Jorge Torres
By Mike Sandrock

A group of hikers climbing up the backside of Flagstaff Mountain west of Boulder one hot morning this summer were startled by a rustling in the woods below them. Expecting a mountain lion, bobcat or a hungry bear, they instead were confronted by a light-footed runner emerging from the woods and cruising up the steep slope.

It was no animal, however, but rather Jorge Torres, a junior at the University of Colorado and one of the favorites for the NCAA Cross Country Championship, set for November 19 at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Torres lives with his brother, Edwardo and All American Steve Slattery in a house dubbed the "The Fight Club" a few miles up Boulder Canyon. Each summer morning, Torres was up running in the mountains, preparing to meet his high expectations. And make no mistake about it. Torres has high expectations. If he were a football player, he would be looking to win the Heisman Trophy. If he were a basketball player, he would want to be MVP of the Final Four. And if he were a baseball player, he would be looking to pitch a perfect game.

As it is, the former Foot Locker prep national cross country champion from Wheeling, Illinois, is the top returning collegiate cross country runner in the nation. Torres placed third in the NCAA Championships last November in Ames, Iowa, despite getting spiked and knocked down in the early going during a race run in bitter cold and a biting wind. Torres was beaten down the stretch by two foreign-born seniors, making him the top American of the year.

Third place, however, was not good enough for Torres, and now the indoor and outdoor track All American is gunning for the collegiate national title, both for himself and for his teammates, who entered the 2001 season ranked #1 in the nation.

"I was kind of disappointed last season," Torres said one day not long after school had started. "I wanted to win and thought I had a great chance to win, but it slipped away in the last quarter mile. It makes me hungry and gives me something to strive for."

The Colorado men were ranked #1 heading into the NCAA title race, but were beaten by Arkansas by 11 points. The CU women won their first national championship at the race, with Kara Grgas-Wheeler taking the women's individual crown.

Being edged for the team championship was "more disappointing than finishing third," said Torres. "I really thought our team would win, and finishing second was a letdown, a heartbreaker. Our team was so close last year; we were like brothers. This year we have more artillery."

That artillery includes top recruit Dathan Ritzenhein, a freshman from Rockford, Michigan, who won two prep national cross country titles during his stellar high school career. Ritzenhein, third in the IAAF World Cross Country Junior Championships in March (Torres' best finish was 37th in 1998), has been training with Torres, Slattery, Sean Smith and the other top Buff runners since arriving in Boulder July 1.

Being the top returning collegian this fall "puts a little pressure on me," Torres said, "but having Dathan here takes some of it off, because he will be contending. We bounce it off each other. He is a great kid and fits right in. It will be fun having Dathan here the next four years."

Torres has been running roughly 100 miles a week since taking a break this summer after making the 5,000 meter final at the USATF National Championships. "Training is going great," said Torres. "I had a little setback [a few weeks ago], but am healthy now. I am back continuing to do basework. Nothing fast, just getting ready for the big races coming up."

Colorado's first race is Oct. 6 in Boulder at the Rocky Mountain Shootout. Torres ran away with the Shootout last year on his way to winning every race leading up to the NCAA Championships. He won the NCAA Pre-National meet by a whopping 35 seconds over many of the runners he would later face at the national championships, and was featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd.

However, because of the cold in Ames (a windchill factor of 20 below zero), Torres was forced to change the strategy he and coach Mark Wetmore had laid out for the NCAA Championships. Instead of making a break at halfway and using his strength to pull away, as he did at the pre-national meet, Torres was forced to stay in the pack to avoid breaking the wind for the other runners.

And when a runner went down in front of him just past the first kilometer, Torres was knocked down and spiked. He got back up, losing several seconds, and caught up to the main pack. With about a mile to go Kenyans Stephen Ondieki (Fairleigh Dickinson) and David Kimani (the defending champ from Alabama) had a lead on Torres, Georgetown freshman Franklyn Sanchez, and eventual winner Keith Kelly of Ireland and Providence University.

"It was just so windy I didn't want to take the chance of leading and having them reel me in," Torres said. With about 500 meters to go down a long straightaway, Kelly began his sprint (he ran close to 55 seconds for the final 400 meters) and pulled away from Torres, who came back to edge Kimani at the tape. "I guess finishing third was all right," he said. "I really thought our team had won."

Torres was second in the team scoring, with Colorado's other scorers coming in 15th, 21st, 22nd and 34th, for a score of 94. Arkansas' finishing places were 10-12-14-20-27, good for 83 points.

Torres missed the indoor track season because of achilles tendonitis, but was able to come back and clock 13:44 for 5,000 meters in April at the Mt. SAC Relays and then place fifth in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Track Championships.

"I ran out of gas at the end of track, because I did not have time to get in my base," Torres said. "I am running more mileage now and improving on the quality of my mileage. I am working on my strength. I definitely want to do better than last year (in cross country), either second or first. I am definitely going for first... The guys are looking good. This could be our year."

Michael Sandrock is the author of Running with the Legends and Running Tough. He lives in Boulder and is a sports writer with the Daily Camera newspaper.

Jorge Torres competes in the 5,000m at the 2001 NCAA Track & Field Championships. (Photo: New York Road Runners)

Jorge Torres Links:
Bio from Colorado XC site
Brief chats from Runner's World Online: November 2000 | November 1999 | December 1998
Torres, Ritzenhein tie in No. 1 Colorado's opening meet
Collegerunning.com interview