Oklahoma State University Athletics
Two Cowboys Named to Cross Country All-America team
November 28, 2007 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
Oklahoma State junior Ryan Vail and sophomore David Chirchir earned Division I Men's Cross Country All-America honors after both Cowboy runners finished in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships on November 19th. Vail came in eighth and Chirchir finished 15th.
“This is a great thing for both those guys,” coach Dave Smith said. “They had worked extremely hard over the last year to get to this point. It's also a great thing for our program and it shows that we can make it to championships and perform well.”
This accolade follows many this season for Vail and Chirchir including all-Big 12 and all-region honors for both, academic all-Big 12 for Vail and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year for Chirchir.
Four other Big 12 runners made the All-America team including individual champion Brent Vaughn from Colorado.
“The fact that there were six Big 12 runners named to the All-America team speaks highly of the strength of our conference,” Smith said. “Team-wise, the Big 12 is tough and this was a strong year for our conference.”
Colorado was the only other Big 12 school to have two runners named to the men's team. An athlete from Kansas and Texas also made the team. The Big 12 was third only to the Pac-10 and Big East for number of men's cross country All-America team honorees.
