Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys have Eye on Individual Titles
May 23, 2003 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
Results on the Internet Results for the NCAA Outdoor Championships will be posted on the Internet (www.okstate.com and http://www.broncosports.com/championships/results.asp). Hopefully the NCAA site will be updated within one hour after the completion of the event.
Lane, Sloan win Big 12 titles, Cowboys finish 11th Nathaniel Lane continued his dominance of the Big 12 in the 10,000m race and Chuck Sloan completed his repeat bid as the Big 12 champion in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships on May 21-23. Lane finished his race in 32:01.99 for the first-place finish. He had a comfortable lead when he crossed the finish line, one that he had maintained throughout most of the last part of the race. Sloan needed a last-minute push to pull off the win in 8:57.14, as Colorado's Tom Reese finished second in 8:57.33.
Lane almost won another Big 12 title, but finished the 5,000m race in second place with a time of 14:25.80. Colorado's Ron Roybal won the event in a time of 14:23.13. Andrew Hennessy finished third in the 1,500m run with a time of 3:48.14. The Cowboys' 41 team points were good enough for 11th place, an improvement over last year's 12th-place finish.
School's 3,000m steeplechase record falls Chuck Sloan, a junior from Billings, Mont., shattered the 32-year-old school record in the 3,000m steeplechase just two weeks ago. He set the new record with a time of 8:37.06, breaking the old one of 8:38.20 set by Chris McCubbins at the Pan American Games in 1967. Sloan won the Big 12 steeplechase championship last year in the closest race of the 1998 meet. He came from behind to edge Ray Hughes of Missouri for the title. The race was so close that both runners ended with the same time, 8:52.30, yet Sloan was awarded first after looking at the photo finish. He went on to earn All-American honors in the event.
Sloan gearing up for repeat bid at All-American In just his sophomore year last season, Chuck Sloan won All-America honors in the outdoor 3,000m steeplechase by placing sixth at the national championships. He also is the two-time Big 12 champion in the steeplechase.
In his last meet before this year's conference championships, Sloan set a new school record in the steeplechase while also recording the second-best time in the nation so far. He added to that this year by garnering Big 12 indoor honors in the 3,000m and as a part of the distance medley relay team. Sloan fell short of his goal for All-America honors in the 3,000m as he finished 14th at nationals, but the DMR team finished eighth for All-America honors.
Hennessy making immediate impact on team Senior Andrew Hennessy is making quite an impact during his first and only season as a Cowboy. He won his first four races of the season and then automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 3,000m steeplechase. He is just a second away from qualifying in the 1,500m and the mile. In the mile at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, Hennessy finished just 45-hundredths of a second behind Big 12 champion Kevin McGinn of Kansas.
Lane qualifies for nationals in two events Nathaniel Lane started the outdoor season with a bang as he qualified for the national championships in the 10,000m his first time running it. Lane's time of 29:01.17 at the Stanford Invitational was good enough to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. Lane also provisionally qualified for the 5,000m with a time of 14:07.01, the fourth-best time in the Big 12. While he didn't beat his times at the Big 12 Championships, Lane did win the title in the 10,000m and finished runner-up in the 5,000m race.
Carlsen closing out career strong Like Lane, Ren Carlsen started the season quickly, qualifying for the national championships in the 10,000m during his first race. He ran the event in 29:08.31 at the Stanford Invitational on March 27. Last year Carlsen provisionally qualified for the 10,000m with a time of 29:27.41 at the Penn Relays. During his sophomore year, Carlsen finished runner-up in the 10,000m at the Big 12 meet.
Cowboys land 11 on Big 12 honor roll Late last week, the Big 12 announced its Academic All-Big 12 Team, and the Cowboys were honored by having 11 athletes on the team, including eight on the first team. Andrew Hennessy led the way for the Cowboys, posting a 4.00 for graduate studies in health, physical education and leisure last fall. Nathaniel Lane, Ren Carlsen, Cam Katchuck, Staffan Stegmark, David Greenshields, David Metzger and Chris Nuttle round out the first team. Ben Phillips, Jerry Rainey and Scott Gray were named honorable mention.
OSU signs four freshmen for the 1999-2000 season Oklahoma State's men's track team went from Sweden to England to right here in Oklahoma to sign four athletes for the 1999-2000 season. Twins Bjorn and Johan Bergstrom come from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, where they ran for 10 years under their father and coach, Sven Bergstrom. Each brother has won three national championships while competing in their home country. Gavin Thompson hails from Sharpthorne, West Sussex, England, where he attended Ardingly College. While at Ardingly, he competed in cross country, track and soccer. The lone American is Kevin Connolly from Edmond, Okla. He currently attends high school at Bishop McGuiness. The four athletes will have freshmen eligibility for the upcoming cross country season.
