OU Men Win Pre-Nationals Title

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The No. 16 ranked University of Oklahoma men's cross country team placed first at the Pre-Nationals meet among nine ranked teams in the White race division. Rob Sorrell paced the Sooners with an 11th-place finish.

Team Results | Individual Results

The Sooners held the overall lead 5,000 meters into the race with a total of 116 points and improved by 10 points over the last 3,000 meters as they finished with a total of 106 points.

"I thought it was a complete team effort," said head coach Martin Smith. "Our strength is the ability to have a small split from our one to five man and today that was about 20 seconds. I felt all five guys ran extremely determined, and demonstrated good strong mental toughness over the last 3,000 meters when they began to labor."

Oklahoma finished ahead of three higher ranked teams in the White race, including conference opponent No. 4 Colorado, also the sixth place finisher from the 2009 NCAA Championship, No. 8 Portland and No. 13 North Carolina State. The Sooners also bested currently ranked No. 24 Alabama who placed third at the 2009 NCAA Championships. The title marked the first team win for the Sooners since the 2007 Golden Hurricane Invitational.

Sorrell was the top finisher for Oklahoma for the second straight meet with a time of 23 minutes, 56.8 seconds, earning an 11th-place finish. Sorrell set a personal best time at the 8,000 meter distance, breaking his previous fastest time of 23:57 set at last month's Adidas Invitational. Sorrell was just 37 seconds off the winning time of 23:19.9, run by defending NCAA Cross Country champion Samuel Chelanga of Liberty.

The next highest finisher for Oklahoma was Kevin Schwab who finished 15th with a time of 24:05.1. Schwab also recorded a personal best from his previous fastest time of 24:09 set at the Adidas Invitational. Schwab and Sorrell placed ahead of 2009 All-American Evans Kigen from Liberty who had a time of 24:11.8.

The top five finishers for Oklahoma all placed in the top 29, with Bill Kogel coming in at 25th (24:16.3), George Alex at 26th (24:17.0) and Kevin Williams rounding out the scoring at 29th (24:17). Aaron Sherf recorded a time of 24:50.2 and Jacob Boone finished with a time of 24:57.1.

"I'm happy for the guys on the team finish," said Smith. "To have the experience of winning a major competition is nice. Hopefully this will help us build on the championship part of the season and give the team additional confidence."

Next up for the Sooners is the 2010 Big 12 Cross Country Championships on Oct. 30 in Stillwater, Okla.

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