Colorado State University Athletics
Cross Country Hosts CSU Invite to Open 2016 Season
8/31/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
2016 CSU Invite
Friday, Sept. 2 | Fort Collins, Colo.
Collegiate Women's 5k: 6 p.m. MT
Collegiate Men's 5k: 6:30 p.m. MT
Meet Notes | CSU Invite Information
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The Colorado State cross country team is set to open its 2016 campaign this Friday, as the Rams host a nine-team field in the 2016 CSU Invite.
Friday's meet will take place at the Hughes Stadium cross country course. The collegiate women's 5k is set to begin at 6 p.m. MT, while the collegiate men's 5k is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. MT.
Colorado State is one nine teams in the CSU Invite field, along with Air Force, Colorado, Northern Colorado, Wyoming, Colorado Mesa University, Colorado School of Mines, Metro State and Western State.
"This first home meet is a good chance to get our younger athletes some experience and to get our athletes that were injured last year back on the course," Colorado State head cross country coach Art Siemers said. "They'll have some very good competition to start the year. The men and women are both racing a little bit shorter of a distance. Hughes Stadium is a fun environment and is spectator-friendly. It's nice to get a lot of fans onto our course and onto our campus, and it's a nice way to start the year."
CSU's men's squad has earned numerous preseason accolades, highlighted by a No. 10 national ranking from FloTrack and a No. 25 national ranking from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
The USTFCCCA has also ranked each of the men's and women's teams at No. 6 in the Mountain Region, while Mountain West Conference coaches have voted CSU as the No. 1 men's team and the No. 3 women's team in the conference this preseason.
"Both of the men's and women's teams have very high expectations this year," Siemers said. "Coming into this season, we have a lot of experience on both of the men's and women's side. We have a lot confidence and we've trained very hard. Both teams want to have special seasons this year, and both crews look very good right now."
2015 All-Americans Jefferson Abbey and Jerrell Mock highlight returners on the men's side. Among other accomplishments in 2015, the two became the first Rams to receive All-America honors since 2004, and are the only CSU duo to earn those honors in the same season since 1961 (Jerry Schmidt and Jerry Glyde). Neither Abbey nor Mock finished outside of the top-20 in any meet throughout their respective 2015 campaigns.
The duo were recently honored amongst FloTrack's individual national rankings, with Abbey checking in at No. 12 nationally and Mock at No. 15 on the preseason list.
The women's team is led by junior Darby Gilfillan, who gained experience competing in the NCAA Cross Country Championships last season. Gilfillan's 2015 sophomore campaign was highlighted by a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional (21:10.08) as well as an 18th-place finish at the Mountain West Cross Country Championships.
"Our men's team wants to win their first conference championship in school history and have a top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships," Siemers said. "On the women's side, we happen to have two of the top-10 teams in the country in our conference, which can make it pretty difficult. We're improving a ton, and we think that we can really get close to those teams and get an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Our women haven't gone since 2007, so it's time to get back there."