Men Win, Women Third in Missouri

Saturday, September 20

Joplin, Mo.

8:30 AM

University of Oklahoma

Missouri Southern Invitational

September 20, 2014 | Cross Country

By: Athletics Communications

JOPLIN, Mo. - Led by three finishers in the top seven, The University of Oklahoma men's cross country team repeated as champion of the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo., Saturday.

The Oklahoma women's team also had a successful day, earning a third-place team finish by using fourth- and fifth-place finishes by Brittany Tretbar and Elena Arriaza.

Associate head coach Jason Dunn was pleased with the effort and the improvement the teams displayed.

“I think it was a positive step for both teams, in terms of experience and getting to build off of where we were a couple of weeks ago," Dunn said.

The men's team, 2013 Southern Stampede champions, finished the 8k race with a team score of 38 after placing four runners in the top 10.

Jacob Burcham, in his first race of the season, crossed the finish line first for the Sooners with a time of 24:49.96, good for third. Will Hogston (24:52.92) finished fourth followed by Eric Graf (25:19.28) and Allen Eke (25:25.71) with seventh and 10th-place finishes, respectively.

Alex Deir (25:32.28) finished 14th while Malcolm Wankel (25:35.60) finished 16th to close out the OU runners.

“Those guys did a real great job and have just improved so much from a year ago,” said Dunn. “It was exciting to see and it was exciting to get another win.”

In the women's 5k race, Tretbar led the way for the Sooners with a fourth-place finish, recording a time of 17:05.83. Arriaza, with a time of 17:07.27, was close behind in fifth place.

“The women performed really well,” said Dunn. “I thought that Brittany and Elena did a great job up front for us. They ran really smart races.”

The rest of the scoring finishers for OU women included Belle Wallace in 19th/20th (17:59.77); Kelsey McKee in 28th/30th (18:16.04); and Bryce Perry in 30th/32nd (18:27.71). The rest of the Sooner finishers included Abbey Mace, 18:41.97; Sophia Fernald, 19:02.28; Jordan Norris, 19:12.83; Lauren Gibbs, 19:35.52; Madison Heidenburg, 19:38.33; Olivia Taylor, 19:41.70; and Morgan Baulier, 20:40.37.

Using the pair of top five finishes, the Sooner women finished third, behind eighth-ranked Arkansas and Tulsa in the 15-team women's field.

Eric Schott of Missouri Southern won the men's race with a time of 24:32.13. In the women's race, Arkansas' Dominique Scott took first with a time of 16:32.78.

Next up for the Sooners will be the UW Cross Country Invite in Seattle, Wash., on Oct. 4.