Eldridge to Run in NCAA Championships

OU freshman Jessica Eldridge and head cross country coach Rodney Rothoff will leave Norman Saturday morning to head to Waterloo, Iowa, for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Eldridge earned a spot in the field after finishing third in the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 15.

The Particulars
The NCAA Championships will be run at Irv Warren Golf Course in Waterloo, Iowa, on Monday. The men's 10k race will begin at 11 a.m. central time with the women's 6k race to follow at 12:15 p.m. The University of Northern Iowa is the host school.

The Field
The top two teams from each of nine regional meets held last weekend advanced to the NCAA meet. The top four individuals not on qualifying teams also advanced. An additional 13 teams and two individuals were invited to the meet as at-large entries.

Nebraska won the women's race at the NCAA Midwest Regional and Missouri was second. Runners from those two teams finished first and second, making Eldridge the top finishing individual not on a qualifying team from the Midwest Regional.

Sooners Ranked In Regional Polls
The Sooner men are ranked sixth in the region following the NCAA Midwest Regional meet. The poll, which was released Nov. 18, is the final poll of the season. OU was ranked 10th in the preseason poll and jumped to seventh on Sept. 22. OU improved to third on Oct. 6 and stayed there for three polls before dropping to fifth in the poll that was released Nov. 2. The men's poll is sponsored by MONDO and is conducted by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Sooner women were ranked eighth in the region heading into the regional meet and no polls have been released since that meet. OU was unranked in the preseason poll then debuted in the poll at fifth on Sept. 21. The Sooners went to seventh on Sept. 28, moved to sixth on Oct. 5 and stayed there for two more polls. Finish/Lynx sponsors the women's poll and the voting is conducted by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association.

It's Been Awhile
When Eldridge earned the trip to the NCAA meet, she became the first Sooner woman to qualify for the national cross country championship since 1996. Melissa Gilbertson was the last Sooner woman to advance to the NCAA meet. She finished 72nd in the '96 meet.

The last time a true freshman qualified for the NCAA meet for the Sooners was in 1994. OU sent a pair of freshmen to that meet as Alice Braham finished sixth and Catherine Galipeau was 104th.

In all, Sooner women have qualified for the NCAA meet 12 times. Tove Lutdal ran in the 1984. Monique Ecker qualified for the 1990 meet. Kay Gooch qualified the 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 meets while Braham qualified in 1994. Melissa Gilbertson qualified for the 1993 and 1996 meets. Sarah Hutton qualified for the 1995 meet. Kellie Cathey, a three-time qualifier, competed in the AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) national meets twice (1980 and 1981) and the NCAA meet once (1982).

The Sooner program has produced eight cross country All-Americans. For Eldridge to join that list, she must finish in the top 30 on Monday.

A Sooner First
Eldridge did something no other Sooner woman has ever done in her first year with the program. She became the first Oklahoma high school product to qualify for the NCAA cross country meet in her first year of competition at OU.

The Last Time Out
For true freshman Eldridge, her first season as a Sooner had already been something special. On Nov. 15, she did something no Sooner woman had done since 1996 qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championship.

The Broken Arrow freshman covered the 6k course at Oklahoma State in 21:27 to finish third overall in the standings at the NCAA Midwest Regional and earn a spot in the NCAA Championship on Nov. 24 in Waterloo, Iowa. The top two teams and the top four individuals not on a qualifying team at each of nine regional meets earned a trip to the NCAA.

The Sooner women finished eighth overall, the best team finish for the OU women since a fifth-place finish in 1993. Nicola Maye was 23rd with a 22:07 and Catherine Odell ran a 22:36 to finish 32nd.

The times posted by Eldridge, Odell and senior Amanda Luksetich (23:26) were career bests in a 6k race.

The OU men, led by a pair of top 20 individual finishes, finished sixth overall. That finish was the best for the Sooner men since at least 1990. Silverus Kimeli finished 16th with a 31:40 on the 10k course and Joe McNair covered the course in 31:42. Oklahoma State won the men's title with 78 points and OU finished with 178 points.

The overall finishes by Eldridge, Maye, Kimeli and McNair earned each of them All-Region honors. It marked the first time in nine years for the Sooner women to have two All-Region runners and first time since 1995 for the Sooner men to produce an All-Region duo.

The performances also marked all-time career best regional finishes for three Sooner seniors. McNair's previous career best finish was 46th last year. Jimmy Buchanan, who finished 41st in 2003, had a previous best of 43rd. The most dramatic improvement came from Luksetich, who improved from a previous best of 105th to 84th in the '03 meet.

Sooner History in the NCAA
A complete history isn't available but going back to 1990, the best finish at the NCAA meet by a Sooner woman was third by Kay Gooch in the 1993 meet. Alice Braham was sixth in 1994, marking the only other top 10 finish since 1990.

Other Awards for Eldridge
The freshman from Broken Arrow has pulled in other awards this season including Big 12 women's cross country runner of the week and all-conference honors for her finish at the Big 12 Championship.

She became the second Sooner woman to earn the runner of the week award in the seven-plus years of the conference. Andrea DeLozier won the honor during the 1998 season as a junior.

Eldridge finished eighth in the women's 5k at the FinishLynx/Murray Keatinge Invitational in Maine. The Broken Arrow, Okla., native ran her third 5k as a collegian and set her third career best mark at the meet. Eldridge covered the course in 17:19.10 to drop 13 seconds off the career best time she had posted Sept. 20.

With her 10th place finish at the Big 12 meet, Eldridge recorded the best ever individual finish for a Sooner woman. That finish earned her a spot on the All-Big 12 cross country team, the first woman in school history to earn the honor in the eight years of the league.

The Coach Says
On his expectations for Eldridge: “When I recruited Jessica, I knew that she had the ability and character to do what she has done this year. I knew everything had to fall into place for her. She had to stay healthy and be able to adapt to college. Making that transition to college is more than being on your own. You have to adapt to the college practice schedule and travel, to class demands, study hall, the competitors and the courses. I knew it would be possible for her to do what she has done in a perfect situation.”

More on Eldridge: “She is very calm and very level headed. She just stays constant. She follows the race plan just as we lay it out -- she just goes out there and runs her race. I've never had an athlete like her before, someone who is so competitive yet so calm. Nothing seems to bother her and she uses that to her advantage as a competitor. She finished third in our first meet of the season (the Tulsa meet) and has just grown in confidence every race since that one.”

On what this season has meant for him: “This is why you get into coaching. It's so enjoyable to watch young people grow. When you have an athlete who truly listens to what you are telling them and then goes and does it, makes you feel great as a coach. I've told several people that in her last two races I could not have gone out during the race, stopped the competition and put Jessica in a better place than she was in already.”

On the impact of an Oklahoma product qualifying: “I've said since I arrived at OU that the high schools are producing talented athletes. We need to make every effort to identify the people in Oklahoma who could be successful at the college level and recruit them to come to OU.”

On the impact of a freshman qualifying for the NCAA: “It's great because it sends the message that dreams really can come true. It helps make people believe that it is a possibility when they see someone who has done it. Advancing to the NCAA meet is the expectation we have at OU and now everyone can see that it can be achieved.”

On his expectations for Monday: “This course is more conducive to Jessica and the way she runs than the last two she has competed on. It's a faster course which fits her better. If she follows the race plan and is able to adapt to the competition conditions (the forecast is cold and snowy), then she has every opportunity to finish in the top 30 and become our next All-American. Whatever she does, though, this has been a hugely successful season for the Sooners.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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