NCAA Division I Championships: Coming up Clutch

LOUISVILLE – Now a day removed from the NCAA Division I Championships, it’s time to break things down a little bit further.

We’ve taken a deeper look into the results of yesterday’s men’s 10K and women’s 6K races at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park and uncovered a few athletes and teams who were clutch in the late stages of their respective races.

MEN

Jack Bruce, Arkansas

No All-American runner in the men’s race made a bigger surge in the race’s final two kilometers than Jack Bruce of Arkansas. Bruce’s starring role was an unexpected one, as he was the Razorbacks’ No. 4 runner at the South Central Region and their No. 6 at the SEC Championships. But he performed it admirably as he moved up 22 spots in the final loop to finish 23rd as his Razorbacks finished sixth overall.

Next up on the list of biggest All-American final 2K movers were three men who played heavily into the team battle. Ben Saarel of Colorado, the two-time top-10 NCAA finisher running just his second race of the season, improved 19 positions to 31st during that time while teammate John Dressel, running just his second 10K race ever, handled the transition smoothly with a 15-spot climb to 26th in the final 2K.

But their efforts were ultimately thwarted as the two-time defending national champion Buffaloes would finish runner-up to Syracuse, 82-91. Cuse’s victory came courtesy of a 14-spot jump by 39th-place finisher Philo Germano.

Ernest Kibet of Louisville climbed 11 spots to 18th to help his Cardinals – who were unranked as recently as last weekend – to a seventh-place overall finish. Also improving 11 spots was 38th-place Michael Clevenger of Notre Dame.

Sean Tobin, Mississippi

On a disappointing day for the 30th-place Rebels, one of the few bright spots was that Tobin made the biggest move of anyone in the final two kilometers. He went from outside the top-100 to 68th for a 39-spot improvement by the time he crossed the line. The move continued an overall surge toward the front, as he improved 49 spots between the 5200m and 8000m splits – third-best of anyone in the field.

Oklahoma State

Three of the top nine biggest movers in the final 2000 meters were wearing the bright fluorescent orange of Oklahoma State. Joshua Thompson moved 36 spots, Craig Nowak jumped up 33 (after improving 51 between 5.2K and 8K) and Chad Noelle improved 24. Unfortunately, Nowak was only able to get up to 52nd and Thompson and Noelle both finished outside the top-100. Combined with a 57-spot drop from Cerake Geberkidane and a last-place finish from Big 12 Champ Vegard Olstad, the Cowboys finished 18th overall and missed the top-10 for the first time since 2004 (30th).

WOMEN

All-Americans on the Move

Led by Loevnes’ 88-spot improvement, 13 of the 40 All-Americans moved into top-40 position in the last two-thirds of the race. That in itself isn’t necessarily unusual, but the fact that a full half of the All-Americans made double-digit gains into top-40 status is noteworthy.

With the pace pushed early and throughout the race, there were plenty of opportunities for women to make strong moves up the standings. Six women climbed 50 or more spots: Loevnes, the New Mexico trio of Thackery, Frerichs and Auckland, Vanderbilt’s Caroline Pietrzyk (60 spots) and Vanessa Fraser of Stanford (50).

New Mexico

No team moved up as masterfully as decisive team champion New Mexico. Four runners moved up 60 or more spots in the second two-thirds of the race, including All-Americans Courtney Frerichs, Rhona Auckland and Calli Thackery. We’ll have more on the Lobos today on USTFCCCA.org

Oklahoma State

Just like their OSU men’s teammates, the Cowgirls’ runners made significant gains in the late stages of the race. Unlike their male counterparts, however, the women were able to parlay that into a seventh-place overall finish – the second-best in school history.

No runner on the team had NCAA XC Championships experience, but that didn’t show in the final two-thirds of the 6K race as they went from 21st to seventh. Kaela Edwards – an 800-meter specialist – improved a full 100 spots after the 2K split, tied for New Mexico’s Heleene Tambet for the biggest move in the entire field. Ingeborg Loevnes wasn’t too far behind on that list with an 88-spot improvement (fourth-best in the field) to finish All-American in 35th.

Natalie Baker improved 61 positions during that time and just missed All-America honors in 41st, while Molly Sughrouse climbed 49 positions as the Cowgirls’ No. 5 in 122nd.

Colorado

Characteristic of a Mark Wetmore-coached team, the Buffalo women bided their time and made their calculated move in the later stages of the race to great effect. CU sat only seventh at 2000 meters, but after that it was time to get moving. All seven Buffaloes made double-digit gains in the final two-thirds of the race as the squad went from seventh in the team standings at 2K to runner-up when all was said and done.

Dani Jones made the fifth-biggest move of any runner in the field with an 87-spot improvement to 49th place as the Buffaloes No. 4, while top-runner Erin Clark moved up 18 spots to 11th, Kaitlyn Benner jumped up 35 to finish All-American in 16th, and Maddie Alm teamed up with Jones to climb 46 rungs.