Cross Country Heads to Big 12 Championships

The University of Oklahoma men's and women's cross country teams will leave Wednesday afternoon to travel to Austin, Texas, to prepare for the eighth annual Big 12 Championship. The meet is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 31, with the men running an 8k at 9 a.m. and the women running a 6k at 10 a.m. The University of Texas is hosting the meet at the Barton Creek Lakeside Golf Course in Spicewood, Texas.

The Field
All 12 schools participate in cross country. The Colorado men, currently ranked fourth in the country, have won all seven previous conference titles. The Colorado women, currently ranked ninth, have won six of the seven previous titles. CU won the first two meets, then Kansas State took the title in 1998. Colorado has won the last four titles.

Competing for the Sooners
Scheduled to compete for the OU men in Spicewood are seniors Jimmy Buchanan, Darren Hutchins, Silverus Kimeli and Joe McNair, junior Andrew Call, sophomore Blake Culp and freshmen Jason Coleman, Salah Hussein and Tyler Schmiedeberg. The OU women will be represented by senior Amanda Luksetich, junior Jackie Dubois and freshmen Andrea Bonner, Kristi Cook, Jessica Eldridge, Nicola Maye and Catherine Odell.

A Year Ago at the Big 12 for the Sooners
Paced by Joe McNair's 26th place finish, the Sooner men finished 11th in the team standings. The finish by McNair was a career best. The OU women finished 12th. Kim Thomas was the top finisher for the Sooners, coming in 66th. The Sooners posted impressive individual numbers last year as seven of the 13 runners who competed set all-time bests.
In addition to McNair, career best times were posted in the 8k by Darren Hutchins, John Mulholland, Jason Brown and Billy Grona. Thomas and Sara Justice posted career best marks in the women's 6k.

Peaking at the Right Time
Sooner coach Rodney Rothoff has said since the beginning of the season that the month of October marked the “real” beginning of the season and, if that is the case, his Sooners are coming into the championship portion at their highest level of performance.
OU's last competition was at the Arkansas Chile Pepper on Oct. 18. Paced by top 10 finishes by Joe McNair and Silverus Kimeli, the Sooner men finished second in the team standings. That marked the best team finish for the Sooners in the 13 years of the Chile Pepper. McNair's time was the third best ever posted by a Sooner in the men's competition.
For the OU women, freshman Jessica Eldridge was again the leader. Running her first collegiate 6k race, Eldridge finished 15th overall and helped her team finish ninth in the team standings. Her time was the best ever recorded for a Sooner woman in the competition.

Sooners Ranked In Regional Polls
A pair of strong performances in the FinishLynx/Murray Keatinge Invitational on Oct. 4 and the good finish at the Chile Pepper kept the OU men's and women's cross country teams in the regional rankings.
The Sooner men, ranked seventh in the Midwest Region on Sept. 29, went to third on Oct. 6 and stayed third in the MONDO Division I men's regional poll that came out Oct. 21. The OU men were ranked 10th in the MONDO preseason poll, conducted by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association, after finishing 13th in the NCAA Regional last year.The Sooner women, unranked in the region at the beginning of the season, moved from seventh in the Sept. 30 poll to sixth in the Finish/Lynx women's Division I poll on Oct. 6. OU held that position in the regional poll that was released on Oct. 20. That poll is conducted by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association.
The next polls will be released following confernce action this weekend.

Sooner History in the Big 12
This will mark OU's eighth competition in Big 12 competition. The first Big 12 meet was held in 1996 following the formation of the league on July 1, 1996.
For the Sooner men, the best team finish has been 10th twice, recorded in 1998 and 2001. The best individual finish for a Sooner man has been third, posted by Craig Kirkwood in 1996.
For the Sooner women, the best team finish has been ninth twice, recorded in 1997 and 1998. The best individual finish for a Sooner woman was 13th by Mindy Mizell in 1998.

All-Time Conference History
The Sooner men have competed in cross country since 1928 and OU has won four conference titles in that time. The last league team title won by the OU men came in 1946 when the Sooners competed as part of the Big Six Conference. The Sooner women have competed in cross country since 1975, the first year for women's sports to be sponsored by the Athletic Department at OU. No Sooner women's cross country team has won a league title.

Youth Will Be Served
The Sooner program has experienced a youth movement in 2003. To illustrate how young this team is, this time a year ago, six of the 16 runners competing for OU on Friday were preparing for the state high school cross country championship or had just completed their high school season (Andrea Bonner, Jason Coleman, Kristi Cook, Jessica Eldridge, Catherine Odell and Tyler Schmiedeberg). Two others, Nicola Maye and Stuart Lisle, are redshirt freshmen in 2003 and did not compete in the conference meet last year.

