Thomas Curtin Runs Away From Cheserek At Pre-Nationals

Oct 17, 2015 by Lincoln Shryack

RESULTS

There are no guarantees in NCAA cross country, but the closest thing to it has become Oregon’s Edward Cheserek winning any race in which he competes. The two-time defending NCAA champion has lost just three races in his Oregon career, and Saturday in Louisville was not expected to be one of them. In terms of certainties, King Ches winning here was right behind death and taxes.

Well, go ahead and throw that certainty out the window. On Saturday morning at Pre-Nationals at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Virginia Tech senior Thomas Curtin dominated the men’s 8K wire-to-wire in 23:18, turning in the most surprising result of the 2015 cross country season in the process. And that’s not hyperbole.

Curtin not only beat Cheserek, who was 2nd in 23:22, but he also took down 13 of the top 25 ranked individuals in the NCAA. And his four-second margin of victory over Ches wasn’t even as close as it looks on paper; Curtin’s lead throughout the race was never in danger. All this from a guy whose best finish at NCAAs is 69th from 2013 and had never won a cross country race in his collegiate career.

Curtin got out hard early on and had a sizable lead at the mile in 4:43 as Duke’s Shaun Thompson gave close pursuit. The gigantic chase pack that included Cheserek and #1 Colorado’s top runners was well back, showing no interest to challenge the leader as he steadily built on his lead.

Cheserek started to move around 5K, but by then Curtin’s lead was safe. The Oregon junior would kick hard in the last kilometer to close the gap as much as he did, but he simply gave the unheralded Curtin way too much room early in the race. The UTEP duo of Anthony Rotich and Jonah Koech would finish 3rd and 4th, respectively, in 23:23 and 23:24.

We caught up with the surprising Pre-Nats winner after the race:

While Cheserek’s defeat today was very unexpected, it does not at all tarnish his status as the overwhelming NCAA favorite. If this was the NCAA Championships, there’s absolutely no way that the eight-time NCAA champion would have let Curtin build that type of lead.

That being said, the Virginia Tech senior made a huge statement today and now finds himself squarely in the top-10 individual discussion as Nationals returns to this very course in five weeks. He's shown outstanding track ability (7:52 3K, 13:38 5K), but this is his first big splash on the XC course. Welcome to the spotlight, Thomas Curtin.

In the team battle, the top-ranked Colorado Buffaloes came away victorious to the surprise of no one, however their 89-point total was much higher than we expected. The two-time defending NCAA champs got solid races out of their four seniors- Pierce Murphy (5th), Connor Winter (9th), Ammar Moussa (14th), and Morgan Pearson (15th), however they had to wait for their fifth man until 46th, as freshman John Dressel rounded out the scoring for Mark Wetmore’s Buffs.

The biggest takeaway from Colorado’s performance today in Louisville is that they ran without All-American Ben Saarel, who has finished top-10 at NCAAs each of his first two seasons. Saarel was Colorado’s #2 at Pre-Nationals last season as they put four in the top 10 en route to a 35-point thumping, and his presence will be needed for the Buffaloes to secure their third NCAA title in as many tries on November 21st.

Led by Cheserek’s runner-up finish, the Oregon men placed 2nd today with 151 points. Jake Leingang was 24th for the Ducks, with Travis Neuman (29th), Tanner Anderson (40th), and Matthew Melancon (56th) rounding out the scoring for #6 Oregon.

Women's Race - #6 Michigan Beats Pac-12 Powers Colorado, Oregon, and Stanford

The women’s race was touted as a heavyweight matchup between PAC-12 powers Colorado, Oregon and Stanford, but not one of those teams would end up victorious on Saturday as #6 Michigan scored a nice upset win in Louisville. Led by junior Erin Finn’s sixth place finish, the Wolverines beat out #4 Colorado, 131-151.

The Buffaloes couldn’t quite match Michigan, but junior Erin Clark did secure the individual victory on Saturday in 20:00. The All-American beat out Air Force’s Hannah Everson by less than a second, who would settle for 2nd in 20:01. Everson’s performance was very impressive considering she has never even qualified for the NCAA Championships in her career, and today she beat several All-Americans in Louisville.

Led by Clark’s victory, the Buffaloes put three runners in the top 20, as sophomore Kaitlyn Benner (15th) and Maddie Alm (18th) had nice days for fourth-ranked Colorado.

Led by Waverly Neer’s eighth place finish, the women from Oregon would place third, certainly not as high as we expected the #2 Ducks to finish as they tallied 175 points. Molly Grabill (29th) and Sarah Baxter (37th) were Oregon’s 2nd and 3rd scorers.

The #3 Stanford women rounded out the top four with 244 points, but they ran without both of their top runners, Aisling Cuffe and Elise Cranny, who are each dealing with injury issues. Cuffe is expected to return in time for PAC-12s, but Cranny’s status is still up in the air.

In the pair’s absence, sophomore Vanessa Fraser led the Cardinal with a 26th place finish.

With New Mexico dominating with such ease on Friday at Wisco, and their potential challengers beating each other up in Louisville on Saturday, it has become even clearer that the Lobos will arrive at this course on November 21st as gigantic favorites to win the NCAA title.