Wildcats Gain Experience at Big 12 Championship

The K-State men's and women's cross country teams started the postseason on Friday (Nov. 1) with the Big 12 Championship at Cottonwood Golf Course. The Wildcats competed with a younger squad, five freshmen in their first conference race, while also recording new bests.

In the new 16-team conference, the women's team finished 10^thwith 319 points, while the men landed in 12^th place with 328 points. BYU swept the Big 12 women's and men's titles as both teams finished with 41 points. Last time a team swept both races was Oklahoma State in 2022.

Starting the day with the women's 6k, freshman Christine Jerono lead the Wildcats in 51^st place and a new personal best time of 21:10.7, now no. 21 in the K-State all-time top-25. Junior Grace Meyer finished not too far behind in 57^th place at 21:21.7.

The women ran in a tight pack, with freshman Gracie Jacobs (86^th; 22:12.0), junior Cecilia Fisher (91^st; 22:22.2), sophomore Paige Baker (94^th; 22:26.8) and freshman Bree Newport (99^th; 22:32.1) all finishing 20 seconds of each other. Senior Alexa Rios (131^st; 23:43.4) ran in her first conference race since 2022, her second race of the season.

In the men's 8k, senior Tommy Hazen kept rolling, shaving more seconds off his personal best with a 58^th place finish and a time of 24:12.8, now claiming the no. 9 spot in the K-State records. Finishing second for the Wildcats, freshman Jackson Esquibel (77^th; 24:50.4) ran his fastest by 18 seconds while senior Alex Gutierrez (79^th; 24:57.4) finished not far behind.

Fellow