No. 8 OU Men Win Midwest Regional

Nov. 13, 2010

PEORIA, Ill.--The No. 8 men's cross country team captured its first ever NCAA Regional title as it won the NCAA Midwest Regional Saturday in Peoria, Ill., to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 22.

Oklahoma finished ahead of in-state rival and No. 1 Oklahoma State to take home the title for the first time in program history. The Sooners finished with 43 points as Oklahoma State has 50 points and Minnesota finished with 119 points. All five scorers for the Sooners earned All-Midwest Regional honors as they all finished in the top 15.

Men's Results | Women's Results

Kevin Schwab placed second overall to lead the Sooners to a NCAA Championship birth for the second straight year. It was a photo finish as Schwab crossed the finish line with a time of 29 minutes, 30.74 seconds finishing just behind Colby Lowe of Oklahoma State (29:30.70). Breaking 30 minutes, Schwab ran a career -time at the 10,000 meter distance and also earned his highest finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional. Schwab was named to the All-Midwest Region team for the third time in his career.

George Alex was the next best finisher for Oklahoma, finishing sixth with a time of 29:56.52. Rob Sorrell came in at ninth with a personal best 30:00.66, followed by Kevin Williams in 11th with a personal best 30:09.8 and Bill Kogel in 15th (30:20.05).

Sorrell, Kogel, Williams and Alex were also named to the All-Region team. This marked the second straight year Sorrell and Kogel earned All-Midwest Region honors. OU and Oklahoma State were the only two teams to place five runners on the All-Midwest Regional team.

"I thought the team ran an extremely smart and athletically disciplined race," said head coach Martin Smith. "It was a positive step for the program to be able to compete with the patience and composure that they demonstrated in a championship competition. I believe the guys are continuing to learn and grow not only in their individual abilities, but also in their understanding of what is required to develop into a nationally prominent program."

Jacob Boone ran a career-best time of 31:06.89 to finish 40th and Aaron Sherf ran a time of 31:07.89 to finish 41st to round out the Oklahoma runners.

Oklahoma trailed Tulsa through 3,000 meters but overtook the Golden Hurricane and ran away from the rest of the field over the final 7,000 meters of the race.

Annie Martin and Molly Ferguson competed individually for the OU women. Martin finished 68th with a time of 21:42.79 on the 6,000 meter course while Ferguson ran a personal-best time of 21:47.97 to finish 78th.

Oklahoma will next race at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind. In 2009, the Sooners finished a program-best 12th at the event.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors