Sooners Announce Cross Country Captains

A trio of seniors and one junior were named team captains for the 2003 University of Oklahoma cross country teams following a three-day team mini-camp at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area and Lake Arbuckle.

Joe McNair, Jimmy Buchanan and Darren Hutchins will serve as captains for the 2003 men's team while Jackie Dubois was elected captain of the Sooner women's team following the three-day camp.

McNair and Hutchins are three-year letterwinners while Buchanan and Dubois have lettered the last two years for the Sooners.

The mini-camp, a first for the Sooner program, is nothing new for head cross country coach Rodney Rothoff, who joined the OU program on August 21 last year, just days before classes started.

'This is something I have done at other schools and it has always been successful,' Rothoff explained. 'I think the time together last week will help us as we prepare for the upcoming season. We had three goals when we left -- build team chemistry, train on the trails at the park and get a team understanding of what training and preparing to train means.

'It really brought our teams together and I think we have moved the team maturation process up two to three weeks. Based on the comments I've heard since we got back, the student-athletes enjoyed the camaraderie and the opportunity to train in a pretty environment that has a different look than where we train every day. We got a chance to run the hills and enjoy the different scenery in that part of the state.'

According to Rothoff, the three days away from Norman also gave his teams a needed break before classes began on campus Monday. 'The first three days they were back on campus we focused on taking care of academic procedures and goals. Then we took three days away from campus to focus on running and the athletic side. That put everyone in great shape for the start of classes yesterday.' Rothoff has already seen a payoff in the time the teams spent away from campus at the mini-camp.

'When we began the process of electing team captains, one of the freshmen wanted to know what a captain was supposed to do and that started a good discussion. By the end of the three days, I was pleased that the teams had blended well enough to reach an unanimous decision on captains.That was an important by product of the time we spent together,' Rothoff added.

The Sooners will open the 2003 season Saturday at the Golden Hurricane Invitational in Tulsa.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Announce Cross Country Captains

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