Women Finish Third, Men Fourth at UNT

Denton, Texas - Behind freshman Ashley Johnson and redshirt freshman Zach Gentry, the Sooner women took third place and the men fourth in the Ken Garland Invitational on Saturday morning.

Johnson navigated the Eagle Point Cross Country Course in 18:38.9, which was good enough for seventh in the 5K race but second in team scoring. Gentry ended the four-mile race in 13th place with a time of 20:43.9 in his debut race of the season.

“Zach [Gentry] ran fine. He brought the team through and he led them. He brought the team through exactly how I wanted them to,” stated associate coach Kevin Ondrasek. He continued, “I asked him to come on this trip to lead, and show the younger guys how it's done, and that's what he did for us. He probably could have had a better race had I sent him out harder, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted him to positively impact the team and his teammates, and that's what he did.”

As for Johnson, Ondrasek provided that “Ashley probably could have finished much higher had I sent her out on a headhunt by herself, but she was instructed to run with the team for awhile and that's what she did.”

The rest of the women's squad included sophomore Morgan Long, coming in at 19:18.4 (18th overall, 13th in team scoring), junior Madison Heidenburg at 19:27.2 (21st, 16th), junior Sophia Fernald in 19:55.6 (30th, 24th), junior Lauren Gibbs with a time of 20:03.2 (34th, 27th), redshirt junior Lane Maguire in 20:28.9 (43rd, 34th), redshirt junior Olivia Taylor at 20:31.9 (45th, 36th), and senior Morgan Baulier in 50th with a time of 20:59.3.

In his second race as a Sooner, freshman Nic Butts ran a time of 20:58.9, putting him in 21st place and 20th in team scoring. Following him were fellow freshmen Heath Warren at 21:26.4 (29th overall, 27th in team scoring) and Ean Beyer with 21:48.5 (34th, 30th). Redshirt freshman Christopher Staub rounded out the Sooner men's scoring in 35th place overall (31st in team scoring) with a time of 22:01.4.

“The men did exactly what I told them,” said Ondrasek. “We put out a young squad and they are just now making the transition to college. They went after it and put themselves in position to run well as a team.”

Overall Ondrasek concluded, “we learned a lot about ourselves. We learned a lot about what we consider to be team running or not team running. I think they are learning the expectation of any time they put on an OU jersey, what that means. We can definitely use [today's race and outcomes]. Not all races are positive experiences- sometimes you learn more from losing than you do from winning and I think that was a little bit of what we had this weekend.”

Up next on the schedule for Oklahoma is the Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 24 in Falcon Heights, Minn. The event is hosted by the University of Minnesota and is one of the largest meets in the country.

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Players Mentioned

Morgan Baulier

Morgan Baulier

Nic Butts

Sophia Fernald

Zach Gentry

Zach Gentry

Lauren Gibbs

Madison Heidenburg

Madison Heidenburg

Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson

Morgan Long

Lane Maguire

Chris Staub

Olivia Taylor

Heath Warren

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