000-meters. The race began to unfold as Klecker made his move to third with 2,000-meters remaining as Dressel stayed in eighth and Hornecker moved up to 36th. Herrera was in 54th and Harrison in 98th overall as the men were tied for second with NAU. In the final 400 meters, Klecker moved into second where he would finish followed by Dressel in seventh, Hornecker in 38th to give CU three All-Americans. Herrera finished 55th and Harrison finished 90th as the Buffs finished just one-point behind NAU in second place.
WOMEN'S RACE:
The women hit the first third of the race in fifth place with 216 points, just three positions from the podium behind Wisconsin. Hurta led the way in 23rd overall, just a second behind the leader. Scholl and Bent hugged the top-50 in 46th and 49th, followed by Hill in 82nd and McArthur in 89th. All five women were under 6:43 and separated by just five seconds. The team dropped 100 points in the next 2,000-meters to 11th overall as Hurta held tight in 28th as the only Buff under seven minutes for both 2K splits. Bent stayed tight in the 49th position while Scholl dropped to 107th right in front of McArthur in 110th. Hill fell to 121st. The women made moves in the final third as Hurta fell to 37th overall but finished with her fourth All-America honor. Bent moved up five spots to finish 44th overall with the team's fastest final 2K split of 7:07, while McArthur made a huge 25-position jump to 85th overall. Hill jumped 21 spots to 100th and Scholl rounded out the top-five for the Buffaloes in 126th.
NOTES:
-Hurta becomes the second-ever CU Buff woman to earn four All-America honors in her career, joining Shalaya Kipp.
-John Dressel become the fourth CU man to earn four All-America honors
-Alec Hornecker joins an exclusive list: walk-on to All-American
-This is the women's seventh-straight top-10 finish
-The men have finished inside the top-10 for nine-straight years
QUOTES:
HEAD COACH MARK WETMORE
On overall performance: "That was a good day. Pleased to end up on the podium again. Wouldn't mind one point less. I should've yelled louder out there."
On Joe's runner-up finish: "I feel very happy for him. He's such a great guy and a great leader and to finish second here today is an excellent end to his cross country career."
On John's All-American career: "Not many men get four-time All-American. He had an excellent race today, his best race ever, obviously difficult conditions. But him and Joe overcome the difficulties."
On Alec's walk-on to All-American: "Everywhere I've gone all season people have been asking, 'Who the hell is Alec Hornecker?' and I say, 'He's the guy that knocked on my door and said I'm coming on to your team.' I didn't make it easy for him and he didn't need it to be easy and looked what happened. Alec should be super proud of All-American."
On only one point from NAU: "Kashon didn't have his best race of the year, he's been bulletproof since early September. Maybe the mud got him. I haven't seen him yet. He's one of the best freshmen in the country. I can't fault him. We tell him that we've won once by one point, but we'll tell him now that we've gotten third once by one point."
On pre-race advice: "We tell them to stay calm and everyone is in it so panic the least."
On Sage Hurta's run: "I know she's not happy with that position, but I know deep down she'll still be pretty satisfied with being a four-time All-American with it being as rare as it is. Our team wasn't brilliant, but they got around the course. It was a star-crossed year for the women, and I know they think they could've done some things differently since September to be a little further up but we'll talk about that after Thanksgiving."
On Tabor's injury: "She had an injury of her lower leg at the regionals eight days ago. Our training staff went into full speed ahead trying to get her patched up. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to run her at all, it was only yesterday that I felt confident she could race fairly well. Today she raced fairly well but not what she should've been based on six weeks ago."
On looking ahead to the future: "On the men's side, John and Joe go out and they have been impeccable leaders so I have to see who will rise up. I wouldn't have thought of this six weeks ago, but it might be Alec. He may be the guy to take the reins and take them to another level. The women's side, we need some leaders to rise up. Sage is completed her eligibility, although she will be here next year for indoor and outdoor track. Tabor will be done."
On Joe's time at CU: "The scholarship that he came on with was less than he deserved because we didn't have anything. But he wanted to be a Buffalo so badly that he took less than other teams were offering him with the promise that once people moved out, we'd put him where he belonged. It was fair but it was important that he made the decision to take less in order to come here and prove what a team guy he is. He's a very hard worker. He's a Minnesota guy not looking for easy conditions. His parents were very good endurance athletes. There's no easy way to do what he does, no easy way for them to do what they do. They gave him their work ethic. He brought it to us. We're used to that. He blossomed here."
SENIOR JOE KLECKER
On strategies for the race: "It was a matter of being patient. It was a very muddy course today, so it would've been very hard for someone to run away with it from the beginning of the race. I just tried to stay patient and wait until the last two kilometers to really go for it and fortunately I was able to beat everyone except one person, so I was happy with that. Just being patient was the name of the game in these muddy conditions."
