Men Compete for NCAA Championship

Nov. 20, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma men's cross country team, ranked No. 16 nationally, will head to Terre Haute, Ind., this Monday, Nov. 23 to compete in the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships hosted by Indiana State University. The men's 10,000 meter race will take place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Family Sports Center and will start at 11:00 a.m. CST.

The Sooner men became the first team in OU history to qualify for the NCAA Championships under its current format and have risen to their highest national ranking ever at No. 16.

"As a team we are really excited to be competing for a national title, we have worked so hard throughout the year and it is nice to see it finally paying off in a big way," said junior captain Rob Sorrell. "We have a chance to do something really big here at OU and can't wait to see what happens at the NCAAs."

The men's team comes in to the championships after placing second in the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 14. The second-place finish marks the highest team finish in a NCAA Midwest Regional by a Sooner men's team, who knocked off No. 27 Iowa State and No. 29 Minnesota, finishing just behind Big 12 rival, No. 2 Oklahoma State.

Watch NCAA Championships Live

Four Sooners claimed All-Midwest Region honors as sophomore Kevin Schwab, redshirt-freshman Bill Kogel and juniors Rob Sorrell and Jeremy Sudbury each finished in the top 25. Schwab and Sorrell's third and fourth-place finishes, mark the first time in school history that two Sooner runners finished among the top-five competitors in the same NCAA Regional.

"Before the season started we knew we had a chance to do something really special, going through workouts this summer we really pushed each other to get better and as the season has progressed we have seen that," said Schawb.

Other teams competing in the NCAA Championships include three top-30 teams who the Sooners have already defeated throughout the season, No. 19 Arkansas, No. 24 Iowa State and No. 29 Minnesota. Oklahoma State, ranked No. 2 nationally, No. 6 Colorado and No. 29 Texas, who shares the rank with Minnesota, will also be competing for the Big 12.

"We have prepared really hard for this opportunity and are ready to get at it, but we are not going to do anything different from what we have done all season long that got us to this point," said Sorrell.

The 2009 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will be broadcast live on VERSUS, marking the third consecutive year the championships will be seen on live television, and the first with VERSUS. A live web stream of the championships will also be available on NCAA.com.

Complete results and a full recap of the Midwest Regional will be available on SoonerSports.com shortly after the events conclusion.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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