Cross Country to Compete in Missouri

NORMAN, Okla. – After opening the season in Tulsa three weeks ago, The University of Oklahoma cross country teams are set to compete in Joplin, Mo., on Saturday in the First to the Finish Southern Stampede Cross Country Meet.

The 26^th annual race, hosted by Missouri Southern State University, will be the second race of the season for the Sooners.

“It's still fairly early in the season so we just want to get comfortable with actually racing before we go into our more competitive part of the season,” said associate head coach Jason Dunn.

Ranked fourth in the region by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the Oklahoma men's team returns to a course they finished first on during the 2013 season. The men's race, an 8K, features a familiar opponent, 18^th-ranked University of Tulsa.

“We're taking another pretty small group on the men's side and we're obviously moving up to longer distance,” said Dunn. “It's a little bit of a longer race and another opportunity for some guys to practice their racing skills.”

While Will Hogston, Alex Deir, Allen Eke, Eric Graf and Malcolm Wankel look to build upon their finishes in the previous meet at the Hurricane Cross Country Festival, Jacob Burcham will race for the first time this season.

The Oklahoma women's team is slated to run a 5k race that features Arkansas, the eighth-ranked team in the women's USTFCCCA polls.

Dunn hopes to see improvement in this year's race after OU finished third in the 2013 event.

“Given similar racing conditions to last year, I think it will be a good opportunity for us to have a comparison for those sophomores who ran last year as freshman,” Dunn said. “We can see where they were last year and hopefully see significant improvement this time around.”

Brittany Tretbar, Elena Arriaza and Kelsey McKee will be among the 14 runners competing for the Sooners following their top-eight finishes in the two-mile race at the Hurricane Cross Country Festival.

“I think we have made progress in the last few weeks and we've had good training,” said Dunn. “The women should be ready to run a pretty good race.”

Other runners for the Oklahoma women's team will include: Ashley Guidot, Bryce Perry, Morgan Baulier, Olivia Taylor, Sophia Fernald, Lauren Gibbs, Madison Heidenburg, Abbey Mace, Ariel Mackey, Jordan Norris and Belle Wallace. All the runners competing for OU Saturday ran in the season-opening race.

The women's race is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. while the men will race at 9:45 a.m. In addition to the University Open division for men and women, there will be college/juco, high school varsity and high school junior varsity for both. A total of 16 teams are entered in the OU's division. Host school, Missouri Southern State, has been a force in NCAA Division II and the men's team was a unanimous pick to win the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Players Mentioned

Elena Arriaza

Elena Arriaza

Morgan Baulier

Morgan Baulier

Jacob Burcham

Alex Deir

Allen Eke

Sophia Fernald

Sophia Fernald

Lauren Gibbs

Eric Graf

Eric Graf

Madison Heidenburg

Will Hogston

Abbey Mace

Kelsey McKee

Kelsey McKee

Jordan Norris

Bryce Perry

Bryce Perry

Olivia Taylor

Olivia Taylor

Brittany Tretbar

Belle Wallace

Belle Wallace

Malcolm Wankel

Malcolm Wankel

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