Cowboys Win Seventh Consecutive Jamboree Crown

Saturday, September 24

Stillwater

Oklahoma State University

Cowboy Jamboree

September 24, 2016 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Women's Results Men's Results

Barus wins on OSU debut

Women's Results

Men's Results

STILLWATER – The 80th Cowboy Jamboree ended in familiar fashion for the Cowboy cross country team as the squad hoisted the trophy for the seventh-straight year, led by Sylvester Barus' individual crown in his OSU debut, Saturday in Stillwater.

The ninth-ranked Cowboys scored 24 points to top the field, and Barus joined an elite group in OSU history when he crossed the finish line first to give the Pokes their third consecutive individual title, following former Cowboy Kirubel Erassa in 2014 and Cerake Geberkidane's win a season ago.

"Tulsa's No. 1, Luke Traynor, is an All-American and top 20 guy, and Sylvester and Josh Thompson ran with him pretty well. I think we're pretty good up front. We held a couple of guys today. Hassan Abdi and Cerake Geberkidane both sat out. If we had them in there, I think we would have done better."

Barus controlled the race from the gun, jumping into the lead and holding onto it from the first kilometer on, and topping second-place finisher Charles Mathenge of Stephen F. Austin by more than 20 seconds, finishing in 24:33.5.

"It was actually not my plan," Barus said. "I was planning to conserve my energy. The way the course was turning out I was like, 'conserve my energy, but maybe at the middle of the race if you feel like you could, you can run away.' So I was kind of conserving my energy, but I was feeling good. That was why I ran away because I know I don't have a great kick."

The Nevada native Thompson was the second-highest finisher in orange, taking fourth, and Christian Liddell and Luis Martinez also finished in the top-10, claiming sixth and eighth overall, respectively. Anthoney Armstrong capped off the top-five for the Cowboys with a time good enough for 12th.

"Obviously, I don't want Sylvester to run slower, but I want everyone to run faster," Smith said. "So we'll be looking at our one to five gap and saying, 'can we close that down to 35 or 40 seconds by the time we get to Penn State?' If that's the case, we'll be where we need to be. We just have to close that gap down a little bit."

The No. 8 Cowgirls saw their Jamboree win-streak stop at six-straight, Saturday, but the OSU women claimed second without NCAA champion Kaela Edwards on the course, and several Cowgirls running unattached.

"On the women's side, there was maybe a little tactical error on my part," Smith said. "I had the women go out very conservatively, a little afraid of the heat. They did that and didn't ever catch back up. I think we made up ground but didn't move up like we had hoped to."

Savannah Camacho picked up where she left off at the Cowboy Preview with an eighth-place finish in the 5K race.

Michelle Magnani ran unattached in the race and took second overall. Her performance garnered praise from Smith and Camacho, and potentially earned the Cowgirl freshman a spot on the team for their first road trip in three weeks.

"I think she has that determination and drive," Camacho said. "She will put everything she has into a work out - I really admire that girl. She works hard and is unapologetic about it. She just does her thing. I just think that's a really good attitude to have in cross country."

NCAA 5,000-meter runner-up Aurora Dybedokken took 10th and was closely followed by Molly Sughroue in 12th and Cowgirl senior Anna Boyert, who took 13th in her final home race at the OSU Cross Country Course.

"We will improve as we go," Smith said. "It's hard to say where we are exactly, but it was a pretty good day and there was some pretty good effort considering the conditions."

Tulsa's women won the event with a score of 20, and OSU slotted in at No. 2 with 53.

"I think Tulsa is better than people think they are," Smith said. "They ran a really gutsy and competitive race. They put themselves out there, and said come get us and we didn't."

The Cowgirls and Cowboys take another extended break to recuperate and prepare for their final regular season meet at the Penn State Invitational Oct. 14 in State College, Pennsylvania.

Cowboy Jamboree | Sept. 24, 2016 | Stillwater, Okla.

Men's Results
1. Sylvester Barus 24:33.5
4. Josh Thompson 25:18.0
6. Christian Liddell 25.30.0
8. Luis Martinez 25:48.7
12. Anthoney Armstrong 26:17.8
30. Matthew Fayers 27.03.2
34. Brigham Hedges 27:08.9
43. Sukhi Khosla 27:41.3
45. Noah Gade 27:46.5

Women's Results

8. Savannah Camacho 18:39
10. Aurora Dybedokken 18:39.7
12. Molly Sughroue 18.42.4
13. Anna Boyert 18:43.3
20. Kaylee Dodd 19:13.1
21. Gintare Zenkeviciute 19:14.4
22. Jennifer Celis 19:15.1
26. Kaytlyn Larson 19:24.5
27. Natalie Baker 19:24.6
33. Emily Helms 19:45.5
48. Clara Nichols 20:26.1
50. Anna Gunter 20:34.6
51. Kami Hankins 20:42.1
53. Bailey Sutherlin 20:57
55. Carly Flinn 21:04.6
58. Danielle Coleman 21:17.6
61. Stephanie Ferrante 21:46.8
67. Kaylee Oyler 22:42.3
68. Hannah Harris 22:47.5
71. Jillian Hagen 23:12.9
72. Kaci McCary 23:23
74. Anna Hurlbut 23:28.6
77. Cheyenne Allison 26:28.1
80. Darby Crynes 28:16.9
81. Briana Strahorn 30:02.4