Upcoming Event: Cross Country at Cowboy Jamboree on September 26, 2026 at 8 a.m. CT
8 a.m. CT
Cross Country
at Cowboy Jamboree
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Saturday, October 15
Terre Haute, Ind.
10:00 AM
University of Oklahoma
at
NCAA Pre-Nationals
Men Place 17th, Women 22nd at Pre-Nationals
October 15, 2016 | Cross Country
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Against an elite field, Dylan Blankenbaker and Brittany Tretbar led the University of Oklahoma men's and women's cross country teams to a 17th-and 22nd-place team finish, respectively on Saturday morning at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.
“We had a big race from Tretbar. Tretbar knocked out a pretty good one," praised associate coach Kevin Ondrasek. "She was feeling like herself. She moved through the pack pretty nicely."
The men had mixed results in their 8,000-meter Blue Race as the Sooners had two runners finish in the top 50. The two seniors led the pack as Blakenbaker finished in 34th place with a time of 24:36.9. Following in 50th was Eric Alldritt with a 24:52.7. Coming in at 25:10.8 and 86th was Liam Meirow. After Meirow, there was a large gap between finishers as Brendan Taylor and Zach Gentry crossed the line at 25:38.5 and 25:53.8, respectively. Rounding out the finishers for the Sooner men were Nic Butts at 26:13 and Alonzo Chavez at 26:32.
For the men, "they set up the race right and broke apart about halfway through. We made a lot of leeway in the race intensity as far as how hard they hit it," according to Ondrasek. However he did have a critique in that "as far as where they finished, it's still not quite where they could be.”
The women had the first race of the day with the 6,000-meter Blue Race. Tretbar finished 83rd with a time of 21:18.9. Following her at 21:34.5 and 110th was Isabella Rose. Sarah Scott (21:47.5), Belle Wallace (21:47.9) and Elena Arriaza (21:48.7) all finished within seconds of each other. Finishing at 22:08.8 was Ashley Johnson and the last Sooner woman to finish the race, Hayley Redwine, crossed the line at 22:30.2.
"We had a major improvement with the women as far as their competitiveness in a high-stakes situation. It was really quality,” said Ondrasek. "The women saw a faster pace in the first mile than they had all year, so I think that is something they'll have to get used to. But they set it up great and we got what we needed out of it."
The Sooner women finished higher than Dartmouth, who was receiving votes in the USTFCCCA Oct. 4th poll. The men finished higher than the USTFCCCA seventh- ranked Portland, 15th Eastern Kentucky, Louisville and Dartmouth, who both received votes in the poll.
The highly competitive field featured 268 men and 41 teams in the Blue Race while the women's Blue Race had 285 runners from 42 teams.
Oklahoma has two weeks off from competition before they travel to Lubbock, Texas, for the Big 12 Cross Country Championship Oct. 29.
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Friday, October 28
Friday, October 28
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