Doughty Barely Misses NCAA Invite

NORMAN -- By the slimmest of margins, University of Oklahoma junior Brandon Doughty missed qualifying as an at-large entry for the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The fields for the NCAA Championships were announced Saturday by the NCAA Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country committee. The races will be run in Terra Haute, Ind., Nov. 22.

Doughty finished ninth in Friday's NCAA Midwest Regional with a 30:18.6. The final men's at-large qualifier from OU's region finished seventh in the 10K race. Jacob Morgan of Kansas, the final at-large qualifier, crossed the finish line with a 30:17.5.

The top two teams from each of nine regionals plus the top four individuals not on one of those two team earned automatic qualifications. An additional 13 teams and two individuals were invited as at-large qualifiers.

The Big 12 had two men's teams and one individual qualify for the NCAA meet. The conference will send three teams and one individual to the women's championship. In an indicator of the strength of the Midwest Region, the region that hosted the majority of Big 12 squads, it was the only region to produce three at-large individual qualifiers, two for the women's and one for the men.

The regional meet then marked the end of OU's 2014 season, a successful season for OU, the second year under the tutelage of coach Jason Dunn. The Sooner men finished second in the Big 12, their best finish since 2011, and sixth in the regional. The runner-up finish at the conference meet by Abbabiya Simbassa was an all-time OU best in Big 12 history. The OU women finished a program-best fifth in the Big 12 and ninth at the regional, the first time the Sooner women had sent a complete team to the regional meet since 2011.

Five Sooners earned All-Big 12 honors and four were named to the All-Midwest Region squads. The all-conference honorees included Doughty, Simbassa, Jacob Burcham, Brittany Tretbar and Elena Arriaza. The all-region selections were Doughty, Simbassa, Eric Graf and Tretbar.

Eight Sooners earned Academic All-Big 12 honors, led by Doughty and sophomore Kelsey McKee, who received special recognition for 4.00 grade point averages. The others to earn first-team academic honors included senior Alex Deir, sophomore Graf, sophomore Arriaza and sophomore Bryce Perry while sophomore Burcham and sophomore Kyle Polman were named to the second team.

Players Mentioned

Elena Arriaza

Jacob Burcham

Brandon Doughty

Eric Graf

Kelsey McKee

Bryce Perry

Abbabiya Simbassa

Brittany Tretbar

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics