Saturday, June 8
Austin, Texas
All Day
University of Colorado
vs
NCAA Championships
Photo by: Ben Ennis
Jones Takes National Title in 5,000
June 08, 2019 | General, Track and Field
CU women jump into ninth in second day of competition
AUSTIN, Texas – Colorado's Dani Jones takes the title in the 5,000-meter run at the 2019 NCAA National Championships as the Buffs vault into the top-10 in team scoring in the final day.
It was a day for the ages as the Buffaloes entered the final day of competition with no team points and left with the second-highest finish in school history. Four CU women placed inside the top-six in three events, including Jones' national championships and Gabby Scott finishing as the national runner-up in the 400 hurdles. The team's 24 points scored is the second most, trailing only the 2000 squad that tied for eighth in the nation after Kara (Grgas-Wheeler) Goucher took both the 3,000 and 5,000 titles.
Jones began the race sitting in eighth in the first three minutes as the pack formed and the pace was set. She moved up to fifth in the first 1,600, staying calm and relaxed on the inside. With five laps to go a pack of eight broke off with Jones in fourth waiting for her moment.
New Mexico's Weini Kelati took the lead with four laps to go. Jones began to migrate towards the front as she moved from third to second with each passing lap. With 800 meters remaining Jones held strong on Kelati's shoulder looking like it was going to be a cross country rematch.
Around the curve to the beginning of the final 500 meters Arkansas' Taylor Warner jumped out wide to take the lead, making the move swinging wide of Jones. She quickly covered the move and held the inside rail without allowing Warner to cut her off. The pack dropped down to five and the bell lap was on with Jones on the shoulder of Warner. Warner tried to kick it out with 300 left and make a gap against the cross champion, but Jones held strong and came strong off the final turn with a wide swinging pass. She took the title in 15:50.65.
"It was little more nerve-racking then cross, I left it more to the last minute," said Jones. "To celebrate a little at the end it was just a wave of emotions at the finish. Jenny talked to me before and just said don't run too emotionally before or during the race and just wait until the end to think about the things you've been through. I think now is an important time to thank the people that have helped me through injuries and ordeals. That is kind of the beauty of being finished and being business like and getting the job done."
"The 5k is pretty new for me, this was my fourth one," said Jones on her mentality during the race. "I think composure is a big thing. There were women running hard at the front and women making moves with a mile to go, so I just made sure to stay calm with every move that was made and keeping contact and paying attention. I knew if I was there with 800 I had a good shot. I think just staying calm up until that moment then letting loose with 800 to go."
"We didn't want to run 1,500s from the conference meet to the USA Championships end of July," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "Coach Burroughs and I met with Dani and someone came up with the idea of running the 5,000, it may have even been Dani, to run the 5,000 here even though it isn't her specialty nor an event she would be the favorite. We thought she's young and has a lot of years to go and a lot of years to run 1,500 races so let's have some run. We also knew it was going to be hot here and it would take an unusually courageous athlete opponent to bolt out at some pace that was improbably for Dani. It unfolded about the way we thought it would, moderately fast but nothing to fast for her. Every lap that went down played further and further into her hands and then it became a two-lap race and not many people are going to beat her in a 5,000 if it is down to the last 800"
With the victory Jones becomes the first woman in school history with a cross country, indoor and outdoor national championship. She joins Adam Goucher as the only CU athletes to accomplish the triple crown and joins Goucher and Jenny (Barringer) Simpson as the only four-time national champions in CU track and cross country history.
"I didn't know," said Jones about joining Goucher and Simpson. "Obviously those are two incredible runners and two really historic people who are still making big waves in our sport. Just being in the same sentence with those two people means a lot to me. Going into Colorado those were the people I was looking at and people that have been so supportive through my career and are big fans of our program, which means even more."
This was just the second outdoor title in the women's 5,000 for the Buffs in school history, joining Goucher's title in 2000. She also joins Jodie Hughes and Sara (Gorton) Slattery that won the title in the indoor 5,000. She is also just the sixth Buffalo to win two national titles in an academic year, joining both Gouchers, Simpson, Emma Coburn and Mark Scrutton.
"We are thrilled with Dani, she is a wonderful individual," said Wetmore. "She has had some interruptions and complications in the past three and four months and battled through them like a champ, I should say battled through and is a champ. She has a DMR title, a 3K title, a cross title a 5,000 title she is a very diverse talent and is going to be great for us next year too."
