The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championships
Longhorns finish 4th, 7th at Big 12 Championships
11.01.2014 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Lutz takes 3rd individually
Results: Men | Women
LAWRENCE, Kansas – With four ranked teams in the field, the No. 29 Texas men's cross country team finished fourth with 84 points at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Led by All-American Craig Lutz in third place the Longhorns held the lead halfway through the race, but six-time defending champion Oklahoma State was able to make a late push to win again.
The Texas women finished seventh with two runners placing in the top 25.
Will Nation and Lutz helped propel Texas into the lead at the 3,000-meter split. Nation held the lead through 2,000 meters overall and three Longhorns were in the top five at the 3k split to put Texas on top.
That lead would disappear at the 4k split as Oklahoma State creeping up the standings with a large pack of Cowboys in the top 15. The standings remained close through 5,000 meters as only three seconds separated first place from 16th in the individual standings.
Cross country coach Brad Herbster said he was happy to see his men's team make that early push to be in contention for the title. At the same time, he was disappointed his Longhorns could not hold on and make a move at the end.
"On the men's side it's mixed emotions. It's good to see some people set up a position to be in the mix. It's a disappointing race to know that we gave away 30 points in the last K," Herbster said. "We were in the mix with the other teams. We were just a little flat at the end. We've got to put in some work to make sure that doesn't happen again."
The cramped standings helped Oklahoma and Iowa State leap frog over Texas at the finish line with Texas placing Eduardo Rodriguez 15th and Mark Pinales 16th.
The top five finishers for Texas all were in the 30 and had 26 points go to the Longhorns' No. 5 spot. That was not enough, however, as Iowa State's No. 5 runner scored 21 points and finished four points ahead of Texas in the standings with 80 points total.
Tight standings and the Longhorns' late slip speak volumes to the quality of teams on the top end of the conference, Herbster said.
"I think it shows the depth of the conference," Herbster said of the men's race. "One of our goals was to keep it under a minute from Lutz to our No. 5, and we were able to do that. But at the end, we've got to really be better at finishing a race. We went from second to fourth over the last 600 meters or so."
On the women's side, Texas was able to run as a group like Herbster wanted to see. Sandie Raines and Katie Ruhala crossed the finish line together in 23rd and 24th place, respectively.
The next three finishers for Texas were all within eight spots of each other to keep the scoring close and keep Kansas from moving ahead on the Jayhawks' home course. The Longhorns finished seventh with 173 points and trailed Kansas State by just 14 points. KU finished eighth with 201 points.
Iowa State won its second straight women's Big 12 title with its top two runners dominating the field.
"It's the best we've run as a group all year so that was encouraging," Herbster said of his women's team. "I thought Katie and Sandie ran nice races. I thought overall the group performed the best we've performed all year, which is what you're looking for at the Big 12 Championship. It's still not exactly where we need to be. We need to make sure we're still moving up in those 3-4-5 spots. It is encouraging to start the championship season off with our best performance of the year, but still a ways to go."
The Longhorns turn their attention to the next stage of the championship season. The NCAA Midwest Regional is set for two weeks from now in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with two automatic spots to the NCAA Championships on the line. Only a few at-large bids are available to the championship meet, so finishing first or second will be the goal for all teams in the field to ensure a spot.
Last year, the Texas men finished second behind Arkansas to qualify for the NCAA meet. The men have qualified for nine of the last 10 NCAA Championships.
2014 Big 12 Championships Team Scores
Men
1: Oklahoma State, 27
2: Oklahoma, 65
3: Iowa State, 80
4: Texas, 84
5: Kansas, 123
6: Baylor, 191
7: Texas Tech, 200
8: Kansas State, 250
9: TCU, 294
Women
1: Iowa State, 29
2: West Virginia, 58
3: Baylor, 70
4: Oklahoma State, 130
5: Oklahoma, 154
6: Kansas State, 159
7: Texas, 173
8: Kansas, 201
9: Texas Tech, 212
10: TCU, 311
Texas Individual Results
3: Craig Lutz, 24:13.5 (3 pts) – All-Big 12
15: Eduardo Rodriguez, 24:41.5 (15) – All-Big 12
16: Mark Pinales, 24:45.0 (16)
26: Brady Turnbull, 24:54.5 (24)
28: Jacob Pickle, 24:55.7 (26)
33: Robert Uhr, 25:09.3
34: Connor Hendrickson, 25:13.0
40: Will Nation, 25:27.8
50: Zach Hamstra, 25:48.2
Women
23: Sandie Raines, 21:21.2 (23 pts)
24: Katie Ruhala, 21:23.6 (24)
39: Katie Burford, 21:43.6 (38)
44: Mary Beth Hamilton, 21:51.8 (43)
46: Alaina Perez, 21:53.4 (45)
47: Connor Ward, 21:54.8
56: Samantha Young, 22:07.3
72: Kendra Melendez, 22:45.6
73: Marissa Pekarek, 22:45.9
76: Kara Zuspan, 23:00.1
Players Mentioned
