Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gray Leads Cowboys to 10th-Place Finish at NCAA Championships
November 20, 2006 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
The Cowboys finished with a team score of 356, edging out 11th-place BYU which finished with a score of 367. Senior Joe Gray led the way for the Pokes in his final cross country meet at Oklahoma State. The Tacoma, Wash., native finished with a time of 31:59.6 to place 52nd.
“Today we came in with a good mentality,” Gray said. “We've had good training and we have stuck together in our workouts. We had some guys go down during the season, but we stayed tough and stayed strong. We knew all year that we were a top-10 team.”
Redshirt freshman Daniel Watts placed 70th for the Pokes. The Big 12 Newcomer of the Year finished with a time of 31:14.0. OSU juniors David Jankowski and Brian Ehlis finished 100th and 124th, respectively. Jankowski ran a time of 32:37.2 while Ehlis finished with a time of 32:49.7. Sophomore Alejandro Ruiz rounded out the top five for the Cowboys with a time of 33:02.1.
OSU Sophomore Matt Barnes-Smith and senior Michael Breshears finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Breshears lost his shoe in the first 100 meters of the race forcing him to finish with only one shoe.
“The conditions at the course were very muddy and sloppy today,” Cowboy head coach Dave Smith said. “Obviously, that hurts certain runners while other runners perform very well those conditions.
“Jankowski, who has been our number two guy pretty much all year, struggled today because he doesn't run well in that stuff. Watts, on the other hand, finished 70th, which is tremendous for a freshman running at the national meet.”
The 10th-place finish is Oklahoma State's second straight top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships after finishing eighth at last year's national meet. It is the OSU's first season under head coach Dave Smith. Smith has served the last four years under Dick Weis.
“I am proud of the way that our guys ran today,” Cowboy head coach Dave Smith said. “We fought hard and beat some very good teams. I feel like this year's team is better than last year's team. The biggest difference is that we battled injuries all year long this year while last year, we stayed healthy all season.”
“We are definitely improving and I think it says a lot for our team to finish in the top-10 two years in a row. We have had young guys step up for us all year and we are looking at being better and stronger next year.”
Big 12 Champion Colorado captured first-place honors. Wisconsin and Iona finished second and third, respectively. BYU senior Josh Rohatinsky captured top individual honors. He finished with a time of 30:44.9.
