Sooner Cross Country Teams Head to Denton

The University of Oklahoma men's and women's cross country teams head south to Denton, Texas, for the 26th annual UNT Invitational Saturday. The meet, which includes races at four distances, will be held at the UNT Research Park.

The men's 8k is scheduled for 8 a.m. followed by the women's 5k at 8:40 a.m., the men's 5k at 9:10 a.m. and the women's two mile at 9:30 a.m. This marks the second year for the Sooners under head coach Rodney Rothoff. Rothoff joined the OU staff August 20, 2002.

The Field Joining the Sooners and host North Texas in the field are Southern Methodist, Texas Christian and Baylor. The SMU men received votes in the latest Mondo cross country poll.

North Texas won the men's title in 2002, scoring just 19 points. UNT runners took first and second and the Mean Green had five of the top eight finishers. Arkansas-Little Rock won the women's title a year ago.

Competing for the Sooners Scheduled to compete for the OU men in the 8k are seniors Jimmy Buchanan, Trevor Gillum, Darren Hutchins, Silverus Kimeli and Joe McNair; junior Andrew Call, sophomores Blake Culp and Billy Grona and freshmen Jason Coleman, Salah Hussein, Stuart Lisle and Andrew Tower. Aldwyn Sappleton will run in the men's 5k. The OU women will be represented in the 5k by senior Amanda Luksetich, juniors Jackie Dubois and Emily Leonard and freshmen Andrea Bonner, Kristi Cook, Jessica Eldridge, Nicola Maye and Catherine Odell. Shannon Wilson will run in the women's two mile. The young Sooners have eight true freshmen scheduled to compete Saturday. Lisle and Maye used redshirt years last year as true freshmen.

Sooner Men Ranked in the First Regional Poll After finishing 13th in the NCAA Regional last November, the Sooner men have been ranked 10th in the first regional poll of the 2003 season. According to Coach Rothoff, the initial poll is a reflection of the athletes who returned from last year as well as the talent of the newcomers who have joined the program.

The Last Time Out The youth movement took over on August 30 in the season-opening meet for the Sooners as five freshmen led the OU women to the title in the ninth annual Hurricane Cross Country Festival. The win by the Sooner women was OU's first as a team since the Arkansas-Little Rock Invitational in September of 1998.

Redshirt freshman Nicola Maye led OU, finishing second in the two-mile race with a time of 12:34. Just behind her in 12:35 was Enid freshman Catherine Odell. Jessica Eldridge finished seventh followed by Andrea Bonner and Kristi Cook as the OU women edged Kansas State, 37-40.

Freshman Jason Coleman of Watonga led the Sooner men who finished a close third behind Tulsa and Kansas State in the men's race. Coleman finished fifth overall with a time of 21:57 in the four mile. Redshirt freshman Stuart Lisle finished eighth with a 22:12

Eldridge, a true freshman from Broken Arrow, finished the course with a time of 12:56 while Bonner, who graduated from Jenks High School last spring, covered the course in 13:13. Cook, from Flower Mound, Texas, finished the two miles in 13:23. Junior Jackie Dubois was 22nd with a 14:23 followed by senior Amanda Luksetich, who was 26th at 15:05. Emily Leonard finished with a 16:27.

Jimmy Buchanan was ninth for the OU men with a 22:13. Tyler Schmiedeberg, another freshman from Edmond, was 13th with a 22:25 and Andrew Tower, who is from Edmond and graduated from Casady last spring, was 14th with a 22:26.

Norman junior Andrew Call finished 16th with a 22:38 followed by senior Trevor Gillum who finished 19th with a 23:32. Rounding out the Sooner finishes was freshman Salah Hussein with a 23:50 and sophomore Billy Grona with a 24:01. Another pair of Sooner freshman, Jason Penland and Kevin Miller, competed unattached. Penland's time was 22:35 and Miller finished in 22:53.

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 'This meet will give us an idea of the makeup of our team and where we stand after three weeks of practice. It is our first challenge of the season because of the teams we will compete against and the longer distance of the race.

'I'm looking forward to seeing how our freshmen continue to perform in race situations. How they continue to mature and compete will determine our success this season. The performance at Tulsa shows that we do have young talent in this program and it will give us confidence throughout the season.

'I've been impressed with what I have seen so far in practice from Silverus, Joe and Jason on the men's side and Jackie, Catherine and Nicola on the women's side. All have stepped up in different ways. It will be interesting to see how they race this weekend.'

Next Up The Sooners will return to competition on Oct. 4 with the squads splitting up for two meets. Some of the Sooners will head to Orono, Maine, for the Murray Keatinge Invitational while the remainder of the runners will compete in the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Cross Country Teams Head to Denton

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