Rams set for test at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational

Colorado State Rams at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
Friday, Sept. 28, 2018
Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course | Madison, Wis.
Hosted by Wisconsin
Championship Races
Women's 6k – 11:20 a.m. MT/12:20 p.m. CT
Men's 8k - 12 p.m. MT/1 p.m. CT
"B" Races
Women's 6k – 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT
Men's 8k – 10:40 a.m. MT/11:40 a.m. CT
Coverage: FloTrack (subscription required) | Live Results
Colorado State Cross Country Information: Twitter | Roster | Schedule

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – After nearly a month away from competition, the Colorado State cross country team will compete in the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, one of the nation's premier meets, this Friday.

The meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT, and is hosted by the University of Wisconsin from the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. Each of the women's and men's fields will include over 30 teams, and will each feature numerous teams from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association's (USTFCCCA) top 30.

The meet will be streamed live by FloTrack, and is available to each of the website's premium subscribers. Additionally, the meet can be followed by those interested through live results. Links to each are above and on the cross country schedule page on CSURams.com. Final results and a full recap of the action will be posted to CSURams.com as soon as each are available.

"We're excited to be here, and this is really where the season starts," Colorado State cross country head coach Art Siemers said. "To be able to do it in the premier invitational in the country will give us a good indication of where we are at this point in the season. This is a meet where things like your fifth runner and your depth make a huge difference. It's magnified in a race of this caliber, because if your fifth runner is in the early 100s you'll probably have a pretty good race."

On the men's side, Colorado State enters as the nation's No. 10 team, according to a national coaches' poll organized by the USTFCCCA. The CSU women were ranked at No. 30 in the coaches' association's week one rankings, marking the first time since 2008 that the Rams had earned a national ranking on the women's side. The two teams had not been ranked concurrently since 2005 prior to that poll.

"We have four veteran, fifth-year seniors on the men's side that give us the experience for us to have another strong showing," Siemers said. "Last year we did really well here, and that sixth-place finish catapulted us well up the national rankings. This year, we're seventh among teams in the coaches poll here and it's going to be a competitive meet for us. We get to race the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the country, among others, so it'll be exciting."

Colorado State is the seventh-ranked team in a men's Nuttycombe field that features No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Portland, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Colorado and No. 9 Wisconsin among 19 ranked teams. 15 women's teams in the field are in the USTFCCCA rankings, including No. 1 New Mexico, No. 2 Colorado No. 5 Boise State, No. 6 NC State, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Villanova, and No. 9 Arkansas, among others.

"On the women's side, we have six athletes in our top seven that have never been in the top race in this meet," Siemers said. "It's going to be exciting to see the direction that our women's program is going to go. I think we're going to be off to a fast start this year. It's exciting to have a lot of new faces out there on the starting line in green and gold."

Rams Well-Represented in USTFCCCA Rankings After Program-Best No. 9 Preseason Ranking

Following the men's teams best preseason ranking (No. 9) in program history, Colorado State cross country has been well-represented in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings.
Each team has been in the national top 30 in at least one week this season. CSU's men's team has been ranked no lower than No. 11, and 10th or better in three different polls.
On the women's side, Colorado State entered the USTFCCCA's national rankings for the first time since the week one poll in 2008.
Additionally, this marks the first time since week one of the 2005 season that Colorado State's women's and men's cross country teams have been ranked concurrently.
The Colorado State men's cross country team entered the 2018 season with its highest preseason ranking in program history, as the Rams were tabbed the No. 9 team in the USTFCCCA Preseason DI National Coaches' Poll. The organization released its preseason rankings on Tuesday, Aug. 28.
Before this year's preseason poll, Colorado State men's cross country had previously been slotted as high as at No. 16 in any preseason ranking (2002). With this year's poll, has now been ranked in the preseason in five consecutive years, dating back to a No. 30 preseason ranking in 2014. The Rams were ranked preseason No. 18 prior to last year's ninth-place national finish.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Cross Country National Coaches' Poll
Preseason (Aug. 28): Women's – RV | Men's – No. 9
Week One (Sept. 11): Women's – No. 30 | Men's – No. 10
Week Two (Sept. 18): Women's – RV | Men's – No. 11
Week Three (Sept. 25): Women's – RV | Men's – No. 10

Rams' Men Match Program's Highest USTFCCCA Regional Ranking

In addition to its strides in the national rankings, Colorado State has also stacked up well in the highly competitive Mountain Region.
On the men's side, Colorado State has ranked fourth in the Mountain Region each week this season, matching its highest regional ranking from the organization in program history.
On the women's side, the Rams have ranked within the region's top five in multiple weeks to start their 2018 campaign. That marks the first time the women's team is in the region's top five in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2011.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Cross Country Regional Rankings – Mountain Region
Preseason (Aug. 27): Women's – No. 5 | Men's – No. 4
Week One (Sept. 10): Women's – No. 5 | Men's – No. 4
Week Two (Sept. 17): Women's – No. 5 | Men's – No. 4
Week Three (Sept. 24): Women's – No. 6 | Men's – No. 4

Rams Projected to Win Men's Mountain West Title

The Colorado State men's cross country team has been voted by conference head coaches as the favorite to win the Mountain West title for the upcoming 2018 season. The conference released the results of the 2018 MW Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll on Thursday, Aug. 23.
Colorado State men's cross country received four first-place votes and 46 points overall, matching its preseason tally prior to its 2017 campaign. Colorado State is predicted to repeat as conference champions after winning its first-ever Mountain West cross country title in men's competition last season.
CSU's men won last year's conference crown in one of the most dominant team performances in the history of the meet, as the Rams' 31 points were the second-fewest ever tallied by any current conference member (26 – New Mexico, 2014). The Rams defeated second-place Air Force (59 points) by a 28-point margin.
The majority of the top seven returns from that CSU team, including 2017 MW cross country runner-up Cole Rockhold and fifth-place finisher Eric Hamer. No other school returns any male athlete that finished higher than Rockhold or Hamer at the MW Championships in 2017. Trent Powell, who placed 15th in the conference last year, and Carson Hume, the meet's 18th-place finisher in 2017, give the Rams more returners from 2017's top-18 conference finishers than any other men's team (four for CSU, three for Boise State).

All-America Performer Highlights Rams' Returners

Among the returners for the preseason No. 9 CSU men is senior Cole Rockhold, who led the Rams to their ninth-place NCAA finish with an All-America-caliber 32nd-place individual finish.
That marked the first All-America honor in cross country for Rockhold, who currently owns a combined five First-Team and Second-Team All-America honors. Among his top NCAA performances were respective sixth-place finishes in the mile and 3,000 meters, each garnering First-Team All-America distinction.
Notably, Rockhold's three indoor All-America honors rank as the third-most by any female or male athlete in program history.

Newcomers for CSU Women Shine at Wyoming Invite

Performances by newcomers to the Colorado State women's team at the Wyoming Invite indicate that they will have a significant impact on the team in 2018. Four of the Rams' top five and five of their top seven ran cross country in a CSU uniform for the first time at that meet.
The Rams were led by transfer and senior Bailey Ness, who finished third. Of that aforementioned group, three of the Rams' scorers were freshman, as were four of the Rams' top seven. Furthermore, none of CSU's top seven from Friday scored for the Rams in cross country previously.
Colorado State placed third behind only No. 2 Colorado and only two points behind Air Force. That result came despite two of their top projected returners, Ali Kallner and Macy Kreutz, being unavailable for the meet.

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