Cowboys Aim For Fourth NCAA Title In Five Years

November 21, 2013 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track

Nov. 21, 2013

STILLWATER -

The Basics

Oklahoma State cross country travels to Terre Haute, Ind., this weekend for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 23.

How to Follow the Meets

There will be a live stream of the race on ncaa.com. Also, fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates. Final results will be published on www.okstate.com

Meet Schedule

The men's 10,000 meter race will start at 10:55 a.m. CT, and the women's 6,000 meter race will follow at 12:10 p.m. CT.

Quoting Coach Dave Smith

On being ranked No. 2 entering the championships:

“At this point, the rankings don't matter very much. We have to go out and prove it on Saturday. That's a good thing. It's an objective process and the best teams get to go.”

On the championships returning to Terre Haute:

“I like Terre Haute. I like the course and we know how to run it. It has tradition and history, too. It's great for coaches and spectators, because you can see most of the race. We can also look back at past years we've been successful there and compare splits. We know where we want people to go, based on the past.”

On keeping the team focused in a race of this magnitude:

“We have a mature team. A lot of these guys are fourth and fifth-year seniors who have been around and know how the process goes. We talk all year about how the championship isn't won by five or seven guys--it takes all of them. Each guy has a job to do. Everyone has to trust each other to do their jobs throughout the year. Every guy going to this meet is preparing to race.”

Last Time Out

Oklahoma State men's cross country, with one of its patented pack-running efforts, captured the 2013 NCAA Midwest Regional Cross Country Championship.

With the 45-57 win over second-place Tulsa, the Cowboys earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

OSU ran comfortably as a pack in the lead group from start to finish of the 10K race, as Tom Farrell (30:36.3), Shadrack Kipchirchir (30:36.6), Craig Nowak (30:36.9), Kirubel Erassa (30:41.3) and Joseph Manilafasha (30:42.5) finished in places 7-11, respectively. The group was separated by a total of 7.2 seconds. On the women's side, Monika Juodeskaite ran the 6K race in 20:34.4 to finish seventh overall. After taking away the finishers who ran on national qualifying teams, Juodeskaite was fourth, meaning she qualified as an individual.

Last Year At the NCAA Championships

OSU men's cross country won the 2012 NCAA title, its third in the last four years.

Just as he did in all of 2012, Girma Mecheso led the Pokes, finishing in fifth place with a time of 29:14.8. That time - his best all season - placed him fourth all-time on OSU's 10,000-meter record list. It was also his best finish ever at the national championships.

Also running his best time of the season was Tom Farrell, who finished in ninth place with 9:26.3. Shadrack Kipchirchir (29:43.0) and Joseph Manilafasha (29:48.8) rounded out the top-25 by finishing in 18th and 24th place, respectively. It was the best individual finish for each runner in their careers at the NCAA Championships. All three were named All-Americans.

Shane Moskowitz and Kirubel Erassa also added to the team score, finishing 53rd and 104th, respectively.

The OSU women finished in 26th as a team, improving on their 30th-place finish in 2011.

The Cowgirls were led by two near All-American performances from Monika Juodeskaite and Natalja Piliusina, who finished 41st and 50th, respectively.

In The Polls

OSU men's cross country remained ranked in the nation's top three for the 42nd-straight week, moving to No. 2 in the nation. The Cowboys have been ranked No. 1 in the Midwest Region in each week since the inception of the USTFCCCA Regional Polls.

Champions In the Classroom

Fourteen Oklahoma State cross country athletes have been named to the Academic All-Big 12 Cross Country Team for their success in the classroom.

OSU's 14 total selections rank second in the conference.

On the men's side, five Cowboys were honored. Leading the way was Taylor Monaghan, who was named for the fourth-consecutive year. Joseph Manilafasha was named for the third time (2010, 2012), Shadrack Kipchirchir and Kevin Colόn were each named for the second time (2012). Neal Smith was honored for the first time.

For the cowgirls, all nine athletes were first-team honorees. Kate Kujawa was named to the team for the fourth-straight year and Natalja Piliusina was honored for the third-straight year. Victoria Hanna and Monika Juodeskaite were both honored for the second-straight year.

Building a Dynasty

Oklahoma State men's cross country has a chance to win its fifth NCAA title this weekend, and the fourth in the last five years. A win on Saturday would also be the 52nd NCAA Championship overall for Oklahoma State athletics.

Best In the Midwest

The Oklahoma State men have won nine of the last 11 Midwest Regional titles, and 12 of the last 17. Seven of the Cowboys' last eight Midwest titles have come while scoring 50 or fewer team points.

Representing the Big 12 Well

Since 2001, on six different occasions the men's Big 12 Champion has gone on to win the NCAA title; Colorado in 2001, 2004 and 2006, and Oklahoma State in 2009, 2010 and 2012. That means the Big 12 Champion has won the national title almost every other year since 2001.