OU Opens Season with Successful First Meet

Saturday, August 30

Tulsa, Okla.

8:00 AM

University of Oklahoma

Hurricane Cross Country Festival

OU Opens Season with Successful First Meet

August 30, 2014 | Cross Country

By: Athletics Communications

TULSA, Okla. – Led by multiple top 10 finishes, The University of Oklahoma cross country teams opened the 2014 season at the Hurricane Cross Country Festival on Saturday.

Brittany Tretbar, Elena Arriaza and Kelsey McKee finished in the top eight on the women's side while Will Hogston and Kyle Polman were eighth and ninth for the men.

With those finishes, the Sooner women went 2-1-1 in the dual format event while the men were 3-2. The women beat Oklahoma State and Wichita State, tied Tulsa and lost to Arkansas. The men beat Tulsa, Wichita State and Louisiana-Monroe and lost to OSU and Arkansas.

“We are definitely looking to build from here,” Associate Head Coach Jason Dunn said. “I think today served its purpose to get that first race under our belts.”

Tretbar captured a second-place finish with an overall time of 11:13 followed by Arriaza, who finished fourth with an 11:14. McKee finished eighth with an 11:21.

Hogston and Polman crossed the finish line with identical 20:20 times. Hogston was credited with eighth and Polman was ninth.

In the men's four mile race, Eric Graf finished 12th with a 20:27, followed by Allen Eke, 19th-20:46, Malcolm Wankel, 20th-20:54 and Alex Deir, 29th 21:09. A pair of key contributors from 2013, Brandon Doughty and Abbabiya Simbassa, did not compete in the meet.

“We had a couple of guys run pretty well and a couple of guys that didn't get off to the start that we were looking for,” Dunn said. “I was pleased to see Will (Hogston) and Kyle (Polman) running well for us."

Behind Tretbar, Arriaza and McKee in the women's two-mile event were Bryce Perry, who finished 21st-11:35, Sarah Scott, 24th-11:44 and Belle Wallace, 25th-11:49.

“It was good to see a couple of our women in a position to win the race,” Dunn added. “In general, it was a nice start for them and a clear indicator that we're going to be a lot better than we were last year.”

Additional finishers for the women included Hayley Redwine, 28th-11:56; Abbey Mace, 29th-11:57; Ashley Guidot, 32nd-12:15; Sophia Fernald, 33rd-12:25; Lauren Gibbs, 34th-12:29; Jordan Norris, 36th-12:36; Olivia Taylor, 38th-12:44; Ariel Mackey, 39th-12:48; Madison Heidenburg, 40th-12:55; Morgan Baulier, 43rd-13:33); and Alysa Burchill, 45th-13.47.

With eight true freshmen representing the women for the Sooners, Dunn was pleased with their effort.

“I was pleased with them,” he said. “We're definitely going to be counting on some freshman to be contributing this season. We've got some capable ones. Since we are so young as a team, some of those freshmen can contribute right away.”

The winner of the women's race was Arkansas' Regan Ward with a time of 11:13 while Luis Martinez of Oklahoma State captured the men's title with a time of 20:05.

The Sooners will look to continue momentum on Sept. 20 at the Missouri Southern Invitational in Joplin, Mo.