Carlsen, Hennessy, Lane named Academic All-Americans In honor of their outstanding academic achievement during the fall, Cowboys Ren Carlsen, Andrew Hennessy and Nathaniel Lane were named cross country Academic All-Americans. The trio helped lead the cross country team to being named an Academic All-American Team.
Carlsen improved his geography GPA to 3.33 with a 3.60 during the fall. Hennessy recorded a 4.00 for graduate studies in exercise science. Lane earned a 3.66 in the Master's of Business Administration program. Of the 28 athletes on both the cross country and track team last fall, 24 had over a 3.0 grade point average.
DMR finishes eighth, earns All-America honors OSU's distance medley relay team finished eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 9:44.25. The team of Cam Katchuck (400m), Andrew Hennessy (800m), Chuck Sloan (1,600m) and Brian Young (1,200m) went into the NCAA Championships with the fifth best time in the nation.
Cowboys place at indoor nationals The Cowboys sent four athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Indianapolis and walked away with a 56th-place finish. The DMR team finished eighth, and Chuck Sloan, who also competed in the 1,600m portion of the distance medley relay, finished 14th in the 3,000m with a time of 8:06.46.
OSU crowns two Big 12 champions, two runner-ups OSU walked away from Manhattan, Kan., with a couple of Big 12 indoor champions, two runner-up finishes and an eighth-place finish Feb. 20. Chuck Sloan won the 3,000m title, and the distance medley relay team won the championship. Andrew Hennessy finished runner-up in the mile, and Brian Young came up short in defending his 1,000m conference title as he placed second. The Cowboys finished in eighth place, an improvement over last season's 12th-place finish.
Head Coach Dick Weis continuing strong tradition Head Coach Dick Weis is in his 16th season as the Cowboys' track coach and 11th season as their head coach.
In the late 1980s, Weis became only the eighth individual to coach men's track at OSU during its 98-year history. Weis has coached five individuals to All-America honors since taking over the track program duties in 1989. Overall, he has coached 38 individuals to All-America honors since coming to OSU.
Most recently, Weis guided Chuck Sloan to All-America honors in the 3,000m steeplechase last season. From 1995 to '97, he coached Wild, a current graduate assistant, to four All-America honors in track. Wild earned one in the 1,500m (1995), two in the 3,000m (1995-96) and one in the 5,000m (1997).
In the years since he came to Oklahoma State in 1983, Weis has produced some outstanding athletes. He has coached 53 All-Americans, four NCAA Champions, five NCAA runners-up, one world-record holder and one Olympian. Christine McMiken set the world record in the three-mile run with a time of 14:53.80. She also represented her home country of New Zealand by placing ninth in the 10,000m run in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. Weis also has coached 21 individuals to world cross country selections. Before coming to OSU, Weis spent from 1979 to 1982 as the track coach at Missouri. While there, he coached 26 All-Americans, including two-time Big Eight champion Sabrina Dornhoeffer (1982, '83), world-record setter Rosalyn Dunlap in the 600y indoor (1:18.56) and 1984 Los Angeles Olympian Pam Page.
Athletes at the NCAA Championships Ren Carlsen (Sr.; Odense, Denmark; 6'0") Named first-team Academic All-Big 12 ... Named Academic All-American during the 1998 cross country season ... Has met the NCAA Outdoor Championships automatic qualification mark in the 10,000m with a time of 29:08.31 ... Also has provisionally qualified for the national championships in the 5,000m with a time of 14:15.40.
Gitogo Churu (Sr.; Muranga, Kenya; 5'9") Has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 5,000m ... Ran the race in 14:09.18 at the Cardinal Invitational ... Is only 64-hundredths of a second away from provisionally qualifying in the 10,000m ... Ran the event in 29:55.64 at the Penn Relays.
Andrew Hennessy (Sr.; Glastonbury, England; 5'11") Named first-team Academic All-Big 12 with a 4.00 grade point average last fall ... Named Academic All-American during the 1998 cross country season ... Has met the NCAA Outdoor Championships automatic time in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 8:39.71 ... Is a second away from meeting the provisional qualifying mark in the 1,500m.
