Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Seek Seventh-Straight Big 12 Title
October 30, 2014 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
Oct. 30, 2014
STILLWATER, Okla.
The Oklahoma State men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Lawrence, Kan., on Saturday to compete in the Big 12 Championships at Rim Rock Farm.
FOLLOW THE MEET
Fans can view results following the conclusion of the race by following @run4okstate on Twitter. Final results will also be posted on www.okstate.com.
MEET SCHEDULE
The Cowgirls will take the starting line for their 6K race at 10 a.m. CT. Following the conclusion of the race, the Cowboys will hit the course for the 8K competition, set to begin at 11 a.m. CT.
LAST TIME OUT - SANTA CLARA BRONCO INVITE
An individual title from Monika Juodeskaite and Shane Moskowitz's second-place finish in his season debut helped the Oklahoma State men's and women's cross country teams sweep both team championships at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Juodeskaite led the women's 6K competition with a mark of 20:01.0, breaking her previous personal best (20:18.20) set at the 2012 NCAA Championships. The senior's individual title also marked her second-consecutive first-place finish after leading the women's portion of the 2014 Cowboy Jamboree.
Behind Juodeskaite, several underclassmen delivered solid efforts despite lacking experience in cross country competition, including true freshmen Aurora Dybedokken (21:09.6), Molly Sughroue (21:18.7) and Kaylee Dodd (21:32.9). Kristine Helle also set a career best with her 15th-place time of 20:53.8, leading the Cowgirls' promising group of underclassmen.
In his first appearance since last year's national championships, Moskowitz recorded a second-place mark of 23:46.9 to lead a pack of four Cowboys in the individual top ten. Craig Nowak (23:49.5), Brian Gohlke (23:52.7) and Vegard Oelstad (24:00.3) finished fourth, sixth and 10th, respectively, guiding the Cowboys to their third meet championship of the year.
Matthew Fayers (24:11.2), Noah Gade (24:17.7) and Justin Vilhauer (24:32.7) rounded out Oklahoma State's first-place squad with respective finishes of 24th, 36th, and 54th.
HEAD COACH Dave Smith - MEET COMMENTS
On preparing for the Big 12 Championships:
"We just have to go out and do what we've done all year. The past doesn't matter, and the future doesn't matter. It's all about this weekend. The guys just have to go out and run hard, run smart and let the chips fall where they may."
On the course's unique structure:
"I don't know if it's relatively fast, but it's very hilly. It's a tough course. It's one of the more challenging courses we run on. There isn't really any special preparation for it, though. You just have to be aerobically fit and ready to go. Our course is tough, too, and most of the running we do is on up-and-down terrain, so it's not that big of a deal. I don't think we'll change much at all."
On the stiff competition faced on the women's side:
"Well, we have go into it thinking we have a chance to win. That's kind of our mindset. It would definitely be an upset, since we're probably the third or fourth-best team in the conference on paper. I think we've got a group of young women right now who are kind of just now learning cross country and are coming into their own, but their eyes are on winning. That's our goal, and that's how we're going to approach it. We're going to go out there and try to win the race."
On the depth of the men's lineup:
"I think we've got our top four or five figured out, but our six to fourteen range is pretty dynamic. It's been changing all year long, and it keeps rotating based on who fits in that top seven. We've got guys like Luis Martinez, Noah Gade, Matthew Fayers, Cerake Geberkidane and Vegard Oelstad, who are all new to our program or had redshirted last year, but have a shot to make it. We've also got some veterans who have paid their dues and are running pretty well, like David Osborn, Brian Gohlke, Justin Vilhauer and guys like that. I have no idea what's going to come out of it, and after Big 12s, we're going to have to sit down and look at which guys are going to run at the regional and national meets. Right now, that's completely up in the air."
EXTENDING HISTORY
Since 2008, the Oklahoma State men's cross country team has captured the most conference championships amongst teams in the six power conferences (ACC, Big East, Pac-12, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12). The Cowboys' six Big 12 titles between 2008 and 2013 outnumber multiple cross country powerhouses, including Wisconsin (5), Arkansas (4), Colorado (3), Syracuse (3) and NC State (2).
A LOOK BACK - 2013 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oklahoma State men's cross country won its sixth-consecutive Big 12 Championship, powered by top-five performances from Kirubel Erassa, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Tom Farrell, in Waco, Texas.
Erassa (2nd), Kipchirchir (3rd) and Farrell (5th) started fast, creating a small lead group in the first kilometer of the 8k race, and never looked back. Brian Gohlke (11th) and Shane Moskowitz (12th) rounded out the Cowboys' impressive team score of 33, which created a 44-point winning margin over second-place Iowa State.
On the women's side, Monika Juodeskaite took third overall to lead the way, and Kristine Helle also delivered a top-20 finish, taking 18th. With less than a kilometer remaining in the 6k race, OSU was sitting in sixth place as a team. That's when Kaela Edwards made her move. In the final 800 meters, she passed at least 20 competitors on her way to finishing 23rd, helping the Cowgirls jump from sixth to third in the team standings.
Players Mentioned
