Oklahoma State University Athletics
Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Dave Smith meets with media following program’s sixth NCAA title
November 25, 2025 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Dave Smith met with the media following OSU's dominant win at the NCAA Cross Country Championships this past weekend, the program's fifth title under Smith and sixth overall.
On bouncing back from 2024 season:
"Coming off of last year for the men which was major heartbreak and disappointment for the guys, myself and the program… We went into last year thinking we had the best team in the country and just for a lot of reasons didn't get it done and so this year we talked all year about kind of getting back to the fundamentals doing things the way we've done previously… Not getting ahead of ourselves and really being focused on reminding everybody that most of the men from that team that won in 2023 were still on still on the roster…"
On the 2025 national championship race:
"I thought the race itself played out perfectly… Exactly the way we discussed. We knew we had three guys that could run we thought in the top 15 or so and they ended up all being in the top ten, the top six even… Adisu Guadie had a had a fantastic day, we thought maybe a 25-30th place finish for him would be really good and he ended up 12th… Then we thought Laban and (Ryan) Schoppe could both run about 50th…
On All-American Ryan Schoppe:
The one adjustment that came in the middle of the race, I had Ryan Schoppe sitting back kind of deeper in the field and just waiting as a kind of a safety net… At one point with about 3,000 meters to go, Laban got in trouble and started going backwards pretty fast and I happened to be close to Schoppe and just told him "Hey, I know you're our sixth man right now, but you're going to be our fifth man and we need about 20 points between now and the finish." And he went from 75th to 34th so he picked up 41 spots in the last 3,000 meters So he came through for us… He's done that before; He's anchored us to two national championships in the in the DMR… He anchored the world-record setting team in the DMR… He's done big things before but that might have been, as far as our entire program goes, it might have been his most important performance of his career."
On the team's discipline to follow the race plan:
"Brian (Musau), Denis (Kipngetich) and Fouad (Messaoudi) are three guys who can win the national championship… Two of them have already won NCAA individual titles… To tell them "Look, I know you have a chance to go for the win," and we're talking about NIL, talking about future contracts, we're talking about sponsorships when you graduate… Individual performance is really important for those things, but if we're going to win today, we can't take risks… We can't have someone trying to win and getting in trouble and finishing not top ten, but someplace finishing 25th or 30th… If that happens, we're not going to win… So, I told them you have to play it safe and run conservatively… If you get to the last four or five hundred meters and you can sniff the finish and you think you can win then go for it… But until then, take no risks… Both Fouad and Brian told me when Habtom (Samuel) made his move with about 1,000 meters to go, they thought about going with him… But they both said they might get into trouble if they did so they backed off and made sure they secured the team title first."
On All-American Brian Musau:
"Brian is a character, he's another one of those guys that is not from here, he grew up in Kenya… He wasn't a part of the NCAA and didn't even know what it was until a few years ago… But he is another one of those guys that is totally bought in to what we do. He goes to all the other sporting events, he's got quite a presence on social media, he's got this happy-go-lucky personality you see online which is exactly who he is… That's just him, he's kind of a delightful guy to be around… He shows up when we need him; He's never had a bad day at nationals… He's now run seven straight NCAA championships between cross country, indoor and outdoor and his worst finish is eighth at his first cross country championship, so yeah he's had eight straight top 8 finishes."
On where Brian Musau ranks amongst pantheon of OSU Track & Field athletes:
"Joe Dial, who was a pole vaulter here in the 1980s has the OSU record for the most points scored at the national championships at over 50 points… Then there's Nick Miller, who was a hammer thrower here in the in the early 2010s with the second most… Brian's going to overtake those guys I think… He's close already with two national titles under his belt… I think by the times he leaves OSU, he'll have more All-American finishes, more conference titles and more national titles than any athlete we've ever had…"
On what this championship says about the program:
"When I got here in 2002 and then became the head cross country coach in 2006, I've always had this dream in my mind that I wanted OSU to have more cross country titles than any school in history… At that point we had one… Arkansas has 11, Michigan State has eight, UTEP has seven and now we're at six… 11 is a long way to go, but I hope I can get us to a place where myself or the next person has something to strive for."
On where this national title ranks amongst his five championships:
"I know my first one I remember we won it and I felt nothing but relief… I didn't feel fulfilled, I didn't feel excited, I just remember thinking thank goodness because at that point I had a window with some guys who were graduating and I thought if I don't win this one, we'll never win… With the 2023 one, no coach had ever gone 12 years in between titles, so that one was a great feeling… But this one, I think because of the personalities on this team and what we went through last year, this one feels like an incredibly special one to me and maybe it's because it's recent, but this one feels really good."
