No. 23 OU Men Take Second at Arkansas

Oct. 17, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Competing against top-25 teams for the second consecutive race, the No. 23 University of Oklahoma men's cross country team finished second Saturday at the Chili Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., as the Sooner women finished 11th. Oklahoma was led by Kevin Schwab on the men's side with a fifth-place finish and Lauren Watson on the women's side.

Schwab was one of three OU men to finish in the top 10 on the 10,000-meter course as Rob Sorrell and Bill Kogel finished sixth and 10th, respectively. Schwab's time of 29:49.03 paced the Sooner contingent while Sorrell covered the course in a time of 30:02.51 and Kogel in 30:19.11.

With the finish, the Sooners took down host and No. 25 Arkansas. It was the second top-25 team that OU has defeated this year as the team took down then-No. 17 Minnesota, coincidentally, at the Gophers' home meet.

Jeremy Sudbury was 14th with a time of 30:27.25 and Kevin Williams (30:36.15) rounded out Oklahoma scoring in 17th as OU compiled 52 points behind Oklahoma State's 21. Clay Mayes (31:13.20) and Bobby Nicolls (31:31.28) also competed Saturday, finishing 33rd and 46th, respectively, in the team race.

On the women's side, Watson paced Oklahoma on the 6,000-meter course with a time of 21:58.07 as she finished 29th in the team race. Molly Ferguson (22:46.90) crossed the line next in 61st followed by Lindsay Pierson (23:03.77) in 81st. Erin Hargens (23:07.23) and Ellen Dobbin (23:44.18) rounded out Oklahoma's scoring in 84th and 129th, respectively. OU finished with 384 points as Texas Tech won the event with a team score of 35 points.

The event was slated to provide a stiff challenge as the Sooners competed against a number of ranked teams with the women taking on No. 12 Baylor, No. 20 Texas Tech, No. 22 BYU and No. 26 SMU. The men faced two top-25 teams in No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 25 Arkansas.

Saturday's action closes out the regular-season portion of the 2009 Oklahoma cross country season. The Sooners now turn their attention to the post-season, beginning with the Big 12 Championships on Oct. 31 in Columbia, Mo.

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