The 2014 season was a big one for Colorado College’s cross-country teams. The men and women’s teams each persevered to win their very first SCAC Championships. Furthermore, Nick Hall and Leah Wessler took home individual SCAC titles for Coach Ted Castaneda’s squad. The women’s team went on to place 4th in the NCAA Division III Regionals, while the men’s team placed 12th in their respective division. Now it’s time to see how the teams plan to follow such an impressive season.
This year, the team has been training vigorously, both running and lifting, and balancing their busy block schedules with cross-country workouts. Many of the women’s team do 60 to 65 miles per week, while many of the men do over 80. All this preparation came to a head last Saturday. The 2015 CC cross-country season opened Saturday, Sept. 5, at the 22nd annual Joe I. Vigil Open Meet. The event was hosted by Adams State in Alamosa, Colorado.
The meet is held in honor of Coach Joe Vigil who led the Adams State cross-country program to 19 national team titles and 10 individual titles. He also coached at the Olympic level. He has received countless honors and recognitions. For example, this June, Vigil was honored by USA Track & Field as a “Legend Coach.” He is only the second to receive such an honor.
It is fitting that the Tigers were there to participate in the event since Vigil received one of his two master’s degrees from Colorado College. The Vigil Meet was a challenge of an opening meet for the reigning SCAC champions. Colorado College was the only DIII team competing.
“I think we had some great competition at the invitational,” said freshman runner Allysa Warling. “We were the only DIII team there, so we had a great opportunity to really push ourselves and compete against a lot of more competitive DII teams. I think we really held our own, and it was a great first meet of the season.”
CC competed against five other schools: Adams State, Colorado Mesa, Fort Lewis, Regis, and Western New Mexico. The women’s team placed fourth and the men’s team narrowly placed last behind Western New Mexico. This was the third consecutive year that Adams State won both the individual and team titles.
Despite the stiff competition, there were still some highlights for Colorado College. It was a time for the newcomers to the team to shine. On the 5K course, Warling led the CC women’s team. She finished seventh overall with a time of 18 minutes and 38 seconds. Warling was the only non-Adams State runner to finish in the top eight. The first-place time, by junior Jenna Thurman of Adams State, was 17:46.
“The coaches want us to do well in meets, but they also care about how we’re doing in other areas of our lives as well,” said Warling. “I really like the team so far. They’ve been very welcoming and have really made all of us freshmen feel like we belong here.”
CC’s next female finisher was last year’s SCAC individual champion and junior Leah Wessler, who finished in 15th place with a time of 19:28.86. Freshman David Eik led the men’s team on the 8K course with a 32nd-place finish. Sophomore Jackson Sayler of Adams State won the men’s competition with a time of 25:09. Eik finished in 28:40.
“I love [cross country] because it lets me unleash my competitive side,” said Eik. “But I think what has really kept me running all these years is the people. Running fosters such a great, tight-knit community of people who are genuine, fun-loving, and weird all at the same time.”
Senior Jacob Rothman was close behind Eik, finishing 35th with a time of 28:53.
The Tigers will next compete at North Monument Valley Park while hosting the CC Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 19.