Completed Event: Cross Country at Cowboy Preview on August 29, 2025 , , 2nd - M/3rd - W
Final
Cross Country
at Cowboy Preview
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Saturday, October 29
Lubbock, Texas
10:00 AM
University of Oklahoma
at
Big 12 Championship
Women Make History at Big 12 Championship
October 29, 2016 | Cross Country
LUBBOCK, Texas - Paced by top-20 performances from Brittany Tretbar and Belle Wallace, the University of Oklahoma women's team finished in fourth place, while the men were led by Dylan Blankenbaker, whose top-10 finish helped OU to a sixth-place team finish at the Big 12 Championship in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday.
The women's team result was one for the record books as it marked the highest team finish for the women's program in Big 12 Cross Country Championship history. It also marked the third consecutive conference meet for the women to finish in an all-time best spot.
Their 124 team points were a 28-point improvement over last year's result when they placed fifth as a team with 152 points. Oklahoma edged USTFCCCA-ranked No. 12 Baylor and Kansas, who was ranked ahead of the Sooners in fifth in the Midwest Region rankings.
Before the race, associate coach Kevin Ondrasek stated that “if the men and women [stayed] in contact with the main pack, which is usually the top 30 people, we will be successful." That proved to be true Saturday morning for the women's team as OU had four runners finish in the first 30.
Tretbar ran the 6K in 21:12 followed by Wallace, who ran 21:14, to cross the line in 14th- and 16th- place respectively. Isabella Rose recorded a 25th-place finish with a time of 21:34 and Sarah Scott placed 29th overall at 21:40. Ashley Johnson, the final Sooner to score in the team standings, finished 40th with her 22:04. She was followed by Elena Arriaza at 22:37 in 57th and Hayley Redwine at 22:39 for 58th place. Madison Heidenburg ran the race in 23:24, finishing 71st overall, and Bryce Perry rounded out the Sooner entries with a time of 24:47 and 87th place.
"The women's race went pretty much as planned as far as how they executed and how they went out,” explained Ondrasek. “They took advantage of it. They ran really well, the highest finish in team history, and that's really big. All the credit goes to them and all the work that they've put in. Just being relentless this year.”
One contributing factor to their success was the fact that the women found their stride and what worked best for them.
“Earlier in the year I was trying to force them to run as a team because that's generally what you try to do. You try to run as a team out there,” Ondrasek confessed. “We found that this team actually runs a lot better if they go out as individuals and then find each other during the race. They seem to be a lot more motivated by that aspect. We stuck to that and it worked really well for us.”
Something else that the Sooners should be proud of, beyond their times, was how they represented their university. Even in the midst of their record-breaking race, in an ultimate act of sportsmanship, Perry was seen assisting TCU Horned Frog runner Emily Suarez, who was struggling and had stumbled several times throughout the race, stopping to help pick her up and offering support.
On the men's side, Blankenbaker finished the 8K race sixth overall with a time of 25:42.1. With a time of 26:15.1, Eric Alldritt placed 23rd and was joined almost three seconds later by Liam Meirow at 26:17.8 for a 25th-place result. Brendan Taylor was 29th with his 26:30.5 and Zach Gentry was 48th with his 26:54.3, the final Sooner to count in team points. Alonzo Chavez recorded a 27:20.1 and Nic Butts posted a 27:23.6. The last two Oklahoma men to record a time were Christopher Staub, with a time of 27:52.3, and Heath Warren who had a 29:00.7.
“The men's race was really odd. I've never seen anything like it to be completely honest,” assessed Ondrasek. “It looked more like a tactical 5K indoors than it did a cross country race outside. I wouldn't say it raced to our strengths. They did the best they could with the position they were in. It was a close one.”
Blankenbaker and Tretbar earned All-Big 12 honors with their top-15 finishes. This is the third consecutive year for Tretbar to earn the honor and second consecutive year for Blankenbaker.
Blankenbaker also improved on his standings from last year as well, going from an 11th-place finish in 2015 to sixth this year.
Up next for Oklahoma is the NCAA Regionals, which will take place Nov. 11 in Iowa City, Iowa.
“The women beat two or three ranked teams today and one bubble team, so they can use that going to regionals like 'hey things happen, we might have a shot at this thing' if they run big. The men should definitely take away that they were a podium team today but they just didn't get on the podium. They were 30 points out of third.”
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