Edward Cheserek Will Be More Challenged Than Ever to Win Third Consecutive Title

Published by Adam Schneider/RunnerSpace.com/College on November 20, 2015

As this season opened Colorado coach Mark Wetmore looked at what he had coming back and proclaimed this season that he had the best pair of teams ever in Boulder. He made no guarantees about the success of the teams. He has been right as this has clearly been a tremendous year for Colorado with one final step to come in Louisville, Kentucky. 

In 2013 Colorado came into the NCAA championships in Louisville, Kentucky not as the favorite. Northern Arizona had a strong team and they had the lead going into the final 2000m of the race. Colorado pulled together at the finish and won. Last year they redshirted Morgan Pearson and Ammar Moussa ran his best races as a Buffalo and led the team at the NCAA championships in Terre Haute, Indiana to a dominating victory. In each of these years a runner could have a day off because there were always a rotation of six runners. This year they have five.

In the Colorado duals the Buffaloes ran runners that coach Wetmore believes could contribute to the team. Sophomore Zach Perrin was 107th at 2013 NCAA Championships and he had the fastest time ahead of unattached freshman John Dressel 14:43 to 14:51 and Ryan Forsyth. At the Rocky Mountain Shootout everyone ran except for senior Ammar Moussa. Pierce Murphy led fellow seniors in 24:26 ahead of Morgan Pearson in 24:31 and Connor Winter in 24:35. Behind them Zach Perrin ran 24:53, and running unattached were John Dressel in 25:16 and Ben Saarel in 25:18. Behind them Ryan Forsyth ran 25:19. 

At the NCAA D1 Pre-Nationals on October 17th in Louisville, Kentucky #1 Colorado (89) beat #8 Oregon (151), #10 Arkansas (164), #12 UTEP (197), #13 Georgetown (214), and #19 Virginia Tech (223). Thomas Curtin of Virginia Tech (23:18.2) took off early in the race and the pack decided not to chase him and ran out of time at the finish as Edward Cheserek of Oregon was second (23:22.8), Anthony Rotich of UTEP was third (23:23.5), Jonah Koech of UTEP was fourth (23:24.3) and for Colorado Pierce Murphy was fifth (23:24.4), Connor Winter was ninth (23:32.4), Ammar Moussa was 14th (23:34.8), Morgan Pearson 15th (23:34.8). Behind them was John Dressel in 46th (23:54.3), Ryan Forsyth in 51st (23:57.7) and Zach Perrin in 68th (24:07.2). At the same time Syracuse won Wisconsin Adidas and put into question whether Ben Saarel should redshirt. Coach Wetmore was thinking about redshirting junior Saarel so that he would have two years left to lead a young team that would lose the four senior leaders from this team.

Before the Pac-12 meet coach Wetmore made it clear that his teams would run hard at the Pac-12 conference meet hosted by Washington State on October 30th. The race went out as a pack but with 2000m to go Edward Cheserek pushed to the finish (23:06.3) as Sean McGorty of Stanford (23:13.7) finished second, Izaic Yorks of Washington third (23:15.1), Pierce Murphy of Colorado fourth (23:15.2), Lane Werley of UCLA fifth (23:19.1), John Dressel of Colorado sixth (23:19.4) and Ammar Moussa of Colorado 7th (23:22.4). Morgan Pearson of Colorado 14th (23:31.9) and Connor Winter of Colorado 15th (23:34.3) finished off the scoring for the Buffaloes. Colorado put five in the first 15 to score 46 ahead of #3 Stanford with 57, #8 Oregon with 83, #9 UW with 96, and NCAA at-large team qualifiers UCLA with 127, Washington State with 137, and California with 157. Other runners for Colorado were Ryan Forsyth finished 24th (23:52.5), Zach Perrin was 38th (24:20.7), Nick Harris was 44th (24:28.6), and Paul Miller was 53rd (24:50.2).

Syracuse ran well at the ACC championships and coach Wetmore decided to run two-time NCAA cross country top-ten finisher Ben Saarel. His first race of the school year in a Colorado uniform and he was #6 (21st in 30:31.3) for Colorado. #1 Colorado (67) beat #12 UTEP (77), #7 BYU (98) and Southern Utah (114). Pierce Murphy once again led Colorado in 7th, Morgan Pearson 8th, Ammar Moussa 15th, Zach Perrin 18th, John Dressel 19th, and Connor Winter 23rd.

Colorado is a very experienced team and coach Wetmore knows how to motivate and guide his runners to do their best at the right moment. Whether Colorado can get a runner outside of the top five to help this year is a big question but having four seniors with junior Saarel is a group of four that have won two NCAA titles (the exception is Pearson). An issue before or on the course could wreck title hopes.

Before the season Syracuse lost top NCAA finisher MJ Erb to Ole Miss and Max Straneva to graduation. It looked like they might struggle but coach Chris Fox has continued to develop his group into another powerhouse. 

Last year Syracuse came into the NCAA championships as a trophy favorite after winning the Wisconsin Adidas meet (85 to 154 for Iona) and having a #1 (Martin Heir in 7th) to #5 (Dan Lennon in 25th) spread of :14. They worked as a group and finished 5-8 and 15th at the Northeast region championships. At the NCAA meet they finished 5th (206) as Erb led a pack-running Syracuse team in 38th as ACC champion Heir (39th), Straneva (42nd), Lennon (45th) and then the pack separated with Colin Bennie (95th), Justyn Knight (143rd) and Joel Hubbard (165th) off the pack. 

Outdoors this year sophomores Justyn Knight (6th) and Colin Bennie (14th) ran in the NCAA 5000m final and Hehir (13th) and Dan Lennon (15th) ran in the 10,000m final. Their success on the track has translated to cross country for three of them, Knight, Bennie and Hehir as Lennon seems to be battling injuries.

#2 Syracuse has been going 1-2-3 in all of the races except for Wisconsin Adidas. Knight led the charge at Battle-in-Beantown (Syracuse 25 beat Dartmouth 67) as Matt McClintock of Purdue finished 2nd to break up the 1-2-3. Joel Hubbard was 7th, and Dan Lennon was 10th, Philo Germano 16th, and Shawn Wilson 17th. 

This year’s team showed a new strategy at Wisconsin Adidas without running as a pack like last year. Syracuse was 1st with 101, #7 BYU (186), #6 Michigan (218), #11 Virginia (238), #4 Iona (268), #16 Furman 310, #17 North Carolina State 311. For Syracuse Knight was 2nd 23:35.8 behind Marc Scott of Tulsa in 23:35.0, then it was Sean McGorty of #3 Stanford in 23:36.9,  Hehir 4th 23:36.9, Malachi Schrobilgen of Wisconsin in 23:37.2, Bennie in 6th at 23:38.5, Izaic Yorks of #9 UW in 23:39.8, Chartt Miller of #4 Iona in 23:44.7, and Henry Wynne of #11 Virginia in 23:44.7. Syracuse also had Hubbard 28th (23:59.9), Lennon 61st (24:15.1), Germano 89th (24:24.6) and Wilson was 128th (24:36.4). 

Next up for Syracuse was the ACC championships with Thomas Curtin of Virginia Tech winning in 23:23.0 ahead of Knight (23:24.4), Edwin Kibichiy of Louisville (23:30.6), Bennie (23:31.4), and Hehir (23:37.4). #2 Syracuse (46), #17 North Carolina State (95), #11 Virginia (115), #19 Virginia Tech (120), and #14 Louisville (130). In such a deep conference they other Syracuse finishers were Philo Germano in 15th, Dan Lannon in 20th and Syracuse’s 1-5 split was :49. Joe Kush was 29th, Hubbard 35th, Wilson 36th, and Juris Silenieks was 46th.

#2 Syracuse beat #4 Iona again at the Northeast regional 29-40 as both took the automatic spots. Knight, Bennie and Hehir took the first three spots with Hubbard 11th and Lennon 12th and a 1-5 split of :22.2. Germano was 15th and Wilson 19th.

I think we saw the NCAA championship team run at the Northeast regional and this team is built for 10,000m.  The top three runners ran better at Northeast region than last year and the next four runners also ran very well. 

The next two teams have tried to control their efforts this year to keep them healthy for the NCAA championships. Both #3 Stanford and #4 Iona have the talent and have run well at times to indicate they will run very well at the NCAA championships. 

#3 Stanford is the only other team that can challenge Colorado and Syracuse with a strong top three runners. Of those runners the only one that has run well all season is junior Sean McGorty. He opened the season by dominating the Stanford Invitational (23:07.0). He next ran at Wisconsin Adidas on October 16th and finished third.  

Senior Joe Rosa was 33rd at last year’s NCAA meet and missed the track season but he shook off the rust with an easy run at the Fresno State Invite (6th) and then pushed the pace at the Washington Invitational to get second in 23:20.6. His senior brother Joe was the last to start the season at the Pac-12 meet. Jim missed the last cross country season and outdoor track season. 

Both Jim Rosa and freshman Garrett Fisher debuted in Stanford singlets at the Pac-12 championships. As a result, Stanford challenged Colorado even though McGorty was the runner to beat a colorado runner in matchups of #1 to #5. Joe Rosa was 8th, Fisher 11th, Sweatt 16th, Jim Rosa completed the scoring in 20th. Cameron Miller has impressed at times this year but finished 33rd, and all-American Sam Wharton was 43rd.

Stanford finished behind UW at the West Region meet 63 to 83 with Oregon third with 99, followed by Washington State with 125, Boise State 137, Cal 146 and UCLA 163. Jim Rosa, Sean McGorty, and Joe Rosa ran as a group the last 2000m into the finish and finished 6-7-8 as Edward Cheserek won in 30:43.2 in horribly windy and muddy conditions. Garrett Sweatt was 20th and Wharton in 42nd finished the scoring. This five plus Miller and Fisher will likely be their NCAA team. 

 Last year #4 Iona ended the season poorly after finishing second at Wisconsin Adidas. They finished third at the Northeast region (behind Syracuse and Providence) and then finished eighth at the NCAA championships (270). Last year they could not keep their team together and healthy when the NCAA championships came.  

It seems that Iona controlled their effort level this year to keep runners from getting hurt and they have run well at MAAC conference and Northeast region. Early in the season they ran their first meet at the Greater Louisville Classic on October 3rd and won (48) over #6 Michigan (61), Mississippi (76), and #14 Louisville (77). Mason Ferlic won (23:51.6) over Louisville’s Edwin Kibichiy (23:55.3), Iona’s Chartt Miller (23:55.9), MJ Erb of Mississippi (23:56.8), Japheth Kipkoech of Louisville (23:57.3), Dylan Lafond of Illinois (23:59.6), Kieran Clements of Iona (24:02.2). Jonannes Motschmann was third for Iona in 24:14.9 followed by Gilbert Kirui in 14th (24:20.3) and Mike O’Dowd 16th (24:21.0). It was a good :25.1 split for 1 to 5.

At Wisconsin Adidas they were fifth (268) as not everyone that ran at the Greater Louisville Classic returned for Wisconsin Adidas (four ran and just three ran well). Miller was eighth overall, followed by Clements in 21st, and O’Dowd in 32nd as Kirui had a rough race in 94th

Iona took the first seven and 11 of the first 12 at MAAC championships as O’Dowd earned the individual title in 23:44.3. The Northeast region meet was much tougher as #2 Syracuse won the team title over Iona 29 to 40. Syracuse took the first three spots, Clements was fourth (30:33.8), Kirui was 6th (30:36.1), O’Dowd 7th (30:44.2), Miller 10th (30:49.2), Brandon Allen was 13th (30:56.6), and Liam Dee was 22nd (31:13.9). I expect Motschmann will be added to this group for a solid top 6. 

Of all of the teams outside the top four the team that has the best shot to challenge for a trophy (even runner-up) is #5 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have not run anywhere north of Kansas this year and missed all of the big races. Sophomore Cerake Geberkidane leads a group peaking at the right time. At Big 12 Vegard Oelstad won the title in 23:58.9, Geberkidane was third, Craig Nowak sixth, Chad Noelle 8th and Joshua Thompson was 10th. From 1-5 there was a :56 spread. Over the 10,000m distance at the Midwest Region the Cowboys five runners were in the top 17 and six in the top 27. Cerake led the team in third (29:50.4) and there was a 1-5 spread of :33.5.

#6 Michigan is one of the deepest teams with two runners that redshirted last year ran at the 2013 NCAA championships and they return all seven runners from last year’s 11th (365) place team. The 2015 Big 10 (63 ahead of 81 for Illinois) and Great Lakes champions (67 to 88 for Michigan State) have historically tough competitions. Senior Mason Ferlic (13th in 2014) has been near the front or won every race. The 1-5 spread was :49.4 at Big 10 and :57.1 at Great Lakes.

The Cougars of #7 BYU have had an up and down season. They were third at Washington Invitational (behind Oregon and Stanford) and second to #2 Syracuse at Wisconsin Adidas. Dallin Farnsworth has led a close group of three leading BYU. They were third at Mountain Region behind Colorado and UTEP.

Edward Cheserek is the favorite again but #8 Oregon graduated four of the top five from last year’s team that finished sixth. Freshmen Matthew Maton and Tanner Anderson have transitioned well and sophomore Travis Neuman and junior Jake Leingang have had better health than last year and developed into #2 and #3 runners.  

With Ben Saarel back #1 Colorado is the favorite but anything can happen. #2 Syracuse seems to be rounding into a form that would challenge the Buffaloes for the title. #5 Oklahoma State has enough pieces to and experience to jump up into a high trophy position but it is likely that #3 Stanford and #4 Iona will trophy. After the first two spots, this is a solid group of teams challenging for the other two trophy spots. 

In all likelihood Cheserek will win his third straight title. Thomas Curtin of Virginia Tech has shown a strength and desire to try and pull away from the top runners and if he repeats what he did at Pre-Nationals it will change what the regular race strategy has been, run a pace hard enough but not too hard to stretch the lead out and then with 2000m to go take off for the win. Marc Scott of Tulsa and Patrick Tiernan of Villanova have been undefeated using that strategy but now they will deal with Cheserek. Cheesecake could go out hard or wait and kick and he has been waiting to help guide and pace his teammates in the early going and that could cost him his third consecutive win.