CU Track & Field: 2021 NCAA Championships and USATF Olympic Trials
Sage Hurta finished as the national runner-up at the 2021 NCAA Championships. CU Track & Field qualifiers head back to Hayward field for the USATF Olympic Trials.
Colorado track and field’s Suge Hurta and Micaela Degenero received First Team All-American finishes at the 2021 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Senior Sage Hurta finished the women’s 1,500-meter as the national runner-up in 4:09.42 and Degenero earned her first All-American title as a Buff after finishing sixth in the race in 4:11.26.
In the semifinals on June 10, Hurta and Degenero were two of the three fastest runners. Degenero ran with the third-best mark at 4:09.38 and Hurta with 4:08.88, an impressive sprint making Hurta the eighth-fastest to ever run in the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In lanes seven and five, Hurta and Degenero stood beside soon to be national champion BYU’s Anna Camp in lane six. In the first 69 seconds of the lap, Degenero was pushed to ninth place. As the athletes narrowed at 800 meters, Hurta stayed close behind Alabama’s Amaris Tyynismaa. Hurta began to push the pace to pass Alabama at 2:58.7, taking the lead for the final lap. Camp began to advance through the group, staying right on the shoulder of Hurta. At the final curve, Hurta and Camp were close, yet in the final stretch, Camp moved past Hurta, winning the national championship. Camp placed in first, Hurta in second and Ella Donaghu from Stanford in third.
CU Boulder track and field head coach, Mark Wetmore said in a statement, “Well in Sage’s case, she’s coming in here with all the pressure, everybody after her and it’s awfully hard your senior year with professional ranks waiting, being the favorite, it’s just really aggravating. She looked a little flat in the last 100 meters, a little bit collapsed. Maybe a little tactical error moving too soon earlier in the race, perhaps. But second place, what a great year, great senior year. She’s been a tremendous Buffalo. She goes into the pantheon.”
“Micaela is a good closer if she keeps near it,” said Wetmore about Degenero. “Then she smells blood and goes after it…Very pleased for her to get sixth. I don’t know that she’s ever even made it here before so if this is her first outdoor NCAA to get sixth, and she’s got a year to go. Good stuff.”
CU women’s track and field finished with 11 total team points from the 1,500, tied for 26th in the nation and finished fifth in the Pac-12 conference.
The USATF Olympic Trials begin on June 17. Fourteen current and former Buffs will be competing, including Hurta who will run the women’s 800, qualifying at 2:00.62. She is currently ranked 18th in the nation. Also, Eduardo Herrera will be competing in the men’s 5,000 prelims; and the following day, on June 18, Degenero, with her qualifying time from the NCAA Championship, is in the women’s 1,500.
The CU women finished 2️⃣6️⃣ after Sage Hurta and Micaela Degenero put up the fourth-most points for a women's team in a single event at the NCAA Championships! #GoBuffs
— Colorado Buffaloes Track & XC (@CUBuffsTrack) June 13, 2021
📝https://t.co/ucGm7JOY0U
“Micaela is a good closer if she keeps near it,” said Wetmore about Degenero. “Then she smells blood and goes after it…Very pleased for her to get sixth. I don’t know that she’s ever even made it here before so if this is her first outdoor NCAA to get sixth, and she’s got a year to go. Good stuff.”
CU women’s track and field finished with 11 total team points from the 1,500, tied for 26th in the nation and finished fifth in the Pac-12 conference.
The USATF Olympic Trials begin on June 17. Fourteen current and former Buffs will be competing, including Hurta who will run the women’s 800, qualifying at 2:00.62. She is currently ranked 18th in the nation. Also, Eduardo Herrera will be competing in the men’s 5,000 prelims; and the following day, on June 18, Degenero, with her qualifying time from the NCAA Championship, is in the women’s 1,500.
Results
Event |
Athlete |
Place & Mark |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s 10,000-meter Final | John Dressel | 12th, 28:03.87 |
| Women’s 1,500-meter Prelims | Sage Hurta | 1st,4:08.88 |
| Women’s 1,500-meter Prelims | Micaela Degenero | 3rd,4:09.38 |
| Women’s 1,500-meter Prelims | Rachel McArthur | 23rd,4:22.75 |
| Women’s 3,000-meter Steeplechase | Madie Boreman | 15th,9:49.28 |
| Women’s 400-meter Hurdle Prelims | Eriana Henderson | 19th,58.95 |
| Women’s 400-meter Hurdle Prelims | Abbey Glynn | 21st,59.49 |
| Women’s 10,000-meter Final | Abby Nichols | DNF,DNF |
| Women’s 1,500-meter Finals | Sage Hurta | 2nd,4:09.42 |
| Women’s 1,500-meter Finals | Micaela Degenero | 6th,4:11.26 |
| Women’s 5,000-meter Final | Abby Nichols | 17th,16:04.74 |
Featured image by IceNineJon is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
