OKLAHOMA STATE CROSS COUNTRY NCAA Men’s Cross Country Champions - 1953, 2009, 2010, 2012 Media Relations Contact: Blake Zimmerman | [email protected] | O: 405-744-7714 | C: 918-406-6419 okstate.com | @OSUAthletics | @Run4Okstate | #okstate 2013 Oklahoma State Cross Country Schedule Oklahoma State Cross Country This Week 08/31/13 Hurricane Festival Tulsa, Okla. 76th-Annual Cowboy Jamboree 09/14/13 Bluegrass Invitational Lexington, Ky. Sept. 28, 2013 | Stillwater, Okla. 09/28/13 Cowboy Jamboree Stillwater, Okla. 10/19/13 Pre National Invitational Terre Haute, Ind. 11/02/13 Big 12 Championships Waco, Texas 11/15/13 NCAA Midwest Regional Ames, Iowa 11/23/13 NCAA Championships Terre Haute, Ind. The Basics No. 1 vs. No. 2 Oklahoma State cross country will host the 76th- According to this week’s USTFCCCA Men’s Cross annual Cowboy Jamboree, this Saturday, Sept. 28, at Country Coaches’ Poll, the Jamboree will feature a the OSU Cross Country Course, in Stillwater. monster matchup between the top two men’s squads in This Week’s Meet Entries the country--No. 1 Oklahoma State, and No. 2 Northern How to Follow the Meets Arizona. COWBOY JAMBOREE Fans can come watch the meet in person, as it is free to the public. Men’s Entries (8,000 meter race begins at 9:45 am): Online, fans can follow the action live on Twitter by Last Year At the Cowboy Jamboree Nick Thorp following @run4okstate for updates. Final results will be The Oklahoma State men’s and women’s cross Neal Smith published on www.okstate.com country teams both won their third-straight Cowboy Jamboree. Kevin Colόn Meet Schedule Shadrack Kipchirchir led the way for the No. 2 Cow- Brian Gohlke On Saturday, the women’s JUCO/College division boys, sprinting away with the individual championship. Tom Farrell 5,000 meter race begins at 8:00 a.m., and will be im- Kipchirchir and UTEP’s Anthony Rotich finished the race Taylor Monaghan mediately followed by the men’s JUCO/College 8,000 in a dead heat with Kipchirchir crossing the finish line at Joseph Manilafasha meter race at 8:35 a.m. The women’s university division 24:29.17, .09 seconds ahead of Rotich. TBD - Craig Nowak, Kirubel Erassa, Tommy Casey 5,000 meter race gets started at 9:15 a.m., and the As a team, the Cowboys took five of the top 10 men’s university division 8,000 meter race starts at 9:45 spots. Joseph Manilafasha (24:35.29) finished in third- Women’s Entries (5,000 meter race begins at 9:15 am): a.m. place, crossing the finish line just ahead of teammate Kristine Helle Girma Mecheso (24:42.25). Fabian Clarkson (24:55.42) Natalie Baker Quoting Coach Dave Smith finished in sixth-place, Kirubel Erassa (24:58.42) Kaela Edwards finished in ninth-place and Brian Gohlke (24:59.26) Samantha Nightingale On going up against No. 2 Northern Arizona: rounded out the top 10. Monika Juodeskaite For the Cowgirls, Monika Juodeskaite finished in Ruth-Anne Hadjis “I think it’s good to be tested early and see where third-place with a time of 17:25.71, improving on her Victoria Hanna you are. I’m thrilled that teams like Northern Arizona, 22nd-place finish in 2011. Her time also put her 14th Kate Kujawa Michigan and Furman are coming. Northern Arizona all-time for OSU women in the 5,000-meters. TBD - Ginatre Zenkeviciute has come to the Jamboree several times in the last Kate Kujawa finished in seventh-place with a time of few years--they just decided to take a hiatus last year. 18:07.20. I think it’s good for the sport and our team. It’s good all the way around to have good competition.” Last Time Out THE COMPETITION David Osborn and Samantha Nightingale each On some of the top runners getting to run their first earned sixth place in their respective races to lead the MEN WOMEN race of the year: Oklahoma State cross country teams at the Bluegrass Abilene Christian Ab. Christian Invitational, in Lexington, Ky. Bacone Drury “At this time of the year, it’s hard for our most com- On the men’s side, the Cowboys picked up four Cameron Furman petitive athletes. They’re training very hard without a individual top-10 finishes and took second as a team, chance to really go out there and measure themselves, right behind Eastern Kentucky. Osborn (24:04.71) took Drury Incarnate Word so some of our top guys are really ready to go. They sixth, Chad Noelle (24:11.16) finished right behind him Furman Kentucky want to go out and run well. None of these guys want to in seventh, Brian Gohlke (24:13.92) took ninth and Neal Incarnate Word Midwestern St. lose to anybody.” Smith (24:14.44) finished 10th. All seven Cowboy run- Kentucky Missouri St. ners finished in the top 28. Michigan No. Arizona On