The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Cross Country Championships
Men's Cross Country finishes 26th at NCAA Championship
11.22.2014 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns make sixth straight trip to final meet
TERRE HAUTE, Indiana – Cross country season came to an end on Saturday as the Texas Longhorns men's team finished in 26th place at the NCAA Championships. Texas reached the championship race for the sixth straight year, this season with a mix of four seniors, a junior and two freshmen.
Senior Craig Lutz came into the race eyeing a top 10 finish, individually, after taking 15th last season.
Instead, Lutz finished 51st due to a tumble he took approximately 4,000 meters into the race. With Lutz near the front of a large and tightly packed lead group, he was jostled and fell down momentarily. That fall was enough to drop him back of the lead pack.
"It was really disappointing Lutz went down, but he got up and finished 51st," Coach Brad Herbster said. "Was is what he wanted? No. But he didn't quit. He very easily could have thrown in the towel, and just said it's not my day, but he kept fighting. That's extremely important."
The rest of the Longhorns got caught behind the lead group in another bunched pack early on and were unable to move their way up enough to push Texas into the top 25. Herbster was pleased with how they did overcome some of that early deficit, however.
"The guys in general just got out slow," Herbster said. "Here you have got to put yourself in the mix. It wasn't what we wanted at all today. The good news is the guys could have easily finished 31st and instead they finished 26th."
Despite the finish in 26th place, Herbster said it was still a successful season for Texas as only 31 teams qualify for the championship meet each year. To see his team battle the tight packs and overcome a poor start, he was pleased.
"They just kept fighting all the way through. Not a great performance, but they fought. That's the one thing we can take away from this. They kept moving up, but it just wasn't the Longhorns' day today. We're the No. 26 team in the country, but we're a lot better than that. But we weren't able to show it today."
Colorado was able to successfully defend its men's title on Saturday winning with 65 points. Oklahoma State also represented the Big 12 Conference on the men's side and finished ninth.
Michigan State claimed the women's title, winning the 6,000-meter race with 85 points. Iowa State finished second with 147 points to give the Big 12 a top 10 team for both the men and women. Baylor's women finished 19th.
NCAA Men's Championship – Top 10 Teams
1: Colorado, 65
2: Stanford, 98
3: Portland, 175
4: Northern Arizona, 188
5: Syracuse, 206
6: Oregon, 221
7: Villanova, 230
8: Iona, 270
9: Oklahoma State, 296
10: Wisconsin, 335
26: Texas, 615
Texas Individuals
51: Craig Lutz, 31:05.4
142: Mark Pinales, 31:53.4
172: Eduardo Rodriguez, 32:08.8
176: Will Nation, 32:10.9
191: Brady Turnbull, 32:28.3
222: Connor Hendrickson, 32:59.8
230: Jacob Pickle, 33:19.9
Players Mentioned
