Cross Country Kicks Off Season at Hurricane Invitational

August 30, 2018 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

STILLWATER— The Cowboys and Cowgirls will open their 2018 cross country campaign Saturday morning in Tulsa at the Hurricane Invitational, which will take place at the Mohawk Soccer Complex.

The season-opening event will feature a four-mile race for the men and a two-mile race for the women. The Cowboys will start the race at 9 a.m. and the Cowgirls will go out on the course at 9:30 a.m. The Mohawk Soccer Complex is located at 3500 E 56th St. N., Tulsa, OK 74117.

The field of competition is loaded with familiar foes. Division I powers Tulsa, Arkansas and Oklahoma will all be running in Saturday's meet. Arkansas' men's team came in at No. 15 in the nation when the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches' Poll came out Tuesday and the Razorbacks' women's team was ranked ninth.

Going out on the course for the men's team will be a group of six runners. Two of OSU's three All-Big 12 steeplechasers from last season are running in Owen Krewson and Bryce Quigley. They will join veterans Alec Haines and Sukhi Khosla, who figure to lead the way for the Cowboys.

The women's team will send 16 competitors to Tulsa on Saturday morning. All-Americans Kaylee Dodd and Sinclaire Johnson highlight the Cowgirl entries. Johnson is coming off an outdoor season in which she made it to the NCAA Championships in the 1,500 meters and Dodd is a three-time All-American herself. Big 12 champions Jenny Celis and Ariane Ballner will also provide a veteran presence among the overall young group of Cowgirls.

Oklahoma State Cross Country Ranked in Preseason Coaches' Poll

The Oklahoma State men's cross country team was ranked 25th and the women's cross country squad came in at No. 26 in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason national coaches' poll that was released by the organization Monday.

The Cowboys were ranked second in the Midwest Region preseason rankings on Monday. In this week's national poll, they are the second-best team in the Big 12, trailing only No. 5 Iowa State. The next closest team to OSU is Texas, who is unranked, but received votes.

The Cowgirls, like their male counterparts, were picked as the preseason No. 2 team in the Midwest Region on Monday. The women's squad is also second-best in the Big 12 in this week's national poll, trailing only Iowa State. Texas falls right behind OSU at No. 27. The Longhorns are the only Big 12 team besides Iowa State and Oklahoma State to be ranked.

Quotes from Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Dave Smith

On what he is looking forward to on Saturday

"Well on the women's side we are running basically our entire roster. We're hoping to see good things out of them. For most of them, it's the real test back from the summer. It's also just that: a rust-buster. You can't get too much information, good or bad, from this meet. I think a lot of them are excited to get out there and do something called race rather than just working out all the time and practicing all the time. On the men's side, we're taking the opposite approach. A lot of guys would rather stay here and train some more before they open up. So, we're going to run some young guys, some guys that haven't run in the uniform before. There will be a slimmer roster on the men's side, but everyone that takes the line, we want to see effort out of and running to win."

On training during this week

"Really not much different than we normally do. I think the year for distance runners is long. It starts in August and ends in June. They're racing the entire time, and that's not sustainable, so you've got to approach the races with modified intensity. You can't be peaking and running your maximum effort this early in the season. We'll train right through the meet. We'll approach Saturday like we would if it were here in town."

On the mindset of younger runners

"I think it's big. It's going to be a lot of redshirt freshman. For them, they finally get to put the uniform on, which is why a lot of them came here—to run on our cross country team and compete for titles, so it's exciting. We're only going down the road to Tulsa, but we'll see some good teams there. We'll see Tulsa. We'll see Arkansas. We'll see Oklahoma. These are teams that are awfully good in the NCAA Cross Country ranks. Most of those teams are approaching it the same way we are. They won't be fully loaded when they get there, but the guys that are there will want to run well."

Cowboy Entries

Owen Krewson, Bryce Quigley, Nick Kenville, Garrett Calhoun, Alec Haines and Suhki Khosla

Cowgirl Entries

Moriah Moody, Rachel Norman, Elaina Noll, Ariel Esposito, Bailey Sutherlin, Abbey Thompson, Sarah Johnson, Sinclaire Johnson, Kaylee Dodd, Kami Hankins, Anna Gunter, Ariane Ballner, Morgan Szekely, Grace Baker, Haley Geisler and Jenny Celis