Daniel Petty

A memorial for eight Wyoming Cross Country runners killed by a drunken driver on Sept. 16, 2001, sits next to the university's football stadium and athletics facilities on Sept. 11, 2011. The 10-year anniversary of the crash was commemorated by the Always a Cowboy 8K run and 5K walk on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. (Daniel Petty, The Denver Post)

LARAMIE — For the families and friends of these eight running men, 10 years feels like both yesterday and forever ago.

But they came together Saturday as they always do at this time of year — more than 225 people, the largest turnout in years, gathered at Undine Park in town, one of the most beautiful days for the “Always a Cowboy” run in recent memory.

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Running through the foothills of Portland, Ore., on an unseasonably warm late September afternoon, Lisa Koll is reflecting on the year-long journey that led her to begin her professional running career. The wide gravel road on which she and I are running, just 9 minutes from her apartment in the suburbs of northwest Portland, is generously shaded and climbs gradually above the city for the first half of our out-and-back 50-minute run.

“The day I stop enjoying running is the day I won’t do it anymore,” Koll tells me. “I’ve always run because I love doing it, and I enjoy seeing myself progress. And I think a lot of times when people go professional, they think, ‘Now it’s my job.’ And you do have to look at it like that because it is your job and you have to make more sacrifices. But I never want it to be, ‘I need to go run today because I need to race well so I can go get my paycheck.’”

Her step is light and effortless, powerful and purposeful despite the 80-minute run she clipped off earlier in the morning. I remind her several times that she’s free to pull ahead if she’d like to go faster, but she insists the pace is on target. I ask her how she’s adjusting to her fresh surroundings. “I miss my teammates,” she says after a long pause. “But I’m surprised how quickly this place has started to feel like home.”

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BOULDER, Colo. — Saturday was a symbolic transition of sorts for Jenny Barringer, racing for the last time as a collegiate athlete before her hometown Boulder crowd — one that has watched her flourish from a top performer for Colorado as a freshman, to a world contender and American-record holder as a senior.

Barringer broke the Buffaloes’ home course record Saturday at the 24th Rocky Mountain Shootout cross country meet, charging to the lead moments after the start and finishing the 5.8-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 25 seconds.

Her performance smashed the previous mark of 19:38 set in 2000 by Kara Grgas-Wheeler (now Goucher), one of today’s pre-eminent American women’s distance runners, who began building her early career at CU under head coach Mark Wetmore.

“I know how hard this course is, and how hard she ran, how good of a shape she was was in when she was here running hard,” Barringer said of Goucher. “To be able to run even close to what she ran is a good mark of my fitness right now, and I’m really excited about it.”

Read the full article in The Denver Post

DENVER — For so many of his friends, he was just Q-man — a superhero of sorts, a boy who lifted spirits and radiated cheer and charm.

And on Wednesday he was gone. Fifteen-year-old Quinton Sanford, a wrestler and cross country runner at Highlands Ranch High School, collapsed that afternoon during a school-sponsored run along the High Line Canal.

Friends said his father, who was present at the race, performed CPR, but Quinton died en route to the hospital.

For much of the school, Thursday was a day of mourning. Word of the sophomore’s death spread quickly.

Students came to school donning black, many crying throughout the day. Grief-stricken teachers couldn’t make it through class. The school already endured the loss of another student a few weeks ago.

A preliminary autopsy by the Arapahoe County coroner’s office was inconclusive. Additional test results are expected in eight to 10 weeks.

“If he just started talking to you, you would get a smile,” said 15-year-old sophomore Taylor Snow. “He was always happy, and he loved everyone.”

By DANIEL PETTY
Associated Press Writer

Editor’s Note: This story was published on AP’s national sports wire.

RICHMOND, Va. — Two-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman successfully defended his 10-kilometer road racing national championship Saturday, defeating a field that included several top contenders for the U.S. Olympic long-distance squad this summer.

Abdirahman won the race in 28 minutes, 32 seconds, beating Dan Browne by 4 seconds. Fasil Bizuneh was third in 29:03. It was Abdirahman’s first race since dropping out of last November’s U.S. Olympic marathon trials in New York with a hip flexor injury.

“It was tough, I went out too slow,” Abdirahman said of Saturday’s race. “But for me, I’m happy for the win. That’s what I came here to do. I haven’t gotten into my heavy training yet.”

In the women’s race, which did not determine a national champion, Leah Kiprono won in 34:19. Cheryl Anderson was second in 34:22 and Maria Elena Calle placed third.

Abdirahman won last year’s championship in Atlanta at the Peachtree Road Race and captured first in the track 10K during last year’s U.S. outdoor track and field championships.

Browne has yet to secure the Olympic qualifying standard for the 10K, which must be run on a track, but said he plans to get it in the next two months. In 2004, he made the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon and 10K, and is considered a top contender in the 10K this year.

“I didn’t feel that great even from the start,” Browne said. “I was a little bit nervous. Warm, humid weather is not really my cup of tea. You just do what you can. The big deal is in three months.”

Many of the leaders were using the race to gauge their fitness levels leading up to the July 4 Olympic trials.

Alan Culpepper, winner of the 2004 U.S. Olympic marathon trials and among the pre-race favorites, stayed in contention for the first mile, but fell back considerably in the second mile and finished 10th in 29:44. Stomach cramps and the humidity factored into his poor performance, he said.

“This was not part of the plan, to feel this bad,” said Culpepper, who’s training for the Olympic trials 5K. “I couldn’t breath because I was so cramped up. I salvaged what I could.”

Read the story at USAToday.com