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University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU/XC Heads to Lawrence for Regional Meet
November 12, 2015 | Cross Country
LAWRENCE, Kan. - As temperatures drop, competition rises for the Oklahoma cross country teams. On Friday, the Sooners will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Championships at the historic Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan. The course, known for its silhouette statues of former Kansas runners and two wooden-covered bridges, was the site of last year's Big 12 Cross Country Championships. It also hosted Big 12 in 2006 and NCAA Division I and Division II Cross Country Championships in 1998.
The women's 6K is slated to begin at noon (CT) and the men's 10K will start at 1 p.m.
The races Friday mark the Sooners first return to the course since last season, a return the team has anticipated. Both the men and the women teams had favorable performances at Rim Rock Farm a year ago during the conference meet. The men tied OU's program best with a second place finish at conference and the women set a program Big 12 best with a fifth place finish.
"Things have gone really well since the Big 12 with both groups and we're really excited for tomorrow's races," said Jason Dunn, associate head coach for cross country. "We ran here last year for Big 12. We had a pretty good meet here so I think that's a positive thing for us. We know the course. It's still fairly challenging, but it's a good course."
The stakes are much higher this go-round as the meet expands to a regional platform, but the Sooners are prepared to compete. The top two men's and women's teams from each of eight regions will earn the automatic qualifier spots for nationals along with the top four individual runners from non-qualifying teams. There will then be 13 teams selected from an at-large pool and an additional two runners will be selected for both the men's and women's national competition. Individuals who finish in the top 25 at regionals earn all-regional honors.
The final entry list for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, scheduled for Louisville on Nov. 21, will be released on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The 26th-ranked Sooner men will run against 27 complete teams as the length of their course extends 2,000 meters. It is the first time the OU men will run a 10K this season, but averaging nearly 90 miles of running per week has them well prepared.
"We've really tried to train all season long for the 10K distance even though we only run 8Ks during the season," Dunn said. "It is our first time running it this season in competition, but it's not something different to us in terms of our preparation and training."
The men finished sixth at regionals a year ago and will look to their top-two runners in Jacob Burcham and Brandon Doughty to lead the team to a qualifying finish. Burcham placed 48th (30:59.4) in the region in 2014. He is coming off a strong second-place finish at the Big 12 race two weeks ago that has given him more confidence. Doughty, who finished fourth at Big 12, placed ninth (30:18.7) at last year's regional and was one spot short of an individual national qualification. He is the lone returning all-regional runner for the OU men's team.
"We definitely see our top two guys up in the front with Jacob and Brandon in the very front pulling us along," Dunn said. "Both groups (men and women) are positioned to perform really well. We just have to continue to compete as we did at Big 12 for the men.
Senior Will Hogston is the only other Sooner entry who competed in last year's regional where he finished 114th/111th with a time of 31:52.7. Other runners competing for OU are Eric Alldritt, Dylan Blankenbaker, Matt Brafford, Allen Eke and Liam Meirow. Blankenbaker (11th) and Aldritt (14th) are coming off All-Big 12 performances from two weeks ago.
The Sooner men have won two of 21 NCAA Midwest Regional meets. They shared the title with Oklahoma State in 2012 and won outright in 2010.
On the women's side of competition, the Sooners will face 32 complete teams. Even among a large field, the Sooner women have experience on their side as they return every entry from last season when OU finished ninth.
They are looking to junior Brittany Tretbar to establish a strong tone in the race. Tretbar, the only all-regional runner in 2014 for the women, has been the lead runner for the Sooners in every race for the last two seasons. She finished 19th (20:45.7) in last year's regional.
Last season was the first time the Oklahoma women had recorded a team score in regional competition since 2007, another ninth place finish.
With a 13th place breakout performance from Belle Wallace in the Big 12 Championships two weeks ago, the team also has high expectations for her. Wallace finished 91st (21:38.0) in last year's regional.
"Brittany has been our front runner all season so we expect to see her up in the mix, but Belle has come around," Dunn said. "It'll be nice to see Elena Arriaza get to where we know she can be, back up there with Belle, and hopefully in that all-region range."
Other returning entries are Arriaza, who finished 29th (20:57.5) in 2014, Bryce Perry (77th, 21:30.9), Sarah Scott (90th, 21:37.8), Abbey Mace (168th/167th, 22:31.7), and Kelsey McKee (205th/203rd, 23:20.3). Freshman Grace Barber will be the only new entry for the Sooners this meet.
"I think the women can improve upon their overall team performance as well," Dunn said. "It seems like they moved in the right direction over the last two weeks.
"The women have come together and gotten themselves focused on having a much better team effort across the board," he continued. "They seem like they're in a really good place."
Live results for the NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Championships will be available at PT Timing with a full recap on SoonerSports.com after the meet.
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