Completed Event: Cross Country at Cowboy Preview on August 29, 2025 , , 2nd - M/3rd - W
Final
Cross Country
at Cowboy Preview
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Big 12 Cross Country Championships Friday
October 27, 2005 | Cross Country
The championships will be run at the Bear Run Cross Country Course. The men's 8,000-meter race will begin at 10 a.m. CT followed by the women's 6,000-meter run at 11 a.m.
The top men's and women's teams will be crowned league champion and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The top 15 individuals in each race will be named to the all-conference team.
|
Senior Blake Culp and redshirt freshman Scott Hollingsworth, the Big 12 Runner of the Week for Oct. 11, will pilot the Sooner men this weekend. Juniors Andrea Bonner and Aja Clark will lead the women.
Despite several key changes, the first season under new head coach Martin Smith has been more successful than expected.
Smith redshirted the men's top two runners sophomores Jason Coleman and Tyler Schmiedeberg and the women's top two runners juniors Jessica Eldridge and Catherine Odell to preserve a year of eligibility for the group and increase depth in upcoming seasons.
Nicola Maye, a consistent top finisher for the women, moved from distance to sprints, forgoing the cross country season to begin training for the indoor track season.
Jason Penland also developed an injury that ended his season early leading the men's team at the season opener with a sixth-place finish.
Nevertheless, confidence is riding high with the men's team, which posted consecutive wins to end the regular season a first for the program in over 25 years. Billy Grona, Salah Hussein and John Mullholland make up the rest of the men's team.
The women's team faces much tougher obstacles due to their lack of experience. Four of the seven scheduled to compete Brooke Edsall, Julie Swagerty, Ashley Williams and Shannon Wilson will be making their first appearance at the Big 12 meet. Only Bonner, Clark and Kristi Cook have run in the conference championship previously (once each).
One element that did not change with the new coaching staff was the program's high academic performace. Earlier in the week, seven members of the cross country teams Bonner, Cook, Culp, Grona, Hollingsworth, Mullholland, Swagerty and Wilson were named to the Academic All-Big 12 Cross Country Team.
Friday, October 28
Friday, October 28
Monday, November 30
Monday, March 23