Nathaniel Lane (Sr.; Cardiff, Great Britain; 5'11") Named first-team Academic All-Big 12 ... Named Academic All-American during the 1998 cross country season ... Has met the NCAA Outdoor Championships automatic qualification mark in the 10,000m with a time of 29:01.17 ... Also has provisionally qualified for the national championships in the 5,000m with a time of 14:07.41 ... Set personal best marks in both events.
Chuck Sloan (Jr.; Billings, Mont.; 5'10") Set the school record in the 3,000m steeplechase with an 8:37.06 performance at the Cardinal Invitational ... Is only 81-hundredths of a second away from provisionally qualifying in the 1,500m run ...Finished the race in 3:45.81 at the Tyson Invitational, just short of the 3:45.00 needed to qualify.
Brian Young (Sr.; Tulsa, Okla.; 6'2") Provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 1,500m ... Ran the event in 3:44.23, the third-best time in the Big 12, at the Cardinal Invitational ... Fell short of repeating his bid as the 1,000m Big 12 Indoor Champion ... Finished the race in second place with a time of 2:26.16, just 86-hundredths of a second behind Kansas' Charlie Gruber.
1999 Year in Review (Indoor) OU All-Comers 12/5 Andrew Hennessy won his section of the 800m. He crossed the line in 1:57.30. Cam Katchuck won his section of the 600-yard dash in 1:14.40. Tony Houchin finished second in the 400m dash with a time of 53.50 seconds, and Chris Nuttle tied for third with Baylor's Jeff DaCunha in 53.90 in Section 1 of the finals.
Wildcat Invitational 1/16 Cam Katchuck, Chuck Sloan, Andrew Hennessy and Brian Young all crossed the line first in their respective events to help the Cowboys' effort. Katchuck ran the 600y in 1:13.70, bettering the second-place finisher, Kansas State's Matt Davis, by 66-hundredths of a seconds. Sloan won the 1,000m in 2:30.00, with seniors Gitogo Churu coming in sixth and Ren Carlsen finishing seventh. Sloan also placed third in the mile run, finishing in 4:13.05. Hennessy paced OSU in a couple of events. The senior won the mile run in 4:11.44, almost a full second ahead of Kansas State's Zach Davies' 4:12.35. Hennessy also led the Cowboys in the 800m, finishing third in 1:57.32. Young led the pack in the 3,000m. His 8:38.10 finish was far ahead his closest opponent, Kansas State's Brian Ismert, who finished the race in 8:50.51. Cowboy freshman Bruce Wright finished in fifth place, with a mark of 9:03.05.
Bank of Fayetteville 1/22 The Cowboys placed four out of the top six runners in the 3,000m. Chuck Sloan won the event in 8:14.31, a full eight seconds ahead of Arkansas' Murray Link's 8:22.71. Nathaniel Lane, Brian Young and Gitogo Churu finished the 3,000m fourth (8:27.59), fifth (8:30.87) and sixth (8:31.64), respectively. Ren Carlsen placed 12th in the event in 8:48.62, with Bruce Wright finishing 15th in 8:52.91. Scott Gray completed the race in 9:12.68, good enough for 21st. Andrew Hennessy gave the Cowboys another top 10 performance in the mile run. His 4:13.93 was good enough for ninth place. Staffan Stegmark finished the race in 11th place with a 4:17.89 mark. Ben Phillips finished 26th in 4:35.25.
OU Classic 1/30 Chuck Sloan and Brian Young beat the Cowboys' season time in the mile run set at the Wildcat Invitational with a 1-2 finish in the event. Sloan finished in 4:10.02 with Young right behind him, crossing the line in 4:11.26. Nathaniel Lane won the second section of the mile with a mark of 4:23.33. Andrew Hennessy placed third overall in the 1,000m with a time of 2:29.05. Cam Katchuck's 1:12.37 in the 600y, good enough for third overall, was the best finish by a Cowboy this season. Bruce Wright won Section 1 of the 3,000m in 8:45.01. Gitogo Churu finished second in the second section and overall with a time of 8:26.62, and Ren Carlsen followed up in fourth in 8:37.19.
