University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner CC Teams Head To Dallas :: OU enters SMU Invitational on Saturday.

Sooner CC Teams Head To Dallas :: OU enters SMU Invitational on Saturday.
 
 
 

 
Jimmy Buchanan will be one of the Sooners running in Dallas on Saturday.
  
 
Sooner CC Teams Head To Dallas

OU enters SMU Invitational on Saturday.

Sept. 20, 2002

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma men's and women's cross country teams are headed south for their second meet of the 2002 season as OU will compete in the SMU Invitational on Saturday at Norbuck Park.

The women will run a 5K race starting at 8:30 a.m. and the men will follow with an 8K event at 9 a.m.

Looking at the Field Joining the Sooners and host Southern Methodist in the field are North Texas, Texas-Arlington, Louisiana Tech, Rice, and Northwood.

Competing for the Sooners Making the trip to Dallas for the meet are Alaina Dearman, Aisha Stringer, Sara Justice, Emily Leonard, Jackie Dubois and Amanda Luksetich on the women's side and Jimmy Buchanan, Jason Brown, Andrew Call, Billy Grona, Darren Hutchins, John Mulholland and Joey McNair on the men's side.

The Coach Rodney Rothoff joined the Sooner coaching staff in August after two seasons as the head cross country and assistant track coach for the Tennessee women's program. In his tenure in Knoxville, Rothoff coached 11 NCAA cross country and track All-Americans. He coached the 2002 SEC champion in the outdoor 800 and had four All-SEC cross country selections. His 2001 cross country team was the SEC runner-up. A 1990 graduate of Methodist College in North Carolina, Rothoff has also coached Clemson and Arkansas-Little Rock.

The Last Time Out Junior Joey McNair finished second in the men's race to lead the Sooners to a third-place team finish in the 54th Annual John "JK" Kornelson Gold Classic Sept. 7. The Sooner women were finished fourth overall in the meet held at RAFT Golf Course.

The Sooner men were just 12 points behind first-place Southwest Missouri State as sophomore Jimmy Buchanan and junior Darren Hutchins joined McNair in the top 10.

"I was very pleased with the way our men ran," said head Sooner cross country coach Rodney Rothoff. "They followed our race plan to perfection. We planned to go out slow and pick up the pace as the race came to an end. I was very pleased with the effort and feel very positive about what I saw after just 10 practices.

Amanda Luksetich led the Sooner women, finishing 18th. Southwest Missouri State finished first in the five-team meet. OU finished fourth as a team.

"Our women still have a lot of work to do and they need to be better prepared mentally to run the race," Rothoff added.

54th Annual John "JK" Kornelson Gold Classic

OU Men's Results - 2. McNair, Joey, 20:46.16; 7. Buchanan, Jimmy, 21:23.85; 8. Hutchins, Darren, 21:28.42; 20. Mulholland, John, 22:43.42; 23. Brown, Jason, 22:57.67; 26. Grona, Billy, 23:09.88; 27. Call, Andrew, 23:12.07; 28. Gillum, Trevor, 23:16.60; 37. Howarth, Kevin, 24:20.50

OU Women's Results - 16. Luksetich, Amanda, 20:45.33; 22. Thomas, Kim, 21:51.43; 23. Miller, Julie, 22:08.52; 24. Dearman, Alaina, 22:13.43; 26. Dubois, Jackie, 22:51.25; 28. Justice, Sara, 23:06.26; 29. Leonard, Emily, 23:25.36; 40. Johnson, Tiffany, 24:59.59

Next Up The Sooners will return to competition on Oct. 5 when they travel to the OSU Cowboy Jamboree.