For the third consecutive year, the Oklahoma State men’s cross country team took first at the NCAA Midwest Regional, as the Cowboys placed 10 points ahead of second-place Minnesota Saturday in Peoria, Ill.
“I thought we did great and we ran a very controlled race,” Coach Dave Smith said. “We wanted to run as a group in the top 15 and about 2,000 meters left in the race it was clear we had it under control. They ran together the whole way and crossed the line together. It didn’t matter who finished first.”
The Cowboys finished with 47 points followed by Gophers' 57 points. Iowa State (110 points), Tulsa (125 points) and Oklahoma (149 points) rounded out the top five.
Five Cowboys finished in the top five and all were within 10 seconds of each other. Big 12 Newcomer of the Year David Chirchir finished seventh in the 10,000-meter race with a time of 30:11 and junior Ryan Vail finished eighth with the same time.
Senior David Jankowski placed ninth with a time of 30:12 and sophomore Daniel Watts and junior Matt Barnes-Smith placed 11th and 12th respectively with times of 30:16 and 30:21.
The Cowboys finish the 2007 season at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on November 19th.