CU track and field and cross country will take a look back at every year under Wetmore and recap the best races and teams of every calendar year.
Every four years (unless a global pandemic strikes), the world comes together and sends its best to compete at the Olympic Games. Since Wetmore arrived at Colorado, CU has seen an uptick in current and former Buffaloes competing on the international stage. Since 2000, the Buffs have earned 19 berths, 11 women's and eight men's, for the United States in the middle and long distance events, more than any other collegiate program. The next closest program to CU is Oregon at 10. Stanford and North Carolina are tied with eight.
In 2012, the Buffaloes were once again well represented at Olympic Games, and for the first time in school history, there were two current student-athletes, Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp, representing the United States in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. CU also had three other former Buffs in London competing: Kara Goucher (marathon), Dathan Ritzenhein (10,000) and Jenny (Barringer) Simpson (1,500).
OLYMPIC TRIALS WITH FRIENDS
There was something special at Colorado in 2012 and the CU coaching duo of head coach Mark Wetmore and associate head coach Heather Burroughs knew it. Emma Coburn was the 2011 NCAA and U.S. Champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and on paper was one of the favorites to make the U.S. Olympic team in 2012.
"The discussion was that I would redshirt the indoor and outdoor season in 2012 to focus and prep for the Olympic trials," Coburn said. "I was out of cross country eligibility but knew that I would come back for a fifth year for 2013 for indoor and outdoor."
Shalaya Kipp would also be racing at the trials that season, but she would do so after racing her collegiate season. She had placed ninth the year before at USAs in just her second year racing the event. Wetmore and Burroughs knew she had the potential to do very well and had the foresight to look ahead. That foresight paid off after Kipp had an outstanding 2012 collegiate season, winning the Pac-12 conference title en route to the NCAA crown which extended CU's streak to two straight (and five in the last seven years).
Coburn and Kipp could not have asked for better training partners. After all, who else could push them better than each other, the last two NCAA champions?
"The 2012 season was a lot of work with me and Shalaya training together," Coburn said. "Shalaya won NCAAs, which was so special that she was able to snag that title and kept the Colorado streak of winning that alive. She ran great and had a great season."
Training with Coburn was such a big factor and motivator for Kipp. One that had been pushing her for the previous two seasons and would push her for years to come.
"It is so hard to put into words how special it was and how amazing it was to have each other throughout that time," Kipp said recently. "A lot of the reason I think that I had success was that I had this girl in school who was one year older than me who always was doing what I wanted to be doing and just by watching and seeing that she could achieve it and knowing that I trained with her every day, it made it possible in my head that I could achieve these things. She could break psychological barriers as well as the physical barriers in workouts for me."
Kipp returned to Boulder after winning the NCAA Championship in the steeplechase and did not have time to celebrate her victory because she needed to prepare for the next race: the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The two trained hard and went to Eugene, Ore., ready for anything.
To make the team, there were two things they needed to do. They needed to earn a spot in the top three of the finals and have run an Olympic 'A' Standard time before the end of the finals, which was 9:40. Coburn ran under 9:40 a couple of times in 2011, so she already had the standard. But Kipp's PR was 9:43.09, so she had a little work to do.
"Mark and Heather got this idea that I would try to run the standard in the prelim because they were scared the final would be slow," Kipp said. "So Emma was actually to pace me or help me achieve that 'A' standard in the prelim."
It was a perfect plan, but it just did not work that rainy June 25 at Hayward Field. Kipp said she tried as hard as she could and Coburn did exactly what she was supposed to do. Coburn took the win in 9:43.19, while Kipp was second in 9:46.17.
With the finals just four days later, each athlete had pressure.
"She (Kipp) had a lot of pressure on her in the final, not only to make the top three but to run a fast time," Coburn said. "So the pressure on her was different than the pressure on me. I had pressure on me to get top three and to hopefully win the race."
The roommates went to the track together on June 29. Kipp remembers thinking that the final better be fast. And fast it was. Coburn took to the front of the pack before the end of the first lap and never relinquished the lead. She finished all alone, crossing the finish in 9:32.78 to win the U.S. title for the second straight year. When Coburn turned around, she was able to hug Kipp as she crossed the finish line third in 9:35.73 behind 2010 NCAA Champion Bridget Franek (9:35.62), who was second.
But Kipp did not know what her time was when she finished. She knew she was third, but she was not clear on her time.
"I remember finishing the final and knowing I finished in the top three and trying to see the clock," Kipp said. "You're exhausted and my vision was blurry. It's not a 4, it says 30 something. Everyone is celebrating around me and all I'm trying to do is look clearly at the clock and make sure I'm under the standard."
It was such a special day for the pair, but Coburn was able to sum it up just right.
"Walking away from the Olympic Trials after you win the race you can say, I'm an Olympian, it is forever," she said. "That was really special. And being with Shalaya; that was really special."
ON TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES
The Games of the XXX Olympiad took place July 27- August 12 in London.
