Cross Country | 9/23/2016 10:15:00 AM
ABILENE - The Abilene Christian men's and women's cross country teams return to Stillwater, Okla., Saturday for the 80th-annual Cowboy Jamboree following a one-year absence.
Racing begins at 8 a.m. with the running of the women's college 5K featuring several junior colleges from around the region. The men's college 8K will follow before the university sections take to the course.
The Wildcat women will take on a field composed of Kansas State, Tulsa, Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State among others at 9:15 a.m. in the university 5K. At 9:45 a.m., ACU will run the men's university 8K.
ACU last competed on this difficult course in 2014, and the only remaining runner from the women's team is junior Gabby Thompson. As a freshman, she finished 33rd that morning against a field of six DI schools with a 5K mark of 20:48.97.Â
John Baker, Ryan Clearly and Sterlen Paul all are making their second appearance in Stillwater for the ACU men's team, while senior Reid Rivers will be there for a third time.Â
Paul was the Wildcats' top runner at the 2014 race, completing the 8K course in 28:14.75 followed by second-place Cleary (28:34.90), fourth-place Baker (29:59.93) and fifth-place Rivers (30:12.13).
Last weekend at North Texas' Ken Garland Invitational, the Wildcat men placed fifth of six DI schools, finishing 16 points ahead of TCU, 136-152, and 15 points behind Oklahoma, which scored 121 points.
Paul and sophomore transfer Travis Nichols finished in a virtual tie for 25th place Saturday morning in the collegiate four-mile run as both Wildcats were given a time of 21:11.4 even though Paul was listed ahead of Nichols on the result sheet.
Right behind this duo in 27th place was Cleary, who clocked a 21:15.8 in his season debut. Also cracking the top-40 was Wildcat freshman Drew Cummings, who posted a 33rd-place time of 21:44.8, while Rivers came in 36th at 22:08.5.Â
ACU's women's team had only five entries for the second consecutive week, and as such placed sixth with 159 points despite getting a 17th-place 5K time of 19:7.8 from Thompson. The women's DI race featured 64 competitors and there was an additional 26 runners from the D2 and college levels.Â
Senior Sierra Bennett was the second Wildcat to cross the finish line in 20:14.0 followed by freshman Gema Sanchez (21:04.6), newcomer Natalie Jackson (21:08.4) and ACU multi-athlete Brielle Collette (25:52.5).
Fans can follow the Cowboy Jamboree live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates. Final results will be published on OKState.com along with a recap of OSU's day on the course.
Competing Teams | University Section
Abilene Christian
Baker
Cameron
Friends
Kansas State
Lubbock Christian
Northwestern Oklahoma
Oklahoma Baptist
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma State
Oral Roberts
Our Lady of the Lake
Science & Arts
Southwest – New Mexico
Stephen F. Austin
Texas State
Tulsa
UT-Permian Basin
West Texas A&M
Information from OKState.com was used in this release