For more information on the Cowboys and Cowgirls, continue to check back with okstate.com.
On bouncing back from 2024 season:
"Coming off of last year for the men which was major heartbreak and disappointment for the guys, myself and the program… We went into last year thinking we had the best team in the country and just for a lot of reasons didn't get it done and so this year we talked all year about kind of getting back to the fundamentals doing things the way we've done previously… Not getting ahead of ourselves and really being focused on reminding everybody that most of the men from that team that won in 2023 were still on still on the roster…"
On the 2025 national championship race:
"I thought the race itself played out perfectly… Exactly the way we discussed. We knew we had three guys that could run we thought in the top 15 or so and they ended up all being in the top ten, the top six even… Adisu Guadie had a had a fantastic day, we thought maybe a 25-30th place finish for him would be really good and he ended up 12th… Then we thought Laban and (Ryan) Schoppe could both run about 50th…
On All-American Ryan Schoppe:
The one adjustment that came in the middle of the race, I had Ryan Schoppe sitting back kind of deeper in the field and just waiting as a kind of a safety net… At one point with about 3,000 meters to go, Laban got in trouble and started going backwards pretty fast and I happened to be close to Schoppe and just told him "Hey, I know you're our sixth man right now, but you're going to be our fifth man and we need about 20 points between now and the finish." And he went from 75th to 34th so he picked up 41 spots in the last 3,000 meters So he came through for us… He's done that before; He's anchored us to two national championships in the in the DMR… He anchored the world-record setting team in the DMR… He's done big things before but that might have been, as far as our entire program goes, it might have been his most important performance of his career."
On the team's discipline to follow the race plan:
"Brian (Musau), Denis (Kipngetich) and Fouad (Messaoudi) are three guys who can win the national championship… Two of them have already won NCAA individual titles… To tell them "Look, I know you have a chance to go for the win," and we're talking about NIL, talking about future contracts, we're talking about sponsorships when you graduate… Individual performance is really important for those things, but if we're going to win today, we can't take risks… We can't have someone trying to win and getting in trouble and finishing not top ten, but someplace finishing 25th or 30th… If that happens, we're not going to win… So, I told them you have to play it safe and run conservatively… If you get to the last four or five hundred meters and you can sniff the finish and you think you can win then go for it… But until then, take no risks… Both Fouad and Brian told me when Habtom (Samuel) made his move with about 1,000 meters to go, they thought about going with him… But they both said they might get into trouble if they did so they backed off and made sure they secured the team title first."
On All-American Brian Musau:
"Brian is a character, he's another one of those guys that is not from here, he grew up in Kenya… He wasn't a part of the NCAA and didn't even know what it was until a few years ago… But he is another one of those guys that is totally bought in to what we do. He goes to all the other sporting events, he's got quite a presence on social media, he's got this happy-go-lucky personality you see online which is exactly who he is… That's just him, he's kind of a delightful guy to be around… He shows up when we need him; He's never had a bad day at nationals… He's now run seven straight NCAA championships between cross country, indoor and outdoor and his worst finish is eighth at his first cross country championship, so yeah he's had eight straight top 8 finishes."
On where Brian Musau ranks amongst pantheon of OSU Track & Field athletes:
"Joe Dial, who was a pole vaulter here in the 1980s has the OSU record for the most points scored at the national championships at over 50 points… Then there's Nick Miller, who was a hammer thrower here in the in the early 2010s with the second most… Brian's going to overtake those guys I think… He's close already with two national titles under his belt… I think by the times he leaves OSU, he'll have more All-American finishes, more conference titles and more national titles than any athlete we've ever had…"
On what this championship says about the program:
"When I got here in 2002 and then became the head cross country coach in 2006, I've always had this dream in my mind that I wanted OSU to have more cross country titles than any school in history… At that point we had one… Arkansas has 11, Michigan State has eight, UTEP has seven and now we're at six… 11 is a long way to go, but I hope I can get us to a place where myself or the next person has something to strive for."
On where this national title ranks amongst his five championships:
"I know my first one I remember we won it and I felt nothing but relief… I didn't feel fulfilled, I didn't feel excited, I just remember thinking thank goodness because at that point I had a window with some guys who were graduating and I thought if I don't win this one, we'll never win… With the 2023 one, no coach had ever gone 12 years in between titles, so that one was a great feeling… But this one, I think because of the personalities on this team and what we went through last year, this one feels like an incredibly special one to me and maybe it's because it's recent, but this one feels really good."
For more information on the Cowboys and Cowgirls, continue to check back with okstate.com.
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