Aug. 30, 2005

By Matt Shapiro

Special to CSTV.com

If you didn't know that the Colorado Buffaloes captured both the men's and women's cross country national championship last year, you certainly wouldn't figure it out by speaking to them. The talk in Boulder isn't about trophies or accomplishments, it's about hard work and a clean slate.

Nearly nine months after their national championship sweep in Terre Haute, Ind., the Buffaloes are ready to begin defense of their titles. By winning both last year, Colorado became only the fourth team in the history of the championships to win the men's and women's title in the same year. Wisconsin did it in 1985, while Stanford turned the trick in both 1996 and 2003.  Entering the national championship, the men's team was ranked fourth by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association, while the women were ranked third by FinishLynx.

Head coach Mark Wetmore believes that it took the blending of several components for his team to sweep, and it will likely take that same convergence of events if the Buffaloes are looking for a repeat performance.

"For anybody to win, it takes a lot of things to come together -- a lot of different aspects to come together," he said. "There's plenty of talented teams that don't win, there's plenty of hard working teams that don't win, and there's plenty of lucky teams that don't win. It is a confluence of different factors."

Those three factors -- talent, hard work and luck -- are to what Wetmore attributes his team's accomplishments.

One of Wetmore's top runners, senior Christine Bolf, has a slightly different explanation for the team's success.

"The reason we won was because we really learned how to work together," she said. "Quite a few women's teams in the country have a lot of talent. I don't think its talent as much...I think we have really great team synergy and energy."

Unlike many other programs, in which there is a coach for the men's team and a coach for the women's squad, Colorado is led by only one.

Bolf says that having Wetmore oversee both teams can be both a negative and a positive, and it mainly depends on "what type of athlete you are". While Wetmore may not be able to lend as much individual attention because he must watch over all of the runners, the one coach system can help to create more of a tight-knit feeling amongst the athletes. Bolf called the men and women a "pretty big family".

So, as a big family, the team went on a trip to Indiana last year; and after the women all but locked up their victory, it was time for the other half of the Colorado clan to do its part.

"When [the men] were racing they said `well, the women won. It's our turn'," Bolf said. "It kind of encouraged them to do well as well."

Now, with their wins far in the rearview mirror, the team can put all of its energy towards the coming season. But just because the team won last year and each Colorado runner may carry a target on his or her back, Coach Wetmore doesn't think this year will be any more challenging than years past.

"I doubt it will be any harder than any other year. It's always hard," he said. "Everybody is out there training hard, adding recruits, and cranking up their training. And I doubt anybody is making any changes because of who we are or what we're doing."

Colorado will face steep competition this year, as teams like Wisconsin, Arkansas, Notre Dame and Stanford will be reloaded and ready to prove that the Buffaloes' victory was just a fluke.

Because this year's team is different than lasts (the team will lose several top female runners), there will be no heightened expectations placed on the runners, according to Bolf.

"Our team changes every season," she said. "We're not the same team that we were last year. [Coach Wetmore] doesn't have the same expectations that he had last year."

Wetmore makes sure that his team knows that he doesn't expect another championship to be handed to them, and nor should they.