Bailey Hertenstein leads CU Buffs cross country into Mountain Regional
Nov. 10—The Colorado cross country team didn't set out to take advantage of transfers from the Big Ten to keep the program's elite status in the Pac-12 Conference and nationally.
But it's working out that way just fine.
The latest Big Ten castoff to find a comfortable, and successful, new home with coach Mark Wetmore's program is Bailey Hertenstein, a former runner at Indiana who won the women's Pac-12 championship two weeks ago while leading the CU women to the team title. The CU men's and women's teams will look to secure their spots at the national championships when they set off in the Mountain Regional championship on Friday in Albuquerque.
"My reason for transferring had more to do with my environment," Hertenstein said. "I didn't feel like I was meshing well at Indiana and I needed a better place for my mentality and mindset. When I chose Colorado, it was because I fell in love with the team, I fell in love with the girls and the coaches. I never looked back on my decision and I love it here. As they say, run happier, run faster."
Last year the CU women's distance runners were led by Abby Nichols, an Ohio State transfer who won the 2021 individual Pac-12 cross country title. The Buffs also featured middle distance runner Micaela DeGenero, a former Michigan runner who won the indoor one-mile national championship earlier this year for the Buffs.
Hertenstein said she was unaware of the Big Ten graduate transfer pipeline that had recently cropped up at CU, but learning about how Nichols and DeGenero were able to take the next step in their respective running careers after transferring only cemented her decision.
"I actually didn't even know that Micaela and Abby were transfers from the Big Ten, and then I got here and found out," Hertenstein said. "To see all the success and the growth that they had here definitely contributed to reinforcing the idea that I made a very good decision."
Hertenstein leads a Buffs women's team into the regional looking to build on the Pac-12 championship, while still leaving enough in the tank for the NCAA finals, which will be held Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Emily Covert (third) and Ella Baran (sixth) helped the Buffs post three top-six finishes at the conference championship.
The CU men, who finished second at the Pac-12 finals with five individual top-20 finishes, also will be looking to advance to the national championships. The top two teams, plus the top four individual finishers not from the top two teams, earn automatic berths in the championship. Two at-large individuals and 13 at-large teams from across the nine regional fields also will be selected for the national championships.
As always, the biggest challenge at regionals will be running a qualifying race while at the same time conserving enough energy for next week's championships.
"My talk with the coaches has been just that. If I run my race, even if I have a bad day, that should still place me in the top 10 and not screw my team over," Hertenstein said. "But I also want to make sure that I'm not going all-in and trying to win it, just to have NCAAs eight days later. So still finishing pretty high up, running a pretty good race is the plan."
