The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championships
Cross Country to compete at Big 12 Championships
10.24.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country
The Longhorns compete at Big 12 Championships in Ames on Friday morning.
AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Texas cross country programs head to Ames, Iowa for Big 12 Conference Championships on Friday morning at the Iowa State Cross Country Course. The gun goes off for the women's 6k championship race at 10 a.m. CT, while the men toe the line for their 8k championship race at 11 a.m. CT. FloTrack will be live streaming the event.
Meet Info | Watch ($) | Men's 8k Map | Women's 6k Map | Live Results
The women are looking to build upon their third-place finish from a season ago, which was their best finish since the 2012 season. The Longhorns have placed in the Top 3 just five times in Big 12 Conference history, with a second-place finish in 2011 being their best ever result at the conference meet.
2017 Women's Results
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)
Individually, junior Destiny Collins has led the way for the Longhorns in 2018. She has paced the way in all four meets for Texas in 2018, winning individual titles at both the Texas Invitational and Rice Invitational to begin the season. She ran a season-best 6k time of 20:30.3 at the Texas A&M Invitational the last time out.
2017 Texas Women's Scorers
7. Destiny Collins (20:23.0)
12. Alex Cruz (20:42.7)
19. Abby Guidry (20:56.4)
22. Meghan Lloyd (21:01.4)
30. Mary Beth Hamilton (21:17.3)
Senior Alex Cruz has finished second to Collins in all four meets for the Longhorns in 2018. She ran a season-best time of 21:09.5 the last time out. Both junior Abby Guidry and senior Meghan Lloyd, who rounded out the Longhorns' Top 4 a season ago will run on Friday. They'll be joined on the course by junior Claudine Blancaflor, senior Gabby Crank, sophomore Marissa Flournoy, junior Olivia Thompson, sophomore Madeline Vondra and senior Jordan Welborn.
On the men's side, the Longhorns are looking to improve on their narrow second-place finish from a season ago at Big 12 Championships, when they fell just one point shy to this year's host, Iowa State. UT has finished in the Top 3 six of the last seven years at the conference meet. Last year's result ended a run of nine consecutive titles for Oklahoma State, dating back every season to 2008.
2017 Men's Results
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)
Individually, four of the Longhorns top five runners from last season's Big 12 Championships will compete, as well as five of their top eight. After a third-place finish a season ago, sophomore Sam Worley is back for the Longhorns. He ran a season-best 24:16.1 in the 8k at the Nuttycombe Invitational to open his season. Senior Alex Rogers paced UT last time out at the Texas A&M Invitational with a seventh-place individual finish. Last season, John Rice finished 10th and Charles Mills finished 13th.
2017 Texas Men's Scorers
3. Sam Worley (24:12.4)
7. Connor O'Neill (24:17.0)
8. Alex Rogers (24:17.1)
10. John Rice (24:18.6)
13. Charles Mills (24:25.6)
Sophomore Garek Bielaczyc, freshman Brendan Hebert, sophomore Jake Johnson and senior Pedro Nasta will also run for the Longhorns Friday at Big 12 Championships.
THEY SAID IT
"Our biggest goal is to go in and have our most complete race as a team that we've had all year. I think our training is going really well, I think we're progressing as a team. We've still got a few more weeks before Nationals but this is a really good measuring stick. We're going in to compete and see where we are right now in the third quarter of the season."
-Pete Watson, Men's Cross Country Coach
"I'm really excited, it's my first Big 12 Championship that I'll get to experience. As a team, we're hoping to build on what we did down at Texas A&M. I'm hoping this sets us up really well for a great Regional competition in a few weeks."
-PattiSue Plumer, Women's Cross Country Coach
Players Mentioned
