The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championship
Men's Cross Country comes one point shy of Big 12 Championship
10.28.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns lose closest finish in conference history by a point
AUSTIN, Texas – It was the closest Big 12 Cross Country Conference Championship in history and it almost went in the favor of the Texas Longhorns.
The men's championship came down to one point as the deciding factor and it was No. 23 Iowa State just edging No. 24 Texas for the title by the score of 40-41. No. 10-ranked Oklahoma State finished in third place with 44 points, snapping the Cowboys' nine-year winning streak.
On the women's side, Texas finished in third place, a four-spot improvement after taking seventh a year ago. The Longhorns were just one point behind runner-up Oklahoma State as Iowa State won its sixth title in seven years.
Finishing in second place by such a close margin was heartbreaking for the Longhorns, but Coach Brad Herbster said his men's team proved what it was capable of against two of the top teams in the nation and should be proud of the effort they showed at Old Settlers Park on Saturday morning.
"We weren't really expected to win, except in our own locker room," Herbster said. "To come out here today, and really challenge for the win is what we wanted to do. We wanted to win."
Herbster added the tightly packed field, especially up front made the race all the more exciting and he knew it would be a battle to the finish to see who would come out with the win.
"It was a really tight race up top. We knew it was going to be that way," Herbster said. "We knew every point was going to matter. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short today, but we are really excited about the effort the men and women gave today."
Freshman Sam Worley finished in third place with a time of 24:12.4 as the top Longhorn. His finish created the drama at the line with Oklahoma State's Luis Martinez also clocking 24:12.4. With Martinez slightly getting the edge on the timing equipment cameras, he was awarded second place, and Worley was third.
All five of the scoring marks for Texas finished in the top 13 with Connor O'Neill, Alex Rogers and John Rice all placing in the top 10. Charles Mills rounded out the big push for the Longhorns in 13th place.
Losing by one point will be something that motivates the Longhorns moving forward this season and into the future with no seniors on the squad this year.
"We've being saying all along that we are a team that can do big things — we've been kind of sold short in rankings the last two months," Worley said. "We knew we had a shot coming into this meet. It didn't quite pan out today but at the end of the day we definitely stepped up. We're a young team and everyone is returning next year, so we're definitely excited for next year."
The one-point difference is the closest finish in Big 12 Cross Country Championship history and only the third time in the league's history that the men's title was decided by single digits. The very first Big 12 Championship in 1996 was decided by four points with Colorado winning, and in 2005 Colorado bested Texas by just eight points.
For the women it was again sophomore Destiny Collins shining. She finished in seventh place to keep her strong season going. She was joined by junior Alex Cruz on the all-conference team with Cruz finishing in 12th place. UT's other scoring marks came from Abby Guidry (19), Meghan Lloyd (22) and Mary Beth Hamilton (30).
The Texas women tallied 90 points to finish in third place, after finishing in seventh last year. Iowa State won with a total of 49 points, and Oklahoma State took second with 89.
Herbster said his women's team rebounded from a poor showing two weeks ago at the Pre-Nationals Invitational and credited his seniors for showing leadership and taking ownership of the direction the team needed to go heading into this week's conference championship.
"Totally different group from what we had (two weeks ago) at Pre-Nationals in terms of mentality, focus, and they were just ready to go," Herbster said. "Hannah Grubb and Mary Beth Hamilton, two seniors who have down a great job leading over the past two weeks, had a meeting with the women. They sat everybody down and said 'Hey, these are the expectations for the women and we have to do better.' Today, they took a good step forward. They looked today like they look in practice every day."
Collins was beaming after the race with her all-conference performance after finishing 55th last year. She said the team came together and performed more to its potential today and hopes to use this as momentum for the regional championships in two weeks.
"It feels so good to be third place. We've worked super hard and have really tried to get it to all come together. We fought really hard out there and lived by our mantra: ready, aim, fire," Collins said. "I think we all knew we were capable of placing high today. I think we did a great job today and will really have to use this momentum in regionals so we qualify for nationals."
The NCAA South Central Regional Championships are slated for Saturday, November 11 in College Station. Texas is familiar with the course as the Longhorns opened their season there this year at the Aggie Opener. The two top teams at the nine regional championships across the country automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. There are then only 13 at-large spots available based on the Kolas point system to create a field of 31 teams.
Big 12 Championship Team Scores
Men
1: Iowa State – 40
2: Texas – 41
3: Oklahoma State – 44
4: Kansas State – 142
5: Texas Tech – 151
6: Baylor – 172
7: Kansas – 189
8: Oklahoma – 194
9: TCU – 295
Women
1: Iowa State – 49
2: Oklahoma State – 89
3: Texas – 90
4: West Virginia – 115
5: Baylor – 117
6: Kansas – 147
7: Oklahoma – 179
8: Texas Tech – 196
9: Kansas State – 206
10: TCU – 238
2017 All-Big 12 Conference Teams
Men: Hassan Abdi (OSU), Luis Martinez (OSU), Sam Worley (UT), Andrew Jordan (ISU), Thomas Pollard (ISU), Dan Curtis (ISU), Connor O'Neill (UT), Alex Rogers (UT), Ryan Smeeton (OSU), John Rice (UT), Stanley Langat (ISU), Devin Meyrer (BU), Charles Mills (UT), Milo Greder (ISU), Noah Gade (OSU)
Women: Sharon Lokedi (KU), Anna West (BU), Lindsey Bradley (BU), Cailie Logue (ISU), Anne Frisbie (ISU), Maggie Drazba (WV), Destiny Collins (UT), Amanda Vestri (ISU), Molly Sughroue (OSU), Belle Wallace (OU), Alaina Schroeder (KU), Alex Cruz (UT), Amy Cashin (WV), Kelly Naumann (ISU), Cheyenne Walden (OSU)
Players Mentioned