what he expects from the women’s team: The Cowgirls started toward the back of the pack, Northern Arizona Ok. Christian but made a late charge to finish fourth as a team. OSU Ok. Christian Oral Roberts “I think the women have been really competitive and earned top-10 finishes from Nightingale (sixth) and Hur- Oklahoma City SW Oklahoma done a great job. I think the races we’ve competed ricane Festival champion Adela Hofmannova (eighth). Oral Roberts Stephen F. Austin in have gone well, considering we haven’t ran a full- The women also landed all seven runners in the top 28. Stephen F. Austin Texas Tech strength team yet. Just like the guys, we have Monika TAMU-Commerce Tx. Wesleyan [Juodeskaite], who is an All-American level athlete and Texas Tech UT-Arlington hasn’t gotten to compete yet. She is going to run ag- UT-Arlington Tulsa gressively this weekend.” MEET NOTES In The Polls Oklahoma State in 2012-13 OSU men’s cross country remained No.1 in the Midwest Region for the 37th-straight USTFCCCA week, and No. 1 in the nation for the sixth-straight week. The Cowboys have been ranked Outdoor Men’s Cross Country No. 1 in the Midwest Region in each week since the inception of the USTFCCCA Regional Team Rankings • NCAA Team Champions Polls. (Week Two) • Big 12 Champions On the women’s side, the Cowgirls are No. 2 in the Midwest Region, and No. 22 in the • USTFCCCA Men’s National Scholar Team of the Year nation. They are the highest-ranked Big 12 team. Men • NCAA Midwest Regional Champions 1 Oklahoma State (11) • Cowboy Jamboree Champions 2013 Season Preview • Chile Pepper Invitational Champions OSU Cross Country doesn’t rebuild, it reloads. OSU is gunning for an unprecedented 2 Northern Arizona (1) • Hurricane Festival Champions fourth national championship in five years and sixth-straight Big 12 title, and they have 3 Colorado • Dave Smith - USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year the personnel to do it. The Cowboys lost some talent from the 2012 NCAA Championship 4 BYU squad, but still return three All-Americans and five returning scorer’s from last year’s cham- • Dave Smith - Big 12 Coach of the Year 5 Arkansas pionships overall, plus a crop of exciting transfers and underclassmen ready to contribute. • Girma Mecheso, Tom Farrell Shadrack Kipchirchir and 6 Tulsa It’s this returning talent that caught the eye of the USTFCCCA voters, who voted OSU Joseph Manilafasha - All-Americans 7 Portland the No. 1 men’s team in the country in their preseason poll. On the women’s side, the Cowgirls could be poised for a breakout season. 8 Wisconsin OSU returns its top-six runners from last season’s 26th-place team finish. All six women 9 Syracuse Men’s Track and Field finished in the top 250, including Monika Juodeskaite (41st) and Natalja Piliusina (50th), 10 Princeton • Eighth Place at NCAA Indoor Championships (Highest who finished in the top 50. 11 Eastern Kentucky team finish since 1984). The Cowgirls will also begin the season nationally ranked. The USTFCCCA poll has the 12 Oregon • Oklahoma State’s 73 points scored at the Big 12 Indoor Cowgirls pegged at No. 21 nationally, and No. 2 in the Midwest Region. The OSU women 13 UCLA Championships was its highest point total at the confer- have yet to win a Big 12 team title, but as the highest ranked team from the conference 14 Iona ence meet during the Big 12 era and the second-highest entering the season, that could change in a hurry. 15 Texas total in school history, trailing only the 79 points scored by the Cowboys at the 1982 Big Eight Championships. Cowboy Names To Know 16 Virginia • Five different runners with an indoor sub-four-minute Cowboy cross country is headlined by three returners, who have combined for six total 17 New Mexico mile, including four doing it in the same race. cross country All-American honors. Here are the athletes and their honors: 18 Indiana • Kirubel Erassa, Girma Mecheso and Tom Farrell 19 Georgetown finished 1-2-3 in the Big 12 Outdoor 5,000 meter final. 20 Stanford • Kirubel Erassa, Girma Mecheso, Kirubel Erassa and Tom Farrell 21 Notre Dame (2010 Cross Country, 2011 Cross Country, 2012 Cross Country) Nick Miller earned All-American honors at the NCAA 22 Florida State Outdoor Championships. 23 Florida Shadrack Kipchirchir (2010 Cross Country, 2012 Cross Country) 24 NC State 25 Providence Women’s Cross Country Joseph Manilafasha • Cowboy Jamboree team champions (2012 Cross Country) Women • Hurricane Festival team champions 1 Providence (11) • Big 12 team runner-up Shane Moskowitz and Kirubel Erassa bring more experience from last year’s NCAA 2 Florida State (1) championships.