Cyclone Classic 2/5-6 In the first day of the meet, Gitogo Churu led the charge for the Cowboys in the 44-athlete field in the 5,000m. He finished 10th in 14:24.24. Nathaniel Lane finished not too far behind Churu in 14:30.40, good enough for 15th place. Ren Carlsen completed the race in 19th with a time of 14:40.02. Bruce Wright placed 27th place in 15:03.50. Scott Gray finished in 15:46.37 for 44th place. Chuck Sloan's 8:02.17 in the 3,000m was good enough for 11th place in the event and a provisional qualifying spot at nationals. Arkansas' Michael Power won the 3,000m with a 7:50.05 performance, nine seconds better than an automatic NCAA bid. Brian Young set a new Cowboy season best in the mile run with a 12th-place, 4:07.72 performance Andrew Hennessy was close behind, finishing 14th in 4:08.65. Cam Katchuck also set a new Cowboy season best in the 400m. He finished 22nd in the event in 49.24.
Big 12 Championships 2/19-20 On the first day, the OSU distance medley relay team finished first in 9:47.53 at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ahearn Fieldhouse. It was the first time this season the team of Chuck Sloan, Brian Young, Andrew Hennessy and Cam Katchuck completed the race. The Cowboys set a Big 12 record in the event. Beside winning the distance relay event, the Cowboys also scored in the 5,000m final. Ren Carlsen finished third in 14:31.18, while Nathaniel Lane finished sixth (14:39.05), Gitogo Churu finished eighth (14:45.21) and Bruce Wright finished 14th (15:01.60). Chuck Sloan set a goal of being a Big 12 Indoor Champion in the 3,000m, and he did it in 8:12.14 on the second day of the championships. Nathaniel Lane finished third in the 3,000m race in 8:18.88. Young was less than a second away from being a repeat champion in the 1,000m. He came in second in 2:26.16 behind Kansas' Charlie Gruber's 2:25.30. Andrew Hennessy came up short in the mile, finishing second in 4:12.84 behind Kansas' Kevin McGinn's 4:12.39. Staffan Stegmark finished the race in 4:15.41, good enough for sixth.
Cyclone Qualifier 2/26 The distance medley relay team of Andrew Hennessy (800m), Cam Katchuck (400m), Chuck Sloan (1,600m) and Brian Young (1,200m) finished the race first in 9:36.67, beating their previous best of 9:47.53 set last weekend at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
NCAA Championships 3/5-6 During the first day of the championships, the distance medley relay team finished eighth in a time of 9:44.25, earning All-American honors as well as one point for the team. Chuck Sloan placed 14th in the 3,000m on the second day. He finished the race in 8:06.46. The team finished the NCAA Championships in 56th place.
1999 Year in Review (Outdoor) Cowboy Duals 3/20 Andrew Hennessy opened up the outdoor season by winning the 800m and the 1,500m in the Cowboy-hosted event. The senior finished first in the 800m in 1:52.73, just 5.6 seconds off setting a new school record and 5.5 seconds from the mark to automatically qualify for the NCAA meet. His time was almost a full second ahead of his closest competitor. Hennessy also completed the 1,500 in 3:51.72. Brian Young finished in third in the 1,500m in 3:52.65. Although he was off his pace from last year's NCAA finish, Sloan still finished almost 17 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher in the 3,000m steeplechase. Sloan paced the race at 9:14.47, with Tulsa's Cary Stidham coming in second at 9:31.17.
Big Bear Invitational 3/27 Chuck Sloan, Brian Young and Ben Phillips finished 1-2-3 in the 1,500m with Bruce Wright coming in 11th, Jerry Rainey placing 12th and Scott Gray finishing 15th. Sloan won the race with a time of 3:55.97. Young finished in 3:57.27 and Phillips came in at 4:04.49. Andrew Hennessy won the 3,000m steeplechase with a mark of 9:11.46, a full 22 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Matt Hagen of Missouri-Rolla. Tony Houchin set a new personal record in the pole vault. He cleared a height of 11 feet, 6.25 inches, breaking his previous record of 10-6.
Stanford Invitational 3/27 In the 10,000m, Nathaniel Lane finished in 11th place with a time of 29:01.17, while Ren Carlsen came in 14th in 29:08.31. The duo surpassed the mark of 29:10.00 needed to reach the NCAA meet June 3-6. Both of the Cowboys set career records during the race. Lane's previous best was 29:47, while Carlsen's was 29:28. Gitogo Churu was just 10 seconds away from provisionally qualifying for nationals with his 34th-place, 30:05.73 finish.
Radio Shack Crossroads Invitational 4/2 Andrew Hennessy won his fourth race of the year and his second in the 800 meter dash. He won the race with a time of 1:52.31. Chuck Sloan won his third race of the season and his second one in the 1,500m. He finished the race in 3:55.19. Gitogo Churu came in third in event in 4:01.97. Sloan also finished seventh in the 800m dash in 1:56.91. For his first win of the season, Churu finished the 5,000m in 15:00.09. Bruce Wright finished the race in 15:41.86, good enough for third.