Just before the women's 5,000, Scott made history as the first women's sprinting National Runner-Up in school history with a school record of 56.04 seconds in the 400 hurdles. The senior closed her career running the second-fastest time in the nation this season, trailing only USC's Anna Cockrell who had the previous nation's best time in prelims at 56.06 and ran sub-56 for the win in the finals.
Scott came out of the blocks with the fastest start she has ever had. The senior was in lane eight and caught the outside runner three hurdles into the race. It wasn't until the final stagger on the curve that Cockrell came into view, but Scott closed hard to beat out the rest of the field after a perfect final three hurdles.
"Gabby had an amazing year," said Wetmore. "From the beginning of indoor it was obvious she was a completely different runner from a year ago. She had some sort of an awakening this summer and decided to ramp up her game as they say. She was excellent for us all indoors, all outdoors. Everybody was a little nervous here because she had a hamstring lurking going into this final but it didn't bother her. She ran her best race technically all year long. Difficult in the 400 hurdles out in an outside lane but she did everything right. Big points for the team and a great senior year."
Colorado's Val Constien opened up the day with a strong run in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Constien jumped out quickly to the lead and was in the top-two in the race for most of the race. With 800 meters remaining Boise State's Allie Ostrander made her move and Constien fell from third to fifth. She would stay there until the final backstretch with 250 meters remaining when she slipped to sixth. Constien finished in 9:51.22 for sixth and opened the scoring for CU.
The final runner of the evening was also in the 5,000 race with Jones. Makena Morley finished sixth in the race after battling tough conditions in the 10,000 two nights before. After missing out on an All-American finish, Morley wouldn't be denied again. She began at the back of the pack but quickly moved to seventh and sat right behind Jones with 2,000 meters left. When the pack of eight broke away Morley held on and made the move with the rest. She moved up to seventh with 800 remaining and went with the final pack of six. She held onto the position and finished in 16:02.89.
"We were hoping to have Val get some pretty big points and she did," said Wetmore. "Makena was pretty much amazing giving where she was in the 10k two nights ago. It was very nearly 100 degrees here on the ground today. The weather the past month in Boulder gave us no preparation for anything like this, but Makena is just so great, fearless, happy that she wasn't intimidated that she just stayed in the group and stayed in the group and even kicked a little bit. Very big, pleasant surprise. Honestly, I've been here since Monday and everyday it's gone up a couple degrees as I said culminating in 98-99 degrees, I've got to find a way to skip the first five days and 48 hours and just come at the end when the points come rolling in."
Two other CU women finished competition today in the heptathlon. Michaela Wenning finished 22nd overall and Maja Wichhart-Donzo finished 24th, scoring 5274 points and 4554, respectfully. Wichhart-Donzo had a strong long jump of 18-feet, 8 inches, while Wenning threw 129-11 in the javelin. The two closed strong as Wichhart-Donzo had the seventh-best 800 time of 2:16.14 and Wenning ran 2:24.23.
It was a day for the ages as the Buffaloes entered the final day of competition with no team points and left with the second-highest finish in school history. Four CU women placed inside the top-six in three events, including Jones' national championships and Gabby Scott finishing as the national runner-up in the 400 hurdles. The team's 24 points scored is the second most, trailing only the 2000 squad that tied for eighth in the nation after Kara (Grgas-Wheeler) Goucher took both the 3,000 and 5,000 titles.
Jones began the race sitting in eighth in the first three minutes as the pack formed and the pace was set. She moved up to fifth in the first 1,600, staying calm and relaxed on the inside. With five laps to go a pack of eight broke off with Jones in fourth waiting for her moment.
New Mexico's Weini Kelati took the lead with four laps to go. Jones began to migrate towards the front as she moved from third to second with each passing lap. With 800 meters remaining Jones held strong on Kelati's shoulder looking like it was going to be a cross country rematch.
Around the curve to the beginning of the final 500 meters Arkansas' Taylor Warner jumped out wide to take the lead, making the move swinging wide of Jones. She quickly covered the move and held the inside rail without allowing Warner to cut her off. The pack dropped down to five and the bell lap was on with Jones on the shoulder of Warner. Warner tried to kick it out with 300 left and make a gap against the cross champion, but Jones held strong and came strong off the final turn with a wide swinging pass. She took the title in 15:50.65.
