Posted: July 22, 2004

Athletics: Ritzenhein Gives Up Remaining Collegiate Eligibility

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Dathan Ritzenhein, the University of Colorado junior who set an NCAA 10,000m record this year, has decided to forgo the remainder of his collegiate eligibility and try to make his living as a professional runner.

The boyish 21 year-old, who hobbled to a 31:13.91 10,000m at the recent U.S. Olympic Trials on a broken foot, set the U.S. collegiate record over the same distance last April, running 27:38.50 at the Cardinal Invitational Meeting. By virtue of that time, he still was nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team despite his 22nd place finish at the Trials.

"Dathan informed me yesterday that he will forego his remaining NCAA eligibility to pursue professional opportunities," said University of Colorado coach, Mark Wetmore, in a statement posted on the university's website. "We are proud of his accomplishments here and grateful for the time he spent with us. He is an enormous talent and will certainly be a protagonist in the U.S. distance community for years to come. We are sorry to see him go, but we'll always support him."

Although Ritzenhein won the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships title, he never won an NCAA track title. Given his injured state, it is hard to know how soon he will be competitive again. Ritzenhein did not name a manager or shoe company in the University of Colorado press release.

"I wouldn’t be able to do this without my three years at Colorado," said Ritzenhein in the statement. "Coach Wetmore and the athletic department have prepared me well and I couldn’t do what I’m doing without everything that I’ve learned here. I’m sure that I could have stayed for another year or two, but this is where I’ll be happiest."

He continued: "I’m confident in this decision…it’s one that I’ve had to deal with before and have thought about for weeks. But this time around is different. I feel like this is the best move to make to make me the best runner that I can be."