Cross Country Prepares for NCAA Championships

Saturday, November 19

Terre Haute, Ind.

11 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

NCAA Championships

November 17, 2016 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

MEET NOTES

The Basics
The Oklahoma State cross country teams go to Terre Haute, Indiana, to run on one of the most historic courses in the country with national titles on the line.
The Cowgirls finished seventh at the NCAA Championships a season ago, while the Cowboys took 18th.

Follow the Meet
Fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates.
The races will be live streamed on FloTrack, and live results will also be available on the same website.
Final results will be published on www.NCAA.com, as well as www.okstate.com, along with a recap of OSU's day on the course.

Meet Schedule (All Times CT)
The 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships begin at 10 a.m., with the women's 6K, then the men's 10K run will follow at 11 a.m.
An awards ceremony to honor All-Americans and the top-four team finishers from the men's and women's races will promptly follow after results are official.

Last Time Out
With 89 points, OSU's women advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 10th time in school history and the fifth time under coach Dave Smith.
The women's race was tight for the entire 6K, and the Cowgirls advanced to the NCAA Championship by just one point over No. 13 Iowa State. The Cowgirls missed out on a second-straight regional title by seven points to the SEC's surprise team, Missouri.
In just her second race of the season, Kaela Edwards rose to the occasion and led the Cowgirls to their second-straight NCAA appearance with a sixth-place finish in 20:23.0.
She made up six spots with one kilometer to run to claim all-region honors and cross the line as OSU's highest finisher.
Michelle Magnani continued her stellar freshman season with a 13th-place finish and Aurora Dybedokken followed in 14th, running a 20:36.9.
Molly Sughroue (25th) and Savannah Camacho (31st), rounded out the Cowgirl top-five.
For the Cowboys, the road to a sixth-straight title was as difficult as ever, with some of the top runners in the country lining up alongside them. However, the task was not too large for the Big 12 champions.
Continuing a theme this year, the race opened with a slow pace through the first 4,000 meters as 56 runners were all within three seconds of each other, including the Cowboys' top-five.
Josh Thompson, Hassan Abdi and Sylvester Barus ran in the top-15 through the middle of the race before the pace quickened and the trio cemented the OSU win by finishing second, fourth and 15th, respectively.
Five Cowboys claimed top-25 finishes with Christian Liddell (20th) and Anthoney Armstrong (23rd) completing OSU's top-five. The Pokes scored 64 and topped Tulsa by 25 points.

Coach Dave Smith - Meet Comments
On how last week's performance affects the approach to the NCAA Championships
"It's more of how the whole year stacks up; where we think it puts us and how competitive we can be. The men are probably in the top-15, some place, and the women are not as good as we were last year – I'd say 20-25 would be a good day for us, but they could out-perform that and end up in the top-20."
On working with the quick turnaround
"We don't do a lot. We concentrate more on resting and recovering this time of the year. Resting, recovering and racing, that's about it. This week we'll be very light and just try to get our wheels back under us so we can be ready to go."
On the parity of the NCAA Championships
"We've got the possibility, and many have the possibility, of being in the top-five, if we hit on all cylinders. The teams like Arkansas, Colorado, Syracuse, Northern Arizona and Stanford are the teams in the upper-echelon right now and I think we're not too far behind them. Each of them could end up being 15th as well. I think with those top-15 teams, it's almost like you could put them all in a bag, shake them up and get different outcomes every time. There's a lot of parity, and it's very close from one to 15."
On the team's resolve
"Both teams are doing well, and both teams are really coming on as of late. Josh Thompson, we talked about him being back to where he should be and he almost won the regional. I wish he hadn't run as hard as he did, but he got competitive and it's hard to pull the reigns back when you've got a chance to win. Sylvester was better. He's not quite where he was in September, but he's coming back and hopefully he'll get closer [by the championship]. The other guys ran well, like they have been. Christian, Anthoney and Luis have been solid in the middle all year long, Hassan has been very good up front for us all year, so those four guys kind of maintained where they started and they're running very well. Now, the last piece is just getting Sylvester back to where he was and we have a very, very good team."
OSU Squads in Top-15 Heading into Championship Week
Both of Oklahoma State's cross country squads were rewarded for their impressive outings at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships with boosts in the final United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
The Cowboys, having won their sixth-straight regional title a week ago, jumped one spot to No. 8, and the Cowgirls moved up three spots, after finishing second in the region, to 15.
The Cowboys had five all-Region finishers on their way to the regional crown, and the Cowgirls had four top-25 finishers and scored 89 to outrun Iowa State to an automatic qualifying bid by one point.
Dave Smith's Cowboys have led the Big 12 wire-to-wire this season, as they have been the highest-ranked team in the conference all season. Iowa State's men's team has been the Pokes' closest contender since OU fell out of the rankings early in the season, and the Cyclones grabbed the 23 spot and earned an NCAA bid with a fourth-place finish at the Midwest Regional.
After a couple of weeks on the heels of Iowa State, the Cowgirls have once again taken the top-spot in the conference, topping the 16th-ranked Cyclones by one spot. Baylor came in at 23, and earned an NCAA bid with a second-place finish at the South-Central Regionals.
Just OSU, ISU and Texas will represent the Big 12 at the men's NCAA Championship race, and the Cowgirls, Cyclones and Bears run for the Big 12 at the women's championship.

High Hopes in the Hoosier State
Terre Haute, Indiana, is the self-proclaimed cross country capital of the world, and the Cowboys are hoping that the Gibson Cross Country Course is good to them again as they look to climb back into the top-10.
Under coach Dave Smith, the Cowboys have won three NCAA team titles and two have come at the world-famous Indiana course.
The last time OSU took the course in Terre Haute, the squad finished ninth, but has finished in the top-four and earned a trophy at four of the last five hosted by Indiana State.

A Look Back at the 2015 NCAA Championships
The Cowgirls wrapped their historic 2015 cross country season with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. The men's team also wrapped up its season while finishing in 18th.
OSU picked up its highest finish under coach Dave Smith and nabbed an All-America spot along the way.
Coming into the race, no Cowgirl on the current roster had ever run in a cross country championship race. Ingeborg Loevnes and Natalie Baker led the Cowgirls once again finishing 35th and 41st respectively. Loevnes' 20:23.2 earned the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and her first All-America honor. Kaela Edwards, Anna Boyert, Molly Sughroue, Aurora Dybedokken and Abbie Hetherington finished 70th, 121st, 122nd, 203rd and 218th respectively.
The Cowgirls combined for 274, which was good enough for their second-highest finish in school history. At the 2K mark, OSU wasn't even in the top-10 conversation as they sat in 21st and Baker led them in 102nd. But the race was just beginning for the Cowgirls who quickly jumped into the top-10 with just over a mile to run. Baker went on to finish just two-tenths of a second behind the final All-America spot.
The men's team saw an impressive streak snap as they fell short of a top-10 finish for the first time in over a decade. The Cowboys came into the day ranked fourth nationally and were the No. 1 ranked team in the Midwest region for 39 consecutive weeks.
Craig Nowak, who finished 16th at the 2014 Championships in Terre Haute, gave the Cowboys a 52nd place finish in his last cross country race for OSU. His time of 30:34.6 led the Cowboys, who scored 450 to take 18th place.
Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Josh Thompson provided key depth in the Cowboy roster this season and pulled out a 101st place finish in 30:59.0 in his first D1 cross country season. Cerake Geberkidane's sophomore year ended with a 125th place finish, which tops his result last season by one spot. 1,500-meter champion Chad Noelle grabbed a 116th place finish and Brian Gohlke, one of three Cowboys on the course today with cross country championships experience, crossed the line in 31:35.5, good enough for 169th place.