University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners To Compete In NCAA Midwest Regional Championship Saturday :: Kissack will lead OU in the regional meet in Carbondale, Ill.

Sooners To Compete In NCAA Midwest Regional Championship Saturday :: Kissack will lead OU in the regional meet in Carbondale, Ill. Sooners To Compete In NCAA Midwest Regional Championship Saturday

Kissack will lead OU in the regional meet in Carbondale, Ill.




Brandon Kissack,after a career-best finish at the Big 12, will lead the Sooners Saturday at the NCAA Regional Championship.

Nov. 8, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma men's cross country team and four Sooner women will head to Carbondale, Ill., for the NCAA Midwest Regional meet Sat., Nov. 10. The meet is hosted by Southern Illinois-Carbondale and is the qualifying meet for the NCAA Championships to be held Nov. 19 at Greenville, S.C..
The men will run a 10k race that is scheduled for 10 a.m and the women will follow with a 6k run at 11:15 a.m. This weekend will mark only the second time this season for the men to run a 10k while the women have already run a 6k twice. The men ran a 10k at last month's Chile Pepper Festival while the women have run 6k at the Arkansas Chile Pepper and the Big 12.

The Last Time Out
Both Sooner teams showed signs of improvement at the Big 12 Cross Country Championship hosted Oct. 27 by the University of Oklahoma. For senior Brandon Kissack, the race marked the best finish of his Sooner career. Kissack finished 32nd to lead the men to a 10th-place finish with a time of 25:15 in the 8k run. Jimmy Buchanan came in at 25:23 and Joey McNair followed at 25:34.
On the women's side, junior Aisha Stringer rose to the occasion and led the Oklahoma women for the first time in her career at the conference with a time of 23:18 in the 6k. Alaina Dearman came in next at 23:48 and Amanda Luksetich rounded out the Sooner women's top three finishers at the 24:04 mark.

Sooners Named to All-Academic Team
OU placed eight student-athletes on the 2001 Big 12 All-Academic Cross Country team, the conference officials announced prior to the Big 12 meet.
OU's eight honorees were all named to the first team. First-team honorees had at least a cumulative 3.20 grade point average or a 3.20 grade point average over the last two semesters. In addition, all nominees had to participate in at least 60 percent of the scheduled meets. Transfers and true freshmen were not eligible for the team.
Choctaw sophomore Darren Hutchins led the Sooner selections. He has a 3.95 grade point average in mathematics/biostatistics.
Other honorees for OU and their class/hometown/major included Alaina Dearman, junior, Dallas, Texas, zoology; Amanda Luksetich, sophomore, Houston, Texas, civil engineering; Kelli O'Rourke, junior, Jenks, Okla., psychology; Kim Thomas, sophomore, McAlester, Okla., university college; Trevor Gillum, sophomore, Durant, Okla., mechanical engineering; Cecil Rose, senior, Missouri City, Texas, management; and Freddie Stephens, sophomore, Elgin, Okla., electrical engineering.

Up Next
The NCAA Championship will be held in Greenville, S.C., Nov. 19. The top three teams from OU's regional will advance, based on the strength of the region, and the two two individuals not on a team will also be invited to the Championship. Those invitations will be issued on Monday, Nov. 12.