By Joshua Lindenstein
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Full Story: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/monarchs-clayton-finally-makes-cu-his-official/
LOUISVILLE - Cameron Clayton has heard the story about how his father Brad flip-flopped on his college decision a week or so before classes were to begin.
So he knew his parents couldn't bug him too much about getting his own college decision out of the way.
But the Monarch High School senior finally made his choice a little over a week ago. He made it official on Tuesday by signing his national letter of intent to run cross country and track for the Colorado Buffaloes in a ceremony at the Monarch High auditorium in front of his coaches, family and friends.
Clayton chose CU over another heralded program - Oregon. He took an official visit to CU about a month ago and then one to Oregon a couple weeks later. When he got back from Eugene, he had a partial scholarship offer from CU waiting in the mail.
"I'm really happy with my decision," said Clayton, who checked out the biology programs at both schools. "After going out there (to Oregon) and learning about it, I had a feeling in my stomach that just said, 'Hey, go to CU.' I really wanted to. I like the team a little more at CU and I like the idea of what I'll be studying at CU."
Clayton is the second Monarch runner to sign with a major Division I program this year. Kelly Ross became thefirst in coach Kent Rieder's tenure when she signed with Oklahoma in November.
"The thing you see about him is he's just intense," Rieder said of Clayton. "It's good to have somebody like that in the program. Him and Kelly are going to be hard to replace."
Clayton took 27th in the junior men's division at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Boulder and fifth at the state cross country meet last fall. He will likely bring home a couple of top-five finishes at the state track meet next month.
But his college decision-making process was extended in part, he said, because he didn't really start thinking about where he wanted to go until his senior year began. At that time, he was leaning toward Oregon and the University of California-Santa Barbara.
But eventually the allure of running for the defending national champions in cross country - not to mention a team just minutes from home - won out, even though the reality of it all has yet to sink in.
"It will probably hit this summer," he said.
Clayton said he might redshirt his freshman year but that he won't be intimidated joining a still strong Buffalo squad.
"It's encouraging," he said. "I've run by myself a lot throughout high school so I like the idea of having a team to actually train with."
© 2006 Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC.
