The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championship
Cross Country seeks first Big 12 Championship
10.28.2016 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns headed to Lubbock with confidence
Big 12 Cross Country Conference Championship
Sat. Oct. 29
The Rawls Course | Lubbock, Texas
Women 6K @ 10 a.m. | Men 8K @ 11 a.m.
FloTrack Live Stream ($) | Live Results
USTFCCCA Results Wall (online & social media coverage)
Big 12 Conference in USTFCCCA Poll
Men: Oklahoma State (12); Iowa State (13); Texas (RV)
Women: Baylor (12); Iowa State (15); Oklahoma State (18); West Virginia (RV); Texas (RV); Kansas (RV)
AUSTIN, Texas – The eyes of the Texas Cross Country team will be set on winning its first Big 12 Conference title this weekend when the Longhorns take on their conference rivals in Lubbock. Racing at the 21st Big 12 Cross Country Conference Championship starts at 10 a.m. from The Rawls Course where the Longhorns hope to stand on top of the podium.
Cross Country Coach Brad Herbster believes he has runners who can fight for the individual crown while helping push their teammates to strong performances that could lead to a team championship as well.
"On the women's side, I think Sandie [Raines] can do great things. I think Sandie's one of those people who can get in there and compete for a conference title on the individual side. And then on the women's side, we really want to step up and have the best showing we've had all year, kind of do what we did last year at regionals and surprise some people. I think this group of women is really capable of doing that.
"On the men's side, much of the same thing. We've got our goals. We've just got to get out there and execute. Having [Alex] Rogers and [Robert] Uhr lead the men's side, I think we're pretty deep, and I think we are one of the deepest teams in the country. We just have to get out there and show it on Saturday."
This year's conference championship meet will feature three ranked women's teams and two on the men's side. The Longhorn men and women are receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches Poll. Oklahoma State swept the conference championship last season.
The Texas men hope to improve on their third-place finish from a year ago and believe a strong performance at the Penn State National Open is giving them confidence heading into the conference championship. Senior Nate Moore said he and his teammates feel pressure to win but are excited for the opportunity to bring home UT's first Big 12 title in cross country.
"We're a great university, we're a great athletics program, and the fact that we haven't won a title, there's going to be pressure on every team every year," Moore said. "But we try to use that pressure in a positive manner to help us come together and focus and work together as a team to try to achieve that goal."
Mary Beth Hamilton said the women's team also is confident going into this race. They also finished fifth at Penn State and have done a good job of running as a pack all season. It's time to test their abilities against the Big 12 and fight for a championship trophy after a solid showing two weeks ago.
"I think we're going to have our best race yet. It really started to come together at Penn State," Hamilton said. "We got to get Sandie [Raines] together with the squad, which we were excited about, and we fixed a lot of things from Notre Dame. And we just now have a couple last things that we want to tweak, a few more people we're going to throw in there. I think that's really going to move our pack up and I think it's going to be our best race yet."
This year's Big 12 Championship will be live streamed on FloTrack. Fans with a subscription to its FloPro service can watch live from Lubbock. Live results will be provided by DeltaTiming.com.
Fans are also encouraged to follow the action on social media with the USTFCCCA National Results Wall. The USTFCCCA will pull content from the social media accounts of media members and official team accounts from nine different conference championship meets throughout the weekend and compile it all in one convenient location to track all the exciting action. Fans can find the link to the National Results Wall blog at ustfccca.org.
Additional Quotes
Cross Country Coach Brad Herbster
On where the team is at right now: On the women's side, I think we're really good. I think we're definitely a top-25 team in the country, but we have to go out there and execute on race day and prove that we're one of the best teams in the conference but also one of the best teams in the country.
Men's side, same thing. Oklahoma State's done a nice job putting their squad together, but I think we've got some really young guys on this team who can step up and really do some good things. We're looking forward to conference and just racing. It'll be fun.
On what he saw from Oklahoma State at Penn State meet: Well, we have to change some things from Penn State. We can't go out like we did at Penn State. We ran out really fast on both the men and the women, which is partly my fault because for two weeks after Notre Dame I was like, 'We gotta get out, we gotta get out.' So they did that, but it was bad, and they probably went out a little too hard in the hills at mile four for the guys and three for the women. Penn State's a good course.
On the adjustments he plans to make in this race: Just hold the reigns back. With Alex [Rogers] and Robert [Uhr], they should get in the mix, but definitely not be up there leading the race. Just kind of evaluate where you are in the race and whether it goes out in four minutes or six minutes, at the mile you know where you need to be. So we've got to be where we need to be when we need to be there.
On whether sophomore Alex Rogers and junior Robert Uhr are contenders this week: Yeah, I definitely think they are. I think Robert can really surprise some people, as I do Rogers. With Rogers only being a sophomore, much, much, much improved from last year. He was one of two true freshmen in the NCAAs in the 1,500 meters, so I think he's really ready to go. They look great in practice, so they just need to apply that to the race.
Redshirt Junior Robert Uhr
On going after the first Big 12 title in cross country for Texas: It definitely means a lot. We've had a lot of good guys come through, some Olympians, Leo Manzano, some of them, and they haven't been able to get a team title in cross country. It's only been Oklahoma State and Colorado since the Big 12 was formed. I think Oklahoma State has eight in a row, so it'd be nice to take down that streak. It'd mean a lot going on my last year to actually take it from them. We're the underdogs, I guess.
On how the team looks right now: We're actually looking really good. We've had some good races and some bad races. From the first big race at Notre Dame, some people didn't get out hard enough so they got stuck in the back. Some of us did go out hard and some people faded. And so we made a strong effort to go out harder the next race, and so we went out to Penn State and we actually went out way too hard and we faded, but we did better than when we went to Notre Dame going super slow. So now all we have to do is pull it back a little bit from Penn State and we should be really good.
On his improvement this season: So I came off 800-meter training. I do remember last year I was always talking about, 'I'm going to be ready for this day.' I wasn't ready for the first cross country meet, but I was ready for when it counts. So the good thing is I've been progressing slowly. After the first race, not doing as well as I'd like to, I was just going back to, 'It's not this race. I have to go 8,000 meters, not 5,000 meters. And I have to do it in a month and a half, so I have time to train for it.' Just going off that, I really do progress a lot throughout the whole season. I really had faith in my training and being able to make it this far and get where I'd like to be.
Redshirt Senior Nate Moore
On how the team looks: Feeling pretty good. As the season goes on, we get fitter and fitter, obviously more workouts. We had a really good workout together as a team last Friday, and so I know a lot of guys are pretty pumped about that. Goal-wise, we want to be the first team that Texas has that has ever won the Big 12 Championship. Personally, my goal is to be in the top-15 All-Big 12s.
On whether any pressure comes with chasing the team's first Big 12 title: I would say it's more exciting. You always feel a little bit of pressure. That's just something that comes with being at the University of Texas. There are a lot of expectations.
Sophomore Meghan Lloyd
On emotions going into the conference championship: I think we're super excited. Since I've been here at least, this is the best team that we've had going into conference, and we actually have a contending shot, so we're super excited.
On whether the team can upset Iowa State and Oklahoma State: I think if we all have a really good day – our team's really solid, but it would take a lot to get that number one spot. But I think that we can do it if we all pull together.
On the keys to success for this team: I think the key is definitely working together. Together from the gun is one of our goals. If we just stay together and push each other like we do in practice, I know we can do it.
Redshirt Junior Mary Beth Hamilton
On the competition in the Big 12 Championship: We're excited about the field because I feel like there's just a lot of people at the right level for us, and a lot of good competitors that are really going to be fierce competition, but also are people we know we can go up against and on our best day really get up there and just compete hard against them. So we're excited about that.
Players Mentioned
