Sooner Men Finish Second in Minnesota

Sept. 26, 2009

2009 Roy Griak Invitational

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- The University of Oklahoma men's and women's cross country teams finished second and eighth, respectively, at 24th Annual Roy Griak Invitational Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis, Minn. In his collegiate debut, redshirt freshman Bill Kogel led the Sooner men by completing the 8,000 meter course in a time of 25:06 to finish in 10th. Junior Jessica Engel paced the Sooner women with an 11th-place finish, completing the 6,000 meter course in 22:02.

With the second-place finish, the Sooner men beat host and No. 17 Minnesota, and narrowly missed the team title as No. 25 Iowa State took home the Men's Gold Race title by a mere three points.

The Sooners' top five runners finished just 14 seconds apart as all five recorded top-21 finishes with Kogel leading the way. Junior Rob Sorrell finished 12th, with a time of 25:08, sophomore Kevin Schwab finished 14th (25:10), redshirt freshman Kevin Williams completed the course in 17th (25:15) as junior Jeremy Sudbury rounded out scorers in 21st with a time of 25:20. Clay Mayes (25:50) and Jacob Boone (26:28) also ran Saturday, finishing 45th and 63rd, respectively.

Full Results |

Jessica Engel FloTrack Interview

Men's Race Coverage from FloTrack |

Women's Race Coverage from FloTrack

"I am very excited about the positive start we had today," said Oklahoma head coach Martin Smith. "Our top five guys ran very well and finished within seconds of each other."

"We have a lot of room for improvement and we are ready to get back to work for the rest of the season," said Smith.

The OU women's team was anchored by junior Jessica Engel, who has the best day for the Sooners, finishing 11th. Senior Lauren Watson was the next Sooner to cross the finish line with a time of 22:57 to place 30th overall.

Rounding out the women's scoring were sophomore Molly Ferguson who completed the course in 23:54 and finished 61st, freshman Erin Hargens in 67th (24:07) and senior Ellen Dobbins in 76th (24:22). Freshman Tati Ogan (24:35) and junior Lindsay Pierson (24:51) also competed finishing 84th and 94th, respectively.

Big Twelve rival, No. 28 Iowa State, also took home the women's title with a total of 31 points.

The Sooners will split in their final regular-season weekend of the year, as some athletes head to the Arkansas Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., while a second group heads to Terre Haute, Ind. for Pre-Nationals.

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