Hayward Relays 4/10 With a time of 8:48.38 in the 3,000m steeplechase, Chuck Sloan was less than three-tenths of a second behind fourth-place finisher Eric Pierce of Minnesota and half a second behind No. 3 Micah Davis of host-school Oregon. Sloan's time met the standard of 8:54.00 needed to provisionally qualify for the NCAAs. OSU's distance medley relay team also finished fifth at the Hayward Relays. The team of Andrew Hennessy, Cam Katchuck, Staffan Stegmark and Brian Young ran the race in 10:00.30. Oregon won the event in 9:45.82.
John Jacobs 4/10 Gitogo Churu placed sixth overall in the 1,500m. He finished the race in 3:57.74. Ben Phillips won his section of the event, finishing two seconds ahead of his closest competitor. He finished the race in 4:01.73.
Tyson Invitational 4/17-18 Ben Phillips finished the 800 meters in 1:53.22 to win his section of the event. He barely edged out Kansas State's Matt Schmoekel's 1:53.36 for 11th place overall in the preliminaries. David Greenshields finished fourth in the same section with a time of 1:55.18. Brian Young recorded the fastest time of any section in the 1,500m run. His time of 3:50.29 was just ahead of Gary Hamer's 3:50.84. Gitogo Churu finished the 3,000m race in 8:13.83, two full seconds ahead of Wisconsin's Jason Vanderhoof's 8:16.29. Nathaniel Lane finished the race third in 8:19.22, while Ren Carlsen came in sixth in 8:22.75. The 3,000m race is not an NCAA men's event. Chuck Sloan came within a second of provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 1,500m run. He finished the race in seventh with a time of 3:45.81. Andrew Hennessy finished the 1,500m race not too far behind Sloan with a time of 3:46.32, good enough for 10th place.
Penn Relays 4/22-24 Andrew Hennessy won the second section of the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:49.08, reaching the provisionally qualifying mark. Chuck Sloan was just three seconds away for getting an automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Championships in the steeplechase. He finished the race in 8:46.19, good enough for fifth in the first section of the event. Nathaniel Lane ran the 5,000m in 14:07.41, reaching the qualifying mark of 14:10.00. He finished eighth in the event. Lane received an automatic bid in the 10,000m at the Stanford Invitational last month. Ren Carlsen finished the 5,000m race in 14th with a time of 14:15.40. Gitogo Churu finished the 10,000-meter race less than a second shy from provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships. He finished the race in 16th with a time of 29:55.64. He needed a time of 29:55.00 for the provisional mark. The 4xMile relay team finished ninth with a time of 16:51.68. The 4x800m Relay team finished 16th in 7:42.36.
U.S. Collegiate Track and Field Series 5/1 In the mile run, Andrew Hennessy was four seconds off the pace of the winner, Life's Sammy Nyamongo. Hennessy finished the race in 4:04.35, barely missing the 4:03.4 needed to provisionally qualify for nationals. Chuck Sloan crossed the line next, as he finished the race in third with a time of 4:06.55. Brian Young finished the race in sixth in 4:08.79. Ren Carlsen finished the 3,000 meter in 8:17.72, right on the heels of Life's Francis Kirwa, who finished the race in 8:17.52. Nathaniel Lane finished fourth (8:23.51), while Gitogo Churu placed fifth (8:28.07). Bruce Wright crossed the line in seventh (8:42.23). Jerry Rainey was the only Cowboy to compete in the 3,000m steeplechase. He finished the race in 9:43.02.
Cardinal Invitational 5/7 Chuck Sloan won the 3,000m steeplechase and finished the race in 8:37.06, breaking the old school record. Andrew Hennessy crossed the line in third with a time of 8:39.71 in the event. Brian Young finished the 1,500m in 13th with a time of 3:44.23 to provisionally qualify. He needed to finish in under 3:45.00 to receive a provisionally qualifying bid. His time is the 19th-best time in the nation heading into the weekend. Gitogo Churu finished 19th in the 5,000m with a time of 14:09.18 to provisionally qualify. He is the second Cowboy to reach the provisional mark of 14:10.00 in the 5,000m.
1999 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships June 2-5, 1999 Bronco Stadium Boise State University - Boise, Idaho