On finishing 3rd as a team overall: "I don't think anyone in our top seven is going to be happy with finishing third. We had higher goals than that. But to finish third and have it be a pretty off day is encouraging and moving forward the team is in a good spot to do well in the next couple of years with upcoming guys."
On Alec Hornecker: "Alec's very hard working. It's not a surprise to anyone on the team that he was an All American today. He trained all summer, all season, every day. It's not much of a surprise for him to finish 38th , I think that just kind of shows where he's at. I think honestly, he would've wanted more out of himself than 38th today.
SENIOR SAGE HURTA:
On the feeling of being an All-American: "I'm really honored. More than anything I feel lucky because it's so rare to have four dates where you can be top 40 and be on top of your game. I've had good days here; I've had bad days here. To be All-American no matter what happens is really a testament to hard work every day and also just a little bit of luck."
On racing with this group of women: "It's hard to imagine given last year we were the national champions but I'm just as proud to be running with the women today. Everyone here was fighting their own personal battles. The expectations for each person and each team are different year to year. I was just proud of how tough everyone was and how we were able to come together and run as a team."
2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships
LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Terre Haute, Ind.
Women's Team Standings—1. Arkansas 96; 2. BYU 102; 3. Stanford 123; 4. New Mexico 168; 5. NC State 190; 6. Michigan State 209; 7. Wisconsin 235; 8. Air Force 259; 9. Furman 290; 10. Colorado 294; 11. Washington 296; 12. Florida State 308; 13. Michigan 395; 14. N. Arizona 406; 15. Notre Dame 415; 16. Utah 471; 17. Boise State 474; 18. Penn State 482; 19. Indiana 509; 20. Boston College 514; 21. Ole Miss 541; 22. Illinois 549; 23. Ohio State 566; 24. Villanova 575; 25. Tulsa 584; 26. Oregon 618; 27. Columbia 624; 28. Minnesota 691; 29. Cornell 693; 30. Texas 713; 31. Harvard 782.
Women's Individual 6-Kilometer Leaders (252 finishers)—1. Weini Kelati, UNM, 19:47.5; 2. Alicia Monson, Wis., 19:57. 1; 3. Katie Izzo, Ark., 19:59.3; 4. Taylor Werner, Ark., 20:11:1; 5. Courtney Wayment, BYU, 20:16.1; 6. Erica Birk, BYU, 20:16.1; 7. Whittni Orton, BYU, 20:17.0; 8. Ella Donaghu, Stanford, 20:17.9; 9. Ednah Kurgat, UNM, 20:18.4; 10. Elly Henes, NC State, 20:20.7.
CU Finishers: 38. Sage Hurta, 20:44.3; 43. Holly Bent, 20:54.0; 85. Rachel McArthur, 21:10.2; 100. Annie Hill, 21:16.2; 126. Tabor Scholl, 21:52.2; 189. Karina Mann, 21.58.1; 216. Madison Boreman, 22:13.3
Men's Team Standings—1. BYU 109; 2. N. Ariz 163; 3. Colorado 164; 4. Iowa State 211; 5. Tulsa 243; 6. Stanford 248; 7. Michigan 250; 8. Notre Dame 269; 9. Oregon 307; 10. Portland 314; 11. Purdue 338; 12. Iona 348; 13. Indiana 367; 14. Furman 379; 15. Harvard 384; 16. Utah State 428; 17. Virginia Tech 451; 18. Wisconsin 462; 19. Washington 466; 20. Virginia 468; 21. Boise State 525; 22. Ole Miss 535; 23. Villanova 556; 24. Alabama 582; 25. Texas 588; 26. NC State 605; 27. Syracuse 610; 28. Georgetown 676; 29. Florida State 694; 30. Arkansas 728; 31. Mid. Tenn. State 865.
Men's Individual 10-Kilometer Leaders (249 finishers)—1. Edwin Kurgat, Iowa State, 30:32.7; 2. Joe Klecker, CU, 30:37.1; 3. Conner Mantz, BYU, 30:40.0; 4. Peter Seufer, Virginia Tech 30:40.1; 5. Vincent Kiprop, Alabama, 30:43.5; 6. Cooper Teare, Oregon, 30:49.2.; 7. John Dressel, CU, 30:52.2; 8. Amon Kemboi, Cambell, 30:55.9; 9. Gilbert Kigen, Alabama, 30:57.2; 10. Jaret Carpenter, Purdue, 30:58.7.
CU Finishers: 38. Alec Hornecker, 31:18.5; 55. Eduardo Herrera, 31:32.4; 90. Kashon Harrison, 31:55.9; 139. Gabe Fendel, 32:16.3; 150. Austin Vancil, 32:19.6.