Blankenbaker Qualifies for Nationals

NORMAN- With his strong performances the last two weeks of the cross country season, fifth-year senior Dylan Blankenbaker has proven to be one of the best in the Big 12 and the Midwest region. On Saturday, Nov. 19, Blankenbaker will have his chance to prove that he is one of the best runners in the country.

Following his sixth-place finish at the Midwest Regional, the San Diego, Calif., native will compete as an individual qualifier in the NCAA Cross Country Championship to be held in Terre Haute, Ind. The Sooners ran on the NCAA course earlier this year in an 8K and Blankenbaker led the men with a 34^th-place finish.

"I'm excited to be representing the University of Oklahoma at the NCAA Cross Country Championship," commented Blankenbaker. "Individually it's a big step forward for me and I'm looking forward to competing next weekend."

The 10K national championship will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. Blankenbaker will also be looking to improve on his results from the NCAA Championships last year. He ran as part of the Sooner team and finished 147^th with a time of 31:24.4. The men's race is expected to start at 11 am (CT).

The complete field was announced Saturday afternoon. A total of 31 men's and women's teams were selected and 38 individual runners were chosen from teams that did not advance. Of those 38, the top four finishers at each region, again from teams that did not qualify, are automatically selected, as long as they finished in the top 25 of the region, which was how Blankenbaker qualified.

Since Oklahoma State and Tulsa were the automatic men's team qualifiers from the Midwest, Blankenbaker's sixth-place finish moved him into the top four finishers from the region. He will be joined by Michael Ward from Bradley, Reed Fisher from Drake and Joel Reichow from South Dakota State as the four qualifiers from the Midwest.

Players Mentioned

Dylan Blankenbaker

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics