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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooners Ready to Run in Midwest Regional
November 10, 2016 | Cross Country
NORMAN ? The University of Oklahoma's cross country teams want to go back to Terre Haute, Ind. Going back would mean that they are one of the 31 teams racing on the last day of the cross country season. To do so however, the Sooners will first have to go through Iowa City, Iowa, and compete against 32 other men's teams and 35 other women's teams in the Midwest Regional this Friday.
The top two teams in each race of the Midwest Regionals receive an automatic spot in the championship. However, finishing third or fourth in the region would strengthen the case and argument for one of 13 at-large selections.?
“The importance of regionals is to qualify for nationals,” associate coach?Kevin Ondrasek?simply states.? “It is also a chance to compare yourself to people in the country that you don't normally see.”
While it is true that for the most part the region is made up of unfamiliar opponents, there will be some familiar faces, including Big 12 teams Kansas State, Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma State. The Midwest Region includes 37 teams from nine states and 13 conferences.
The other regionals include the Great Lakes, hosted by Wisconsin in Madison; Mid-Atlantic: hosted by Penn State in State College; the Mountain hosted by Utah State in Logan; the Northeast hosted by the MAAC Conference in the Bronx, N.Y.; the South hosted by Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.; the South Central hosted by Arkansas in Fayetteville; the Southeast hosted by Virginia in Charlottesviille and the West hosted by Sacramento State in Sacramento.
A substantial advantage for the women is how they fared in their last competition at the Big 12 Championship two weeks ago. The women are coming off their program best fourth-place finish at the conference meet and hope to build on that momentum with a strong showing at regionals.
Running in the 6,000-meter (6K) women's race will be seniors?Elena Arriaza?and?Brittany Tretbar, juniors?Sarah Scott?and?Belle Wallace, redshirt sophomore?Hayley Redwine, sophomore?Isabella Rose?and freshman?Ashley Johnson.
Lining up for the Sooners in the men's race will be seniors?Dylan Blankenbaker?and?Eric Alldritt, redshirt sophomore?Liam Meirow, sophomore?Brendan Taylor, redshirt freshman?Zach Gentry?and true freshman?Nic Butts. For the first time this year, the men will be running a 10,000-meter (10K) race.
“The distance will actually be better for us (the men),” says Ondrasek. “This is what we train for.? I would consider us an older, stronger team as a whole so the longer, the better for us.? This is going to help us.”
In last year's regional, the women finished seventh overall with Tretbar leading OU with a 10th- place finish that earned her a second all-regional honor. Scott, Wallace and Arriaza also ran last year.
The men finished in third place last year and received an at-large invitation to the NCAA. Blankenbaker, Alldritt and Meirow return from last year's team with Blankenbaker earning all-region honors.
?The University of Iowa will be hosting the races, which will occur at the Ashton Cross Country Course. The women's race will start at 11 a.m., with the men's race to follow at noon. Runners who finish in the top 25 will earn all-regional honors.
?A recap, along with results, will be posted at the conclusion of the races on Soonersports.com.??As always, the Sooners can be followed on Facebook (Oklahoma Sooners Track & Field and Cross Country), Twitter (@OU__Track) and Instagram (OU__Track).?
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