Last Regular Season Test for Cross Country

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Thirty-six nationally ranked cross country teams – the Colorado State women being one of them – are funneling to Madison, Wisc., for Friday's Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, which is pinned as one the marquee regular-season meets throughout the country annually.

Action at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course will get underway with the "B" races, starting with the women's 6,000-meter at 10 a.m. MT followed by the men's 8K at 10:40 a.m. MT. The Championship races then go at 11:20 a.m. MT and 12 p.m. MT with the ladies going first. Ten student-athletes traveled and eight can run in the championship races, so two from each of CSU's squad will run in the earlier races. Friday's forecast conditions are a chilly high of 55 with slight wind and precipitation chances.

"The men and women have had an outstanding training cycle since the last meet in Oregon," head coach Art Siemers said. "We are really coming together on both the men and women's sides and as a team at the right time. Wisconsin is usually the start of the championship part of the season because this is a big meet, where teams from across the country come and it is like pre-nationals and Wisconsin."

The No. 21st-ranked Colorado State women's team is one of 19 ranked teams on the women's side which also has 10 hungry teams that are receiving votes in the USTFCCCA poll. Twelve of those ranked teams are in front of the Rams, leaving CSU with ample opportunity to move up prior to the championship season barring a good showing. The leaders of the pack are NC State, BYU, New Mexico -- the top-three ranked teams in the country, respectively -- with No. 6 Minnesota, No. 7 Washington and No. 9 Stanford also in the field.

Unranked, but ready to see how they stack up against the nation's best is the men's team which has only really gotten tested once at the Bill Dellinger Invitational with a sixth-place finish behind all ranked squads. In the season opener – the only other meet that featured the full squad – weather inhibited the field drastically in terms of competition. Twenty-five of the 34 teams this weekend is either ranked or receiving votes, giving the Rams many teams to potentially upset. The front runners include No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Furman.

"This meet starts to solidify the rankings and where teams stand in the NCAA after this weekend" Siemers added. "Then we get ready to battle at the conference championships. We're ready, we just have to get out pretty hard and then settle. We must race tough because it is going to be a fight out there. Wisconsin is like the NCAA championships as far as the depth of teams and the number of athletes in the race, it's a really fun atmosphere."

The Rams haven't run at full strength since the Bill Dellinger Invitational, which was three weeks ago. The women made a splash, placing second above four ranked teams that were ahead of them. Meanwhile, the men's sixth place finish was aligned with their projection going into the race.

More from Art
Head coach Art Siemers
"The race at Oregon was a big test and set us up for this meet. Even though there weren't as many teams in Oregon, and the course was really narrow, it got us into the right mindset for the NuttyCombe. In Oregon, the men got out really well, but they didn't have a great middle of the race, so we have been really focusing on that in training the last three weeks. The women had a really poor start and finished strong, so that's been something we've been focusing on at almost every hard work out. We have been practicing just getting out, fighting your teammates and then battling. We are healthy right now, so everyone looks good to go."

USTFCCCA Rankings: Nationally: Women, No. 21; Mountain Region: Women, No. 5; Mountain Region: Men, No.8

Men's Roster: Calvin Banta, Dawson Besst, Mason Brown, Jacob Brueckman, Thomas Chaston, Brock Dykema, Maximilliano Martinez, Chris Montross, Tanner Norman, Tom Oates

Women's Roster: Claudia Burgess, Emily Chaston, Ivy Gonzales, Ashlyn Hillyard, Lauren Neugeboren, Lauren Offerman, Anna Petr, Kylie Poole, Annabel Stafford, Lily Tomasula-Martin

MEET INFO:
Race Headquarters: https://csura.ms/3j4tlZt
Live Results: https://csura.ms/3aAeqSo
Live Stream: https://buff.ly/3mKblo8 (RunnerSpace, Login Required $)
Date: Friday, October 15, 2021
Where: The Thomas Zimmer Championship Course
9002 County Road PD
Madison, WI 53593
Men Teams Competing: #T30 Air Force, RV Boise State, #16 Butler, Colorado State, Dartmouth, Eastern Michigan, #10 Furman, #19 Gonzaga, RV Harvard, Illinois, RV Indiana, #14 Iona, #6 Iowa State, #15 Michigan, RV Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, RV NC State, New Mexico, #4 Oklahoma State, #9 Oregon, #26 Portland, Providence, RV Purdue, South Dakota State, #21 Southern Utah, #3 Stanford, #27 Syracuse, #12 Tulsa, RV UMass Lowell, #18 UNC, #29 Utah State, #13 Washington, Washington State, #11 Wisconsin
Women Teams Competing: Air Force, RV Boise State, RV Butler, #2 BYU, Columbia, #21 Colorado State, #26 Connecticut, Eastern Michigan, #T28 Furman, Gonzaga, RV Harvard, RV Illinois, #21 Indiana, Iona, #22 Iowa State, #17 Michigan State, #6 Minnesota, Missouri, #1 NC State, #3 New Mexico, #23 Notre Dame, #13 Oklahoma State, RV Oregon, #30 Oregon State, #18 Portland, #19 Providence, Purdue, RV Southern Utah, #9 Stanford, RV Syracuse, Tulsa, UMass Lowell, #12 UNC, RV Utah State, #20 Villanova, #7 Washington, Washington State, RV West Virginia, #25 Wisconsin
Starting Times: 10:00 a.m. MT – Women's 6K "B" Race | 10:40 a.m. MT – Men's 8K "B" Race | 11:20 a.m. MT – Women's 6K "A" Race | 12 p.m. MT – Men's 8K "A" Race
Parking & Shuttle: Spectator parking will be located at Blackhawk Church in Middleton, Wisconsin and there will be free spectator shuttles that are available for transportation to the course.
Course: The Thomas Zimmer Championship Course which consists of an exterior loop of approximately 2,500 meters and an interior loop of 1,000 meters. Both loops have rolling hills and valleys, and the outside loop runs through a section of dense woods.
Scoring: Teams are allowed to run only eight athletes in the "A" race and an unlimited amount of athletes in the "B" races. Coaches will have the ability to race any eight of the submitted entries in the featured races and do not have to declare those eight athletes prior to the start of those races. There will be no team results for the "B" race.

For More on Colorado State Track & Field and Cross Country follow: Twitter – CSUTrackFieldXC | Instagram – csutrackfieldXC | Facebook – Colorado State Track & Field/Cross Country

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