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Wetmore Makes It Six National Titles

When it comes to college cross country success since 2000, coach Mark Wetmore is getting closer to having a corner on the market.

In November in Terre Haute, Ind., Wetmore led the men’s team to its fourth NCAA Division I cross country title in 13 years, and to his sixth national team title overall as a coach, including two on the women’s side. All told, Wetmore’s teams account for 23 percent of all the national titles Buff teams have won in their history (6 of 26).

Ben Saarel paced ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ with an eighth-place individual finish, becoming the first Buff true freshman to earn All-American honors since Billy Nelson (Hist’08) in 2002.

The men beat runner-up Northern Arizona by 20 points eight days after losing to the school at the regional meet. ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ, which returns all its runners next season, also won its third straight Pac-12 title.

“I like it that people said that we were over-ranked after the conference meet and after regionals,” Wetmore says. “That adds a little bit to the enjoyment of winning [the national title].”

Wetmore subsequently was named national cross country coach of the year for the fourth time, twice each for men and women.

The ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ women placed seventh in the NCAA meet, with Shalaya Kipp’s ninth-place showing pacing the Buffs. Kipp became the first ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ female to earn All-American honors four times in cross country.

Photography courtesy of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Athletics