Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Heading to South Carolina
April 06, 2003 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
The team headed into Ames with a third place Big 12 finish and some high hopes of victory, only to find themselves held back by severe weatherconditions.
Prior to race time, the wind was running at 20 to 40 mph and the ground was frozen with snow. Individual times clearly reflect the harsh frozen conditions.
The Cowboy battled the weather, finding themselves struggling the entire distance. They were in 20th-place after the three-mile mark, moving up slowly. They found themselves in 11th at the four-mile and seventh at the five-mile. The team was not even in the top three teams until it hit the 1,000-meter mark, where they gathered their strength to take the lead.
Rounding out the top five team finishers were 23rd-ranked Nebraska finishing in third, 14th-ranked Iowa State in fourth and Missouri finished fifth.
Cowboy junior Rene Carlsen led the team by finishing fifth with a time of 32:53 for the 10 kilometer. Sophmore Chuck Sloan endured, pacing himself in 24th-place until the final 2,000-meter stretch when he came alive to finish in seventh place covering the distance in a time of 32:57.
Three Cowboys stepped up tremendously to complete the scoring. Junior Brian Young finished in 12th-place (33:13) and junior Nathaniel Lane in 19th-place (33:26). Redshirt freshman Scott Gray's performance basically secured his team the victory when he finished in 43rd-place (34:12).
"Scott Gray's performance saved the race for us," said head men's coach Dick Weis.
The Cowboy finishers were completed by senior Erik Framme in 54th-place (34:31) and Habel Churu in 101st-place (35:55).
This season had its up and downs for the Cowboys. They experienced a successful early season with high national rankings only to stuggle a bit mid-season, heading into this weekend on a positive note following a third place Big 12 finish. Through these up and downs, the team stayed strong working together as a team.
"This team does not have the talent as some of our past teams, but they never quit," said Weis. "They are definitely blue collar runners; coming to work everyday giving it 100%." "I am real proud of this team."
The Cowboys will head into Greenville, S.C., Monday Nov. 24, with one goal in mind, bringing a team title back to Stillwater.
Team Scoring
1. Oklahoma State 86, 2. Minnesota 94, 3. Nebraska 101, 4. Iowa State 103, 5. Missouri 121 , 6. Iowa 137, 7. Northern Iowa 186, 8. Illinois State 231, 9. Kansas 260, 10. Illinois 269, 11. Tulsa 295, 12. Loyola 303, 13. Drake 361, 14. Missouri-K.C., 15. Kansas State 377, 16. Southern Illinois 402, 17. Eastern Illinois 405, 18. S.W. Missouri State 491, 19. DePaul 493, 20. Saint Louis 576, 21. Creighton 589, 21. Illinois-Chicago 589
Individual Finishers
1. Jeroen Broekzitter, Fr. 32:38 Nebraska, 2. Cleophas Boor, Sr. 32:42 Nebraska 3. Saul Lempirikany, Sr. 32:47 Iowa State, 4. Kevin Farrow, Jr. 32:50 Iowa State 5. Rene Carlsen, Jr. 32:53 Oklahoma State, 6. Ricardo Amezcua, Fr. 32:56 Kansas 7. Chuck Sloan, So. 32:57 Oklahoma State, 8. Eric Pierce, So. 32:58 Minnesota 9. David Lichoro, Jr. 33:06 Iowa State, 10. Ray Hughes, Sr. 33:10 Missouri 11. Chad Johnson, Sr. 33:12 Minnesota, 12. Brian Young, Jr. 33:13 Oklahoma State 13. Todd Moroney, Sr. 33:14 Eastern Illinois, 14. Scott McClennan, So. 33:15 Illinois 15. Kyle Kepler, Sr. 33:18 Northern Illinois