"It was little more nerve-racking then cross, I left it more to the last minute," said Jones. "To celebrate a little at the end it was just a wave of emotions at the finish. Jenny talked to me before and just said don't run too emotionally before or during the race and just wait until the end to think about the things you've been through. I think now is an important time to thank the people that have helped me through injuries and ordeals. That is kind of the beauty of being finished and being business like and getting the job done."
"The 5k is pretty new for me, this was my fourth one," said Jones on her mentality during the race. "I think composure is a big thing. There were women running hard at the front and women making moves with a mile to go, so I just made sure to stay calm with every move that was made and keeping contact and paying attention. I knew if I was there with 800 I had a good shot. I think just staying calm up until that moment then letting loose with 800 to go."
"We didn't want to run 1,500s from the conference meet to the USA Championships end of July," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "Coach Burroughs and I met with Dani and someone came up with the idea of running the 5,000, it may have even been Dani, to run the 5,000 here even though it isn't her specialty nor an event she would be the favorite. We thought she's young and has a lot of years to go and a lot of years to run 1,500 races so let's have some run. We also knew it was going to be hot here and it would take an unusually courageous athlete opponent to bolt out at some pace that was improbably for Dani. It unfolded about the way we thought it would, moderately fast but nothing to fast for her. Every lap that went down played further and further into her hands and then it became a two-lap race and not many people are going to beat her in a 5,000 if it is down to the last 800"
With the victory Jones becomes the first woman in school history with a cross country, indoor and outdoor national championship. She joins Adam Goucher as the only CU athletes to accomplish the triple crown and joins Goucher and Jenny (Barringer) Simpson as the only four-time national champions in CU track and cross country history.
"I didn't know," said Jones about joining Goucher and Simpson. "Obviously those are two incredible runners and two really historic people who are still making big waves in our sport. Just being in the same sentence with those two people means a lot to me. Going into Colorado those were the people I was looking at and people that have been so supportive through my career and are big fans of our program, which means even more."
This was just the second outdoor title in the women's 5,000 for the Buffs in school history, joining Goucher's title in 2000. She also joins Jodie Hughes and Sara (Gorton) Slattery that won the title in the indoor 5,000. She is also just the sixth Buffalo to win two national titles in an academic year, joining both Gouchers, Simpson, Emma Coburn and Mark Scrutton.
"We are thrilled with Dani, she is a wonderful individual," said Wetmore. "She has had some interruptions and complications in the past three and four months and battled through them like a champ, I should say battled through and is a champ. She has a DMR title, a 3K title, a cross title a 5,000 title she is a very diverse talent and is going to be great for us next year too."
Just before the women's 5,000, Scott made history as the first women's sprinting National Runner-Up in school history with a school record of 56.04 seconds in the 400 hurdles. The senior closed her career running the second-fastest time in the nation this season, trailing only USC's Anna Cockrell who had the previous nation's best time in prelims at 56.06 and ran sub-56 for the win in the finals.
Scott came out of the blocks with the fastest start she has ever had. The senior was in lane eight and caught the outside runner three hurdles into the race. It wasn't until the final stagger on the curve that Cockrell came into view, but Scott closed hard to beat out the rest of the field after a perfect final three hurdles.
"Gabby had an amazing year," said Wetmore. "From the beginning of indoor it was obvious she was a completely different runner from a year ago. She had some sort of an awakening this summer and decided to ramp up her game as they say. She was excellent for us all indoors, all outdoors. Everybody was a little nervous here because she had a hamstring lurking going into this final but it didn't bother her. She ran her best race technically all year long. Difficult in the 400 hurdles out in an outside lane but she did everything right. Big points for the team and a great senior year."
Colorado's Val Constien opened up the day with a strong run in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Constien jumped out quickly to the lead and was in the top-two in the race for most of the race. With 800 meters remaining Boise State's Allie Ostrander made her move and Constien fell from third to fifth. She would stay there until the final backstretch with 250 meters remaining when she slipped to sixth. Constien finished in 9:51.22 for sixth and opened the scoring for CU.
The final runner of the evening was also in the 5,000 race with Jones. Makena Morley finished sixth in the race after battling tough conditions in the 10,000 two nights before. After missing out on an All-American finish, Morley wouldn't be denied again. She began at the back of the pack but quickly moved to seventh and sat right behind Jones with 2,000 meters left. When the pack of eight broke away Morley held on and made the move with the rest. She moved up to seventh with 800 remaining and went with the final pack of six. She held onto the position and finished in 16:02.89.