Track and field events started on August 3 and the steeplechase prelims were set for August 4. This was the first Olympics for the duo, although it was not the first international championship for Coburn as she raced at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Kipp made her international debut in the first heat of the steeplechase. She ran a very good race and time, finishing in 9:48.33, but was in the same section as the then-world record holder Gulnara Gulkina (9:01.59). Kipp did her best to run with the field, but after a long season, she could not hang on and finished 12th overall. She did finish in front of three other competitors.
"Making it to the starting line was great," Kipp said reflecting on the race. "It was not my best race; I was exhausted. Training had not gone great leading up to it. But it was still an amazing experience. Just being so young there it was really eye-opening being there. It was so new."
Coburn was in the second heat and had a better outcome, finishing third and earning an automatic qualifying position for finals. She quickly moved to the front of the pack after the start and was third after the first full lap. Coburn took the lead when Portugal's Clarisse Cruz tripped on a barrier with just over five laps remaining. She hung on to the lead until about 600 meters remaining, at which point she was passed by two runners. But Coburn held strong and close well to finish third in 9:27.51, the second-fastest mark of her career.
Following the race, Wetmore and Burroughs were happy with what they had seen.
"Heather and I are very happy with the races this morning," Wetmore said. "Emma didn't plan to lead. But the race was slowing down and it's generally better to squeeze the slower runners out the back. Then the Portugal woman went down and Emma discovered herself out front. She managed it well, kept the pace pretty honest, allowed the normal attrition to take place, and then closed carefully. I think she kept a few seconds in the tank."
"Shalaya did fine for her first experience at this level. I think her final time today was about the same as Jenny (Barringer) Simpson's at her first "major" international race in Japan in 2007. It is the seventh month of racing for Shalaya. She had a great year and has many more coming."
Coburn went on to race in the finals and finished ninth, which was the highest finish by an American. She clocked a personal best of 9:23.54 and since then, she has been elevated to eighth place after the gold medalist, Yuliya Zaripova (9:06.72), was disqualified for doping.
"She exceeded all of our goals for the year. We are enormously proud of her," Wetmore said following the race.
Just before that Olympic final started, Coburn remembers the feeling of belonging.
"Before I had felt timid or nervous," she said. "I vividly remember feeling like I belonged. I walked away feeling really happy and really proud."
To go to the Olympic Games is a really big accomplishment. But to get to share it with a friend and teammate is even more special and it is something that these two will have for the rest of their lives no matter what direction their careers take them.
"We went to London together and were roommates in the Olympic village," Coburn said. "We walked in the opening ceremonies together. We were through it all together. It's a bond that we will have forever. It was so special and so cool do get to share that with her. It made our Olympic experience so happy, but we were able to focus and do the Colorado way of executing races. It was really cool to be there with her."
Kipp echoed Coburn's sentiment, saying: "It was absolutely incredible and then I had Emma by my side to do all of that with. You had your buddy with you throughout the whole thing. I can't imagine having actually having done that without her. We were in a dorm room for a whole month together."
PAST TOP RACES:
2012: KIPP CARRIES ON COLORADO LEGACY WITH A PAIR OF STEEPLECHASE TITLES
2011: COBURN WINS FIRST NCAA & U.S. TITLES; BUFFS MAKE STATEMENT WINNING INAUGURAL PAC-12 CROSS COUNTRY TITLES
2010: COBURN AND KIPP BECOME STRONG 1-2 IN THE STEEPLE; DODSON SPRINTS TO A STRONG FINISH
2009: BARRINGER BREAKS 6 COLLEGIATE RECORDS IN FINAL TRACK SEASON (VIDEO)
2008 (OLYMPIC EDITION): BARRINGER AND NELSON TAKE BEIJING OLYMPICS
2008: MEN WIN BIG 12 OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP
2007: VAUGHN WINS 3 BIG 12 TITLES; BARRINGER TURNS DISAPPOINTMENT INTO FIRST U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP
2006: BARRINGER'S STEEPLECHASE LEGACY BEGINS; MEN'S XC WINS SECOND NCAA TITLE IN THREE YEARS
2005: METIVIER WINS INDOOR 3K; SLATTERY TAKES 10K TITLE
2004: BUFFS WIN MEN'S AND WOMEN'S NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
2003: RITZENHEIN RACES TO THE TITLE (FINISH VIDEO)
2002: TORRES CEMENTS LEGACY (VIDEO)
2001: CU MEN CAPTURE FIRST TITLE (VIDEO)
2000: KARA GRGAS-WHEELER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1999: JAMES DAVIS 1999 4x400-METER RELAY ALL-AMERICAN
1998: ADAM GOUCHER 1998 CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (VIDEO) (5,000) (3,000)
1997: ADAM GOUCHER INDOOR 3,000 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1996: ALAN CULPEPPER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 5,000/ WOMEN'S BIG EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
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