Cross Country Ready for the National Stage

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Time to go against the country's best for the Colorado State women's cross country team on Saturday morning at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The No.-18 CSU Rams were one of 13 at-large teams selected to join the 18 automatic bids for the national meet. Thirty-eight individuals were also selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. All individual qualifiers finished in the top 25 in their regions.

The women earned their way by finishing fourth at the NCAA Mountain Regional last week in what was the toughest regional out of the nine across the country. The Rams placed behind three top-5 nationally ranked teams and in front of two teams that held better rankings going into the race. Throughout the season, CSU has upset 12 teams that held higher USTFCCCA rankings.

Colorado State returned its entire lineup from last season in which the team reached the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2009 and finished 23^rd. This season, the Rams rose to as high as 12^th in the national rankings – one spot away from their best-ever mark.

Saturday's national meet gets underway at the Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla., with the women's 6,000-meter race at 8:20 a.m. MT followed by the men's face. Weather forecast conditions reside in the high 50s and low 60s with little wind, but more humidity than what the Rams are accustomed to.

"Oh, we're ready," head coach Art Siemers said about Saturday. "We are ready. Everybody liked the course. It is a unique course for cross country and unlike any others that we have raced at this season in that it will feel like we are going downhill. The race will be very fast, and the weather is unseasonably nice. They are excited and can't wait to race. We are just going to take the same attitude that we had in regionals into nationals, which was laid back, have fun, and see where we place. The atmosphere here is a lot better than earlier this year when COVID affected the even more, but the presentation of tomorrow is set up very nice. Florida State and NCAA did a very good job."

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

Course Information
The Apalachee Regional Park cross country course, developed by the Leon County Recreation Department in collaboration with Florida State University athletics and the local Gulf Winds Track Club, was designed with the sport in mind. A series of trails and loops allows for competition to be contested over a wide range of race lengths. More details and maps in attached documents.

MEET INFO:
NCAA Championship Headquarters: https://seminoles.com/ncaa-xc/
Live Results: https://csura.ms/3CyIsBe
Live Stream: https://csura.ms/3qZ9lfP (ESPNU)
Date: Saturday, November 20, 2021
Where: Apalachee Regional Park
7550 Apalachee Pkwy, Tallahassee, FL 32311
Starting Times: 8:20 a.m. MT – Women's 6K Race | 9:10 a.m. MT – Men's 10K
Scoring: Seven entries per school with all having the ability to score.
Tickets: Admission to the event will be $10 per person. Tickets can be purchased in advance by visiting ncaatickets.com.

Season Notes

USTFCCCA National Ranking Progression this season: 27-26-25-22-21-12-19-18
The team won the Wyoming Invite in the season opener. Redshirt junior Claudia Burgess was named Mountain West's Cross Country Athlete of the Week after winning the race.
Finished second at the Bill Dellinger Invite, besting four teams that were ranked higher including fourth-ranked Arkansas
Lily Tomasula-Martin, of Estes Park, Colo., placed ninth out of 166 runners with a time of 20:20.5 in the 6,000-meter race at Bill Dellinger, prompting Mountain West Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors
Claudia Burgess missed the Oregon meet due to injury, but returned for the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and placed 56th overall and fourth on the team.
At Nuttycombe Invite, the team placed sixth – above six teams that display a higher ranking.
CSU's third place showing at the Mountain West Championships was the only race in which the Rams lost to a team that was ranked below them as Utah State grabbed second place
Lauren Offerman finished second on the team in all five main races (Wyoming, Oregon, Wisconsin, MW, NCAA Regional). Lily Tomasula Martin represented the first Ram finisher four times, while Claudia Burgess did once. Ashlyn Hillyard has scored in all five races, finishing in top-5 for the Rams.
Individual awards: All-Mountain West Second Team, Lily Tomasula-Martin (8^th) and Lauren Offerman (14^th); All-Mountain Region, Lily Tomasula-Martin (16^th), Lauren Offerman (19^th) and Annabel Stafford (22^nd).
Returned all scorers from last year's squad that finished 23rd in the NCAA Championships, which was the first appearance at nationals since 2007. Tomasula-Martin got cleated in the race and dropped significantly in the final stretch

History at NCAA Championships
All-Time
Women's Cross Country
NCAA Championships Results
10 Appearances
Best Appearance: 12th (1997)
2020-21: 23rd
2007:     15th
2006:     24th
2004:     26th
2003:     28th
2001:     20th
2000:     17th
1998:     25th
1997:     12th
1996:     16^th

WOMEN'S AUTOMATIC QUALIFYING TEAMS | WOMEN'S AT-LARGE TEAMS
#7 Arkansas
#3 Colorado
#12 Florida State
#22 Georgetown
#24 Harvard
#5 Minnesota
#1 NC State
#2 New Mexico
#8 North Carolina
#10 Notre Dame
#6 Oklahoma State
#9 Ole Miss
#RV Rice
#16 Stanford
#20 Syracuse
#23 Washington
#28 West Virginia
#13 Wisconsin

WOMEN'S AT-LARGE TEAMS
#15 Alabama
#30 Butler
#4 BYU
#18 Colorado State
#10 Iowa State
#17 Michigan
#19 Michigan State
#21 Northern Arizona
#26 Oregon
#25 Providence
#14 Utah
#27 Utah State
#RV Villanova

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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