"We were hoping to have Val get some pretty big points and she did," said Wetmore. "Makena was pretty much amazing giving where she was in the 10k two nights ago. It was very nearly 100 degrees here on the ground today. The weather the past month in Boulder gave us no preparation for anything like this, but Makena is just so great, fearless, happy that she wasn't intimidated that she just stayed in the group and stayed in the group and even kicked a little bit. Very big, pleasant surprise. Honestly, I've been here since Monday and everyday it's gone up a couple degrees as I said culminating in 98-99 degrees, I've got to find a way to skip the first five days and 48 hours and just come at the end when the points come rolling in."
Two other CU women finished competition today in the heptathlon. Michaela Wenning finished 22nd overall and Maja Wichhart-Donzo finished 24th, scoring 5274 points and 4554, respectfully. Wichhart-Donzo had a strong long jump of 18-feet, 8 inches, while Wenning threw 129-11 in the javelin. The two closed strong as Wichhart-Donzo had the seventh-best 800 time of 2:16.14 and Wenning ran 2:24.23.
| 2019 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS | |||||
| WEDNESDAY | ESPN 2 | RESULT | PLACE | ||
| 5:46 PM | Men's 1,500 Prelims | Eduardo Herrera | Heat 2 | 3:44.78 | 7th (q) |
| 8:08 PM | Men's 10,000 Finals | John Dressel | Finals | 29:32.38 | 10th |
| Men's 10,000 Finals | Ryan Forsyth | Finals | 29:47.90 | 12th | |
| THURSDAY | ESPN 2 | RESULT | PLACE | ||
| 6:36 PM | Women's Steeplechase Prelims | Val Constien | Heat 2 | 9:52.04 | 6th (Q) |
| 8:00 PM | Women's 400 Hurdle Prelims | Gabby Scott | Heat 3 | 57.50 | 10th (Q) |
| 8:38 PM | Women's 10,000 Finals | Makena Morley | Finals | 33:39.27 | 11th |
| Women's 10,000 Finals | Kaitlyn Benner | Finals | 34:06.39 | 16th | |
| 9:18 PM | Women's 4x400 Prelim | Welch, Henderson, Johnson, Scott | Heat 1 | 3:29.25 | 24th |
| FRIDAY | ESPN | RESULT | PLACE | ||
| 6:41 PM | Men's 1,500 Finals | Eduardo Herrera | Finals | 3:46.27 | 12th |
| 8:25 PM | Men's 5,000 Finals | John Dressel | Finals | 14:18.03 | 14th |
| SATURDAY | ESPN 2 | RESULT | PLACE | ||
| 4:54 PM | Women's Steeplechase Finals | Val Constien | Finals | 9:51.22 | 6th |
| 5:57 PM | Women's 400 Hurdles Finals | Gabby Scott | Finals | 56.04 | 2nd |
| 6:25 PM | Women's 5,000 Finals | Dani Jones | Finals | 15:50.65 | 1st |
| Women's 5,000 Finals | Makena Morley | Finals | 16:02.89 | 6th | |
| HEPTATHLON RESULTS | |||||
| Maja Wichhart-Donzo | Michaela Wenning | ||||
| FRIDAY | ESPN 3 | RESULTS (SCORE) | PLACE | RESULTS (SCORE) | PLACE |
| 1:30 PM | 100m Hurdles | 14.21 (949) | 18th | 14.35 (929) | 20th |
| 2:30 PM | High Jump | 1.66m (806) | 18th | 1.66m (806) | 20th |
| 4:30 PM | Shot Put | 11.22m (610) | 19th | 11.51m (629) | 20th |
| 8:13 PM | 200m Dash | DQ | 24th | 26.02 (795) | 23rd |
| 3293 points | 3159 points | ||||
| SATURDAY | ESPN 3 | RESULTS (SCORE) | PLACE | RESULTS (SCORE) | PLACE |
| 12:30 PM | Long Jump | 5.69 (729) | 24th | 5.46 (688) | 19th |
| 1:45 PM | Javelin Throw | 34.20 (556) | 24th | 39.60 (660) | 20th |
| 6:13 PM | 800m Run | 2:16.14 (877) | 24th | 2:24.23 | 22nd |
| 4554 | 5274 | ||||
| Women's Team Scores Top-10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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