Saturday, November 17
Madison, Wis.
10:45 a.m. MT/11:45 a.m. CT
Colorado State
at
NCAA Cross Country Championships
Photo by: Greg Dixon
CSU men’s cross country records second-straight ninth-place finish at NCAA Championships
11/17/2018 1:45:00 PM | Cross Country
Men’s cross country becomes first team in the history of CSU Athletics to finish among the nation’s top nine teams in consecutive seasons
MADISON, Wis. – For the second-consecutive season, the Colorado State men's cross country team took home a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The 2018 meet was held from the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course on Saturday.
Colorado State overcame an injury to its top runner, five-time All-American Cole Rockhold, to become the first team in the history of CSU Athletics to register a national finish of ninth or better in consecutive seasons. The Rams' 2018 national finish ranks alongside the 2017 team's as the respective fifth-highest all-time among all currently active CSU Athletics programs. Both of the 2017 and 2018 men's cross country teams are also in the group of 11 top-10 national finishes by any currently active program in CSU Athletics history.
While CSU also finished ninth last season, the Rams' 309 points on Saturday improved upon the 318 points scored by the 2017 team. The Rams were led on Saturday by senior Eric Hamer, who earned All-America honors with an 18th-place finish and 10k time of 29:38.2. Hamer's finish ranks as the seventh-best by any Ram all-time in the men's race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Senior Carson Hume finished just one place shy of All-America distinction, finishing 41st with a time 30:00.0.
Junior Forrest Barton finished as the Rams' No. 3 scorer on Saturday, joining Hamer and Hume in the top 100 with an 87th-place finish (30:32.9). Sophomore Jacob Brueckman was next across the finish line, clocking a time of 30:48.4 for a 118th-place finish. Freshman Maximilliano Martinez (30:49.9) finished just over one second behind Brueckman to place 121st and round out CSU scorers. The Rams' No. 6 was sophomore Satchel Caldwell (140th place, 30:59.7), while senior Trent Powell (161st place, 31:09.0) was the No. 7 for the Rams on Saturday.
None of the Rams' five scorers lost ground over the final 4k of Saturday's championship race. The biggest mover for the Rams was Barton, who was in 157th after the first 2k and shot up 41 spots over the final 4k to his final 87th-place position. Brueckman moved up 23 spots over the final 4k, while Martinez leapt 24 places. That difference in 88 places over the final 4k proved significant, as No. 10 Boise State (342 points), No. 11 NC State (342 points), No. 12 Wyoming (371 points) and No. 13 Oklahoma State (378 points) each finished within that many points of CSU.
STAT OF THE MEET
No other team in the history of CSU Athletics has registered national finishes as high as ninth in consecutive seasons. Prior to the finishes for the 2017-18 CSU men's cross country teams, Colorado State volleyball had finished in the national top 10 in back-to-back seasons (10th in 2000, 10th in 2001). See below for a breakdown of all 11 top-10 finishes by current programs in CSU Athletics history.
Colorado State Athletics All-Time Top-10 NCAA Finishes (current programs, sorted in order of finish)
Men's Cross Country – Fifth - 1960
Volleyball – Sixth -1987
Women's Basketball – Seventh – 1999
Men's Cross Country – Eighth – 1975
Men's Cross Country – Ninth - 2018
Men's Cross Country – Ninth - 2017
Men's Cross Country – Ninth – 1978
Softball – Ninth – 1997
Volleyball – 10th – 2001
Volleyball – 10th – 2000
Volleyball – 10th – 1984
IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State cross country head coach Art Siemers
On the team performance:
"We just ran perfectly today. When Cole (Rockhold) went down two weeks ago, I thought that we were still a great team, but as good as we are and as hard as we train, top 10 was going to be very hard to do. The guys just finished exactly how we all would've wished. That's one thing I love about this team – it seems like we always run our best race when we go to nationals. Our goal is to keep getting better each year and not take a step back, so there was a lot of pressure on them to back up that ninth-place finish from last year, but the guys just stepped up. This is a really proud moment for all of us as a team."
On Eric Hamer:
"After his second-place finish at conference and fifth-place finish at regionals, he knew that he was in a place where he could finish in the top 20. He still had to do it today, which is tough, but all year he's been consistent and hasn't had one bad race all year. He's just got nerves of steel. Every time he lines up he gives his best performance and today was the best of all of them. He really improved from last year, and that's a big part of what made this team great this year."
NOTES
Colorado State overcame an injury to its top runner, five-time All-American Cole Rockhold, to become the first team in the history of CSU Athletics to register a national finish of ninth or better in consecutive seasons. The Rams' 2018 national finish ranks alongside the 2017 team's as the respective fifth-highest all-time among all currently active CSU Athletics programs. Both of the 2017 and 2018 men's cross country teams are also in the group of 11 top-10 national finishes by any currently active program in CSU Athletics history.
While CSU also finished ninth last season, the Rams' 309 points on Saturday improved upon the 318 points scored by the 2017 team. The Rams were led on Saturday by senior Eric Hamer, who earned All-America honors with an 18th-place finish and 10k time of 29:38.2. Hamer's finish ranks as the seventh-best by any Ram all-time in the men's race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Senior Carson Hume finished just one place shy of All-America distinction, finishing 41st with a time 30:00.0.
Junior Forrest Barton finished as the Rams' No. 3 scorer on Saturday, joining Hamer and Hume in the top 100 with an 87th-place finish (30:32.9). Sophomore Jacob Brueckman was next across the finish line, clocking a time of 30:48.4 for a 118th-place finish. Freshman Maximilliano Martinez (30:49.9) finished just over one second behind Brueckman to place 121st and round out CSU scorers. The Rams' No. 6 was sophomore Satchel Caldwell (140th place, 30:59.7), while senior Trent Powell (161st place, 31:09.0) was the No. 7 for the Rams on Saturday.
None of the Rams' five scorers lost ground over the final 4k of Saturday's championship race. The biggest mover for the Rams was Barton, who was in 157th after the first 2k and shot up 41 spots over the final 4k to his final 87th-place position. Brueckman moved up 23 spots over the final 4k, while Martinez leapt 24 places. That difference in 88 places over the final 4k proved significant, as No. 10 Boise State (342 points), No. 11 NC State (342 points), No. 12 Wyoming (371 points) and No. 13 Oklahoma State (378 points) each finished within that many points of CSU.
STAT OF THE MEET
No other team in the history of CSU Athletics has registered national finishes as high as ninth in consecutive seasons. Prior to the finishes for the 2017-18 CSU men's cross country teams, Colorado State volleyball had finished in the national top 10 in back-to-back seasons (10th in 2000, 10th in 2001). See below for a breakdown of all 11 top-10 finishes by current programs in CSU Athletics history.
Colorado State Athletics All-Time Top-10 NCAA Finishes (current programs, sorted in order of finish)
Men's Cross Country – Fifth - 1960
Volleyball – Sixth -1987
Women's Basketball – Seventh – 1999
Men's Cross Country – Eighth – 1975
Men's Cross Country – Ninth - 2018
Men's Cross Country – Ninth - 2017
Men's Cross Country – Ninth – 1978
Softball – Ninth – 1997
Volleyball – 10th – 2001
Volleyball – 10th – 2000
Volleyball – 10th – 1984
IN THEIR WORDS
Colorado State cross country head coach Art Siemers
On the team performance:
"We just ran perfectly today. When Cole (Rockhold) went down two weeks ago, I thought that we were still a great team, but as good as we are and as hard as we train, top 10 was going to be very hard to do. The guys just finished exactly how we all would've wished. That's one thing I love about this team – it seems like we always run our best race when we go to nationals. Our goal is to keep getting better each year and not take a step back, so there was a lot of pressure on them to back up that ninth-place finish from last year, but the guys just stepped up. This is a really proud moment for all of us as a team."
On Eric Hamer:
"After his second-place finish at conference and fifth-place finish at regionals, he knew that he was in a place where he could finish in the top 20. He still had to do it today, which is tough, but all year he's been consistent and hasn't had one bad race all year. He's just got nerves of steel. Every time he lines up he gives his best performance and today was the best of all of them. He really improved from last year, and that's a big part of what made this team great this year."
NOTES
- Colorado State men's cross country has finished at least in the national top 20 four times under seventh-year head coach Art Siemers.
- Senior Eric Hamer became the fourth Ram to earn All-America distinction in cross country during Siemers' tenure. Hamer joins current senior Cole Rockhold and former CSU All-Americans Jefferson Abbey and Jerrell Mock.
- The only athlete to finish higher at NCAAs than Hamer during Siemers' tenure at CSU was Jefferson Abbey, who placed 13th in 2015.
- Hamer's All-America honor is the first of his collegiate career.
- Each of Hamer (90th in 2017), Carson Hume (111th in 2017) and Trent Powell (175th in 2017) improved upon that finishes at last season's NCAA Cross Country Championships.