Current Sooner History
Five of the remaining 16 Sooners competing Friday have run in Big 12 meets before this season. A quick look at how they have done (all-time best time/finish):
Jimmy Buchanan -- 25:23.6, 41st (2001)
Andrew Call -- 27:34, 97th (2002)
Jackie Dubois -- 25:20.6, 74th (2001)
Darren Hutchins -- 25:48, 61st (2002)
Amanda Luksetich -- 24:04.6, 71st (2001)
Joe McNair -- 24:53, 26th (2002)
The times by McNair and Hutchins are career bests at the 8k distance.

And the Rest of the Story ...
Three Sooners, Silverus Kimeli, Blake Culp and Salah Hussein, also will be competing in the Big 12 meet for the first time in their careers. Kimeli transferred to OU from Arkansas and has previous experience competing in the Southeastern Conference Championship. Culp joined the Sooner program in January and did not compete in cross country last fall. Hussein transferred to OU after spending a semester at Arkansas. He did not compete in cross country a year ago either.

Career Best Marks
A total of 12 of the 16 Sooners competing this weekend have established career best times in the distance they will be running this weekend. Those with PRs this season include (time/meet):
Men -- 8k
Jason Coleman, 25:31.00, North Texas
Blake Culp, 26:04.00, North Texas
Salah Hussein, 26:16.00, North Texas
Andrew Call, 26:36.00, North Texas
Women -- 6k
Jessica Eldridge, 21:34.43, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Nicola Maye, 21:56.28, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Catherine Odell, 22:41.38, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Andrea Bonner, 22:50.86, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Amanda Luksetich, 23:30.60, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Kristi Cook, 23:50.35, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Jackie Dubois, 24:09.75, Arkansas Chile Pepper
Career best marks for the remaining Sooner competitors this weekend include (time/meet):
Jimmy Buchanan, 25:23.6, 2001 Big 12
Joe McNair, 24:53, 2002 Big 12
Darren Hutchins, 25:48, 2002 Big 12 Silverus Kimeli, 23:56, 2002 Southern Stampede (at Arkansas)

14 Sooners Earn All-Academic Honors
OU had 14 student-athletes named to the Big 12's All-Academic teams for cross country. To be nominated, a student-athlete had to have competed in at least 60 percent of the school's meets and be in at least the second year of residence at the school. First team nominees had to have at least a 3.20 grade point average, cumulative or over the last two semesters. Second team nominees had to have a 3.00 grade point average, cumulative or over the last two semesters. Seniors who had been on the team for at least two years and met all the other requirements except participation also could be nominated.
Named to the first team were Jimmy Buchanan, Sr., Health and Sports Science, Toronto, Ontario; Andrew Call, Jr., Economics, Norman, Okla.; Jackie Dubois, Jr., Meterology, Lawrence, Kan.; Trevor Gillum, Sr., Health and Sports Science, Durant, Okla.; Darren Hutchins, Sr., Math, Choctaw, Okla.; Emily Leonard, Jr., Finance, Plano, Texas; Stuart Lisle, RS-Fr., Health and Sports Science, Edmond, Okla.; Amanda Luksetich, Sr., Civil Engineering, Houston, Texas; Nicola Maye, RS-Fr., Health and Sports Science, Summerfield, Jamaica; Joe McNair, Sr., History, Bartlesville, Okla.; and Aldwyn Sappleton, Sr., International Business, Clarendon, Jamaica.
Named to the second team were Blake Culp, So., Management, Bartlesville, Okla.; Billy Grona, Soph., Aviation, Sand Springs, Okla., and Michelle Thomas, Sr., Microbiology, McAlester, Okla.

The Last Time Out
A pair of seniors, Joe McNair and Silverus Kimeli, teamed to finish ninth and 10th overall to lead the OU men's cross country team to a second place finish in the 13th annual Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival on October 18. The Sooners took second behind host and eighth ranked Arkansas in the 10k race. The Razorbacks finished with 78 points and OU had 130.
The finish by the Sooner men's team was an all-time best for OU in the event.
The OU women finished ninth in the meet, paced by Jessica Eldridge, who finished 15th overall. Nevada won the women's event with 114 points and OU finished with 284.
McNair covered the 10k course in 30:05.37 and Kimeli was right behind him with a 30:07.97. Jimmy Buchanan was 29th with a 30:46.08 followed by Jason Coleman, who was 45th with a 31:06.06, and Darren Hutchins, who was 61st with a 31:23.54. Andrew Call was 102nd with a 32:13.20 and Salah Hussein was 137th with a 32:56.58.
For most of the Sooner women, the Chile Pepper marked the first time for them to run a collegiate 6k. Eldridge's time of 21:34.43 marked a career best for her. The rest of the Sooner finishers included Nicola Maye, who finished 31st with a 21:56.28; Catherine Odell, who was 66th with a 22:41.38; Andrea Bonner, who was 77th with a 22:50.86; and Amanda Luksetich, who was 120th with a 23:30.60. Kristi Cook finished with a 23:50.35 and Jackie Dubois finished the 6k course in 24:09.73.
The time by McNair was the third best ever posted by a Sooner man in the Chile Pepper meet while Kimeli's time was the fourth best for a Sooner. McNair's time beat his previous career best mark in the 10k, a 31:02.33 which he ran last year at the Chile Pepper. Other Sooner men who posted career best marks in the meet included Buchanan, who cut nearly a minute off his previous best; and Call, who cut two minutes off his previous 10k best. The marks by Coleman and Hussein also were career bests as this was their first collegiate 10k race.
Eldridge's time of 21:34.43 was the best time ever recorded by a Sooner runner in the 6k race at Fayetteville. The previous 6k best for a Sooner woman was 23:10. OU's top four times in this year's meet rank as the four best all-time performances for the Sooners in the Chile Pepper.
The times by Maye, Odell, Bonner and Cook also were career bests as this was their first collegiate 6k. Lukesetich, a senior, lowered her 6k career best by five seconds and Dubois, a junior, lowered her career best in the 6k by 32 seconds.

The Coach
Rodney Rothoff joined the Sooner coaching staff in August 2002 after two seasons as the head cross country and assistant track coach for the Tennessee women's program. In his tenure in Knoxville, Rothoff coached 11 NCAA cross country and track All-Americans. He coached the 2002 SEC champion in the outdoor 800 and had four All-SEC cross country selections. His 2001 cross country team was the SEC runner-up.
A 1990 graduate of Methodist College in North Carolina, Rothoff has also coached Clemson and Arkansas-Little Rock.
His impact on the Sooners was demonstrated last November as the OU men finished 13th in the NCAA Regional, OU's best finish in the regional meet in six years. He also saw one of his runners, Aldwyn Sappleton, qualify for the 2003 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor meets and earn All-America honors in the outdoor 800.

The Coach Says
On the men's race: “Colorado is head and shoulders above everyone else. I think you can take the next five teams, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Kansas and Oklahoma, and every time we race the order of finish will be different.”
On his men: “The key to our performance is our fifth runner. Our fifth runner, whoever that turns out to be, has to step up. The key to our success as a team will be how our fifth runner finishes in relationship to our top four runners.”
On the women's race: “Again, Colorado is one of the best in the country and Missouri also has a strong team. Texas Tech and Texas A&M have solid teams and after that, it will be interesting.”
On his women: “We are a young team but we are prepared to compete at this level. Our schedule has prepared us to run in this kind of meet. I'm confident that our young runners will not be intimidated by the field. Each of our freshmen set her own personal best in high school at a state championship meet.”
On the importance of this competition: “The conference meet is what it is all about. It's what you use to measure your program. It also is an important race for us because we have teams in different regions. A win over a conference team from another region could help you if you are on the at-large bubble for the NCAA meet. I hope to see us compete as hard as we have worked to get to this point.”
On this time of year: “The championship season is what you train for two months. I am excited to get to this time of the year. It is what we train for and we are in a position to make history by posting better finishes than OU teams have ever had before.”
The challenge ahead of the Sooners: “At this time of the year, the challenge is as much mental as physical. We are ready to meet the physical challenge. We have followed a challenging training schedule and we have competed well all season long. We need to have some peak performances on Friday, mentally and physically. I hope to see some PRs in this competition but I am more interested in seeing us improve place finishes than time finishes. A course can affect your time. How you place is what it is all about at this time of the year.”
The weekend will be a success if ...: “Both teams can say at noon on Friday that they competed like they have all year. We need to compete as hard as we have worked. These teams have the potential to finish higher than any OU team has ever finished, a chance to make some Sooner history.”

Next Up
The Sooners will travel to the NCAA Regional Championships in Stillwater on Nov. 15. Their performance in that meet will determine whether OU advances to the NCAA Championships which are scheduled for Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Nov. 24.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Cross Country Heads to Big 12 Championships

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