Nov. 20, 2000

By Sean Duff
The Coloradoan

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - It's been 24 years since the Colorado State University men's cross country team has competed in the NCAA Championships.

That streak ends today when the Rams, ranked 14th nationally, race in the NCAA Division I meet in Ames, Iowa.

CSU coach Del Hessel said the invitation - the Rams received an at-large berth after finishing fifth in the Mountain Regional meet - was the result of hard work during the past four years.

"We're really excited," he said. "The neat thing is we had a game plan for the past three years to go to nationals by the time Bryan (Berryhill, the Rams' No. 1 runner) was a senior, and we achieved that."

Doubling Hessel's pleasure is the fact that the CSU women, ranked 21st nationally, also qualified for today's meet. They earned an at-large berth by placing third at regionals.

"I would be pleased if both teams finish in the top 15, though the women might be more capable of that," Hessel said.

Berryhill leads a men's squad that also includes Josh Lybarger, Rob Vermillion, Dylan Olchin, Reagan Robb, Chris Cole and Gabe Olchin. The women's squad consists of Elizabeth Roodell, Marisa Keefe, Meg Larsen, Kim Leal, Jennifer Kintzley, Katie Yemm and Christy Virgin.

"Bryan has been running extremely well," Hessel said. "I'd like to think he could run in the top 10.

"Elizabeth's goal is to finish in the top 40 and earn All-America status."

With 285 runners in each field, Hessel said it was important to get off to a good start on a difficult course that features several hills.

"On a course scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest and 10 the hardest, I'd say it's about an 8," Hessel said. "It's never really flat.

"It's a regular stampede for the first mile. Heaven help you if you fall down, you're probably going to be perforated."

The top five men's teams are the University of Colorado, defending champion Stanford, Brigham Young, Wisconsin and Arizona State. The top five women's teams are CU, Stanford, Arkansas, Providence and Wisconsin. Defending champion BYU, which had been ranked No. 1 before finishing second to CU at the regional meet, ranks seventh.

"We don't feel that there is any more pressure of where we're ranked to perform better than intended (today)," CU coach Mark Wetmore said in a news release. "This is a great opportunity for us. It should not affect our plan or affect our goals."

Jorge Torres is CU's top male runner, Kara Grgas-Wheeler leads the women's team. Neither has lost a race this year.

The 6-kilometer women's race starts at 10 a.m. The men's 10K race begins at 11:15 a.m