Edwards, Thompson Earn First-Team All-America Honors

Friday, March 10

College Station, Texas

Oklahoma State University

NCAA Indoor Championships

March 11, 2017 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Oklahoma State seniors Kaela Edwards and Josh Thompson claimed first-team All-America honors in the women's and men's mile, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday in College Station, Texas.

"We had some kids run really well," coach Dave Smith said. "They had some high expectations and maybe came up short of those goals, but I'm proud of their effort."

The Cowboys finished with six points in 30th place and the Cowgirls took 39th with five points.

Edwards opened the day of competition in the women's mile and finished fourth in the hotly contested race.

"For 28 years in-a-row, there has not been a repeat winner in the women's mile," Smith said. "There's a reason for that. It's really tough and it's kind of right in the middle of the 800 and the 3,000, so everyone kind of congregates in the mile."

With her finish and five team points scored at this year's championship meet, Edwards finishes her Cowgirl career with 29 total points at NCAA indoor Championships, a school record.

"She's disappointed, but she's saying, 'now that I've got that out of the way, I can go back to work,'" Smith said. "There was a little bit of pressure, and now I think we can go back to just running hard and running to win."

She is the only Cowgirl to ever earn two All-America honors in two different open events as she finished third and second in the 800-meter run during her freshman and sophomore seasons, and first and fourth in the mile in her junior and senior seasons.

Edwards will leave OSU with four indoor first-team All-America honors and a school-record six Big 12 indoor titles.

She has a chance to add to her All-America tally in the spring as OSU shifts into the outdoor season.

For Thompson, his sixth-place finish in a physical men's mile final was the Cowboy senior's first individual All-America honor and second overall after he anchored the DMR team to a fifth-place finish a year ago.

"It was cool to be with all of those athletes and racing against a 17-time national champion," Thompson said. "It's just great to get that experience and it was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so it was great to be a part of that."

Thompson ran with the three leaders for most of the race, but as the race progressed, he was boxed out and came away with three points and a sixth-place finish.

"It keeps me hungry for more and keeps me humble," Thompson said. "I'm ready to come back with fire and I have some unfinished business with outdoors."

The Cowboy senior finished his Big 12 indoor career undefeated and with four conference titles in just two seasons with OSU.

"He has the philosophy of, 'I'm running to win, and if I don't win, I don't win,'" Smith said. "Running like that might have cost him a little bit, but you can't win a race like this playing it safe. I'm proud of him. He did a great job in a great field."

Thompson is just the fifth man in Oklahoma State history to score in the mile and has the second-fastest time in school history in the event. He was also the anchor-leg on the Cowboy DMR team that set the school record last season. The time is the third-fastest in NCAA history.

Host Texas A&M won the men's team title by just a half-point over SEC rivals Florida, and Oregon ran away with the women's title for the second-straight year and seventh time in eight years.

OSU's indoor season may be over, but the outdoor season opens next weekend in Tulsa where, last year, Megan Honas set the school record in the women's javelin throw.

NCAA Indoor Championships | March 11, 2017 | College Station, Texas

Men's Results

Mile Final
6. Josh Thompson – 4:06.96

Women's Results

Mile Final
4. Kaela Edwards – 4:34.27

Men's Team Standings
1. Texas A&M – 46 pts.
2. Florida – 45.5
3. Oregon – 38
4. Georgia – 35.5
5. Arkansas - 33
6. LSU – 30
7. Virginia Tech – 23.5
8. Alabama - 22
9. Texas - 21
10. Syracuse – 20
…
30. Oklahoma State - 6

Women's Team Standings
1. Oregon – 84
2. Georgia – 51
3. Alabama – 37
4. Southern California – 35
5. Arkansas – 32.5
6. Kentucky – 26
7. Colorado – 21
8. Missouri – 18
8. Miami – 18
10. Penn State – 14
10. Stanford – 14
...
39. Oklahoma State – 5