Burcham Earns Big 12 Runner of Week Honors

NORMAN - University of Oklahoma junior Jacob Burcham has been named the Big 12's Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week for competitions taking place between Oct. 12-18. This marks the first weekly award for Burcham, who is the second honoree from the OU men's team this season. Teammate Zac Randall was selected for the weekly award on Sept. 7 along with Sarah Scott of the OU women's team.

"It's great to see Jacob getting to a higher level with his training and his commitment to the sport, and that's showing with his results," said Jason Dunn, associate head coach for cross country. "He's always been a very talented athlete, and now he's become one of the most talented runners in the country."

Burcham's selection came after earning a personal-best performance at the highly competitive Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Oct. 16. The Barboursville, W. Va., native led the Sooners with an 11th-place performance against a field of 311 runners and finished with a time of 23:47.5. Among the 36 teams competing in the men's 8K, the then-No. 21-ranked Sooners, were one of 16 teams in the USTFCCA Top-30 Coaches' Poll at the time of the race.

While the OU men finished 22nd overall, ahead of 14 other teams including No. 19 Mississippi, No. 27 Princeton, and No. 26 Iowa State, Burcham finished ahead of each entry from then No. 4 BYU, No. 8 Michigan, No. 17 NC State, No. 15 Michigan State, and several other top-ranked teams. He was also the top finisher for Big 12 entries.

"I was really pleased with his race," Dunn said. "When people on the team see a guy like Jacob so committed to the team and so great at his sport, I think that's really inspiring."

By comparison, as a sophomore, Burcham finished 108th with a time of 24:43 at the meet last season. He earned All-Big 12 honors in 2014 with a 13th-place finish at the Big 12 Championship with a time of 24:34.4 in the 8K. He's the fifth runner in Dunn's tenure at OU to earn the recognition, also joining two-time selection Abbabiya Simbassa (Oct. 7 and Oct. 21, 2014) and Eric Graf (Sept. 24, 2013).

The Sooners return to competition on Oct. 31 at the Big 12 Championship in Stillwater, Okla. For more information on OU cross country, check out SoonerSports.com.