TULSA, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma men's and women's cross country teams swept the competition at the Hurricane Festival Saturday morning.
Led by Rob Sorrell and All-American Jessica Eldridge, the Sooner men and women dominated at the Mohawk Park course.
OU scored 24 points to win the men's team title over Oklahoma State (37) and Tulsa (65). The Sooner women tallied 21 points to Tulsa's 35 and Oklahoma State's 79.
"It's difficult to have a comprehensive strategy for the opening race of the cross country season," OU head coach Martin Smith said. "The preseason is so short that you depend on the endurance training the athletes developed on their own during the summer to get them by for a while.
"I just told them to run as fast as they could as far as they could."
Sorrell defended his individual race title, winning Saturday's four-mile run in 19 minutes, 34 seconds (4:54 mile pace). His run was a 49-second improvement over his time from last year, when he became the first OU freshman in over a quarter century to win his debut race.
OU newcomer Tony Clement (19:47) edged Oklahoma State's Brian Gosnell (19:48) for second place. OU sophomore Jon Grey (19:50) was fourth.
Kevin Schwab (19:57) and Matt Grey (20:07) took eighth and ninth to complete OU's scoring.
Eldridge (10:46) completed the women's two-mile run 14 seconds ahead of teammate Catherine Odell (11:00).
Jessica Engel (11:19) and Kelly Waters (11:22) were third and fourth, respectively, as a quartet of Sooner women were first to cross the finish line.