Cross Country Season Concludes at Nationals

TERRE HAUTE, Ind.- On a cold and windy Indiana afternoon, the University of Oklahoma's Dylan Blankenbaker ran to a 205th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute. The fifth-year senior crossed the line in 31:45.0.

In a highly competitive and tight race, Blankenbaker found himself in the midst of some unfortunate falls which affected his performance.

“Dylan's race was a bummer. He was fit, he was ready, he got out well. He was in the perfect position,” explained associate coach Kevin Ondrasek. “Right after the 1K mark, he was in about 25th-place and someone went down in front of him. He went down with them, then had to hurdle someone. When he did, he fell and found himself in the bottom of the pack.

“Up until the fall he ran great. He got out well and was sitting pretty. He was drafting, he looked comfortable. After he fell, he got up and still went and maintained decent position in probably 60th-place. Around 500 meters later, another fall happened and Dylan tripped and fell again. It's disappointing but it's not his fault.”

From then on Blankenbaker couldn't really recover as he ran mostly in the middle of the pack of 251 competitors, before falling back in the later stages. He averaged a 3:10.5 kilometer and a 5:06.8 mile time.

Although it isn't the ending Blankenbaker wanted, his cross country season as a whole was filled with success. His times and results got better as the season went on, earning All-Big 12 and All-Region honors along the way.

He finishes the cross country part of his Sooner career with two trips to the NCAA, once with the team and once as an individual. He earned All-Big 12 and All-Midwest Regional honors twice.

The focus for Blankenbaker and the rest of the cross country team now turns to the indoor track and field season, which opens up Jan. 14 with the Sooner Opener.