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.”