OSU runs away with NCAA cross country title

The Cowboys earned 72 points on Saturday to claim the school's 51st overall NCAA team title.

Tulsa, led by Chris O'Hare's 20th-place finish, came in seventh.

Oklahoma finished in the top 10 for the third consecutive year, placing eighth with 262 points.

Girma Mecheso led the Cowboys, finishing in fifth place with a time of 29:14.8. That time - his best all season - placed him fourth all-time on OSU's 10,000-meter record list. It was also his best finish ever at the national championships.

"I'm really proud of the way the guys ran," said head coach Dave Smith. "I'm thrilled with the way they responded and bounced back from last year. We were second last year and were dejected and left with our heads down. We could have folded up camp and crumbled and not have been a trophy team this year."

Also running his best time of the season, Tom Farrell finished in ninth place with 29:26.3. Shadrack Kipchirchir (29:43.0) and Joseph Manilfasha (29:48.8) rounded out the top 25 by finishing in 18th and 24th place. Kipchirchir and Manilfasha also turned a season-best time. All three runners also earned their best finish at the national championships.

"It went the way we planned," said Kipchirchir. "Dave told us to run together and we did. We stood our ground and we finished well. It was amazing."

By finishing in the top 40, Mecheso, Farrell, Kipchirchir and Manilfasha all earned All-American honors. This is the third time for both Mecheso and Farrell and the first time for Kipchirchir and Manilafasha to be named an All-American.

Tulsa's O'Hare ran the 10K in a personal-best 29:46.4 to score 13 points for the Golden Hurricane, which totaled 247 points as a team. All five TU scorers placed among the top 100 runners at the meet.

Redshirt senior Bill Kogel was the top OU finisher with a 30:19.8 effort to be the 51st runner to cross the finish line. Fellow redshirt senior Patrick Casey followed in 67th place with a time of 30:29.7, while Riley Masters, also a redshirt senior, finished in 30:30.5 for a 73rd place effort.

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2012 NCAA Cross Country Championships

E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park, Louisville, Ky.

Men?s Team Results (Top 10)

1. Oklahoma State (72)
2. Wisconsin (135)
3. Colorado (158)
4. Northern Arizona (191)
5. Florida State (238)
6. BYU (245)
7. Tulsa (247)
8. Oklahoma (262)
9. Texas (291)
10. Arkansas (327)

Top individual results

1, Kennedy Kithuka (Texas Tech), 28:31.3. 2, Stephen Sambu (Arizona), 28:38.6. 3, Lawi Lalang (Arizona), 28:51.8. 4, Anthony Rotich (UTEP), 29:13.5. 5, Girma Mecheso (Oklahoma State), 29:14.8.

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20121118_93_B10_LOUISV934063&rss_lnk=93

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