The Texas Tech women and Oklahoma State men were
crowned the 2008 Big 12 Cross Country Champions - the first for both
programs. OSU ended the 12-year win streak held by Colorado, becoming
the second men's team to win a Big 12 Cross Country team title.
Meanwhile, TTU is the third women's squad to win the event.
The league championship came full circle as runners gathered at the Iowa State Cross Country Course in Ames,
Iowa - the site of the inaugural event in 1996. Tech's women's team
walked away with the championship scoring 44 points, followed by Baylor
(71), Nebraska (102), Texas (117) and Colorado (145). In the men's
race, Oklahoma State took four top-five finishes and totaled 26 team
points for the win. The second and third place finishers were separated
by one point as Colorado (66) placed ahead of Iowa State (67), followed
by Texas A&M (95) and Missouri (155).
Tech's Kipyego had a record-breaking performance as
she led the women's field for the third consecutive year. She ran an
ISU course record time of 19:45.0 in the 6K, finishing over 50 seconds
ahead of teammate Lillian Badaru who came in second with a time of
20:36.8. Kipyego now owns eight individual titles all-time, and is the
first women's cross country runner to win three consecutive Big 12
individual titles.
It was a close race from start to finish on the men’s
side. However, it was freshman German Fernandez (OSU) who pulled ahead
of the pack clocking a 23:47.4 in the 8K race. Texas A&M's
Shadrack Songok came in second (23:53.1), followed by three additional
Cowboys rounding out the top-five - John Kosgei (24:01.0), Ryan Vail
(24.01.6) and Colby Lowe (24.05.9).
Junior-transfer Badaru and freshman Fernandez were
named the Big 12 Newcomers of the Year - given to the top newcomer
finisher in each race.
