Sooners to Compete at Big 12 Championships

Oct. 29, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma men's, ranked 20th nationally, and women's cross country teams will compete in the 2009 Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Mo., this Saturday, Oct. 31.

The championships, held on the campus of the University of Missouri, will lead off with the men's 8,000-meter run at 10 a.m. CT, followed by the women's 6,000-meter event at 11 a.m. at the A.L. Gustin Golf Course. Following the events, the top men's and women's teams will be named league champions, while the top 15 individual finishers in each race receive All-Big 12 honors.

The Sooners will compete against a number of ranked teams in the event as the men, who are ranked third among Big 12 teams in the national rankings and No. 2 in the Midwest region, will face three top-25 teams in No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Colorado and No. 23 Iowa State. The women take on Colorado, ranked third nationally, No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 19 Iowa State and No. 26 Baylor.

The Sooner men are coming off a strong second place finish in the final event of the regular season, the Chili Pepper Festival on Oct. 17. With the finish, the Sooners took down host and then-No. 25 Arkansas. It was the second top-25 team that OU had defeated on the year as the team took down then-No. 17 Minnesota, coincidentally, at the Gophers' home meet, the Griak Invitational on Sept. 26.

Sophomore Kevin Schwab, finishing fifth, 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.

Schwab, Sorrell and Kogel all look to build off their strong regular season finish, while other Sooner men competing this weekend include juniors Jeremy Sudbury and Clay Mayes, and freshmen Kevin Williams, Bobby Nicolls and Pat Gomez.

The Sooner women are coming off an 11th-place finish at the Chile Pepper Festival, led by Lauren Watson who 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.

Senior Ellen Dobbin, and freshmen Erin Hargens and Tati Ogan round out the women's team for this weekend.

Complete results and a full recap of the Big 12 Championships will be available on SoonerSports.com shortly after the events conclusion.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners to Compete at Big 12 Championships

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors