Tremendous Race on tap in Eastern Washington

Published by Adam Schneider/Runnerspace.com/College on October 29, 2015

The Pac-12 meet is so tough this year it is possible to have three NCAA trophy teams from the men’s races and two-time NCAA individual champion Edward Cheserek looking for his third title. If health works out for these teams it is very likely the teams could at least make the top six. 

The men’s race will be a great test for two-time defending NCAA champion Colorado, looking to win their fifth in a row (fifth season in the Pac-12). 

Coach Mark Wetmore of Colorado has an option on this year that he wants to play by sitting junior Ben Saarel and give him the next two years to finish his Engineering degree (3.90 GPA). The senior (Ammar Moussa, Pierce Murphy, Connor Winter, and Morgan Pearson) heavy Buffalo team could use Saarel to lead the Buffaloes to two more NCAA titles in 2016 and 2017. What Coach Wetmore has to worry about is finding a combination to win the NCAA title this year. At Pre-Nationals freshmen John Dressel was 46th and Ryan Forsyth was 51st to finish as Colorado’s #5/#6. If Syracuse can get continued improvement from injured senior Dan Lennon Wetmore may have to go ahead and run Saarel at the NCAA meet. Coach Wetmore’s plan is to win the Pac-12 Championships.

From the pre-meet interview with Neill Woelk, contributing editor for the Colorado Buffaloes website, “We’ll go as hard as we can at the Pac-12,” Wetmore said. “There isn’t a worry about going too hard there. If there’s a worry, I’d say there’s a worry about going too hard two weeks later at NCAA regionals. That’s where we want to do just what’s necessary.”

Stanford has yet to run their top 7 together in the same race and this is the meet. All of the redshirt options have been used for the expected top 10 except for freshman Grant Fisher.  The Rosa twins, Joe and Jim, could easily finish in the top 10 along with junior Sean McGorty and true freshman Grant Fisher. 

Oregon has run three races with different levels of energy expenditure. At Bill Dellinger runners were coming off summer training only, at the Washington Invitational the team had just finished training at the altitude training of Sunriver and at Pre-Nationals the Ducks went against many trying to acclimate themselves to the NCAA course. At D1 Pre-Nationals junior Jake Leingang (24th) and sophomore Travis Neuman (29th) moved into solid #2/#3 positions and helped the Ducks get second. Freshman Tanner Anderson was 40th and has had two solid races this year (12th at Washington Invitational). By allowing ten runners for each team Oregon can continue to challenge its depth and see who rises to the top.

It is unlikely that anyone else will break up this top three but if they do it would have to be significant races from UCLA, Washington, or California. Lane Werley has finally had a run of good health and has led the Bruins all year. Husky redshirt sophomore Colby Gilbert had a stress fracture during the early part of the season but was healthy and training well before his injury while senior Tyler King came into the season injury riddled and he is trying to get back to 2014 form. If they run well they will join a good senior season for Izaic Yorks and create a solid top three for the Huskies. Cal-Berkeley has a number of runners continuing to develop but they have not had a significant performance to indicate they will do more than just get into the NCAA meet. 

Unless Oregon’s Edward Cheserek decides to wrap up the Pac-12 title in a bow and hand it to someone (like he did at Pre-Nationals), he is unlikely to lose what would be his third consecutive title. Because of the break between Pac-12 and NCAA championships he will give a full effort. The Rosa twins and McGorty will push the pace and make this an honest race, if not Cheserek risks defeat to 2015 Pac-12 1500m champion Izaic Yorks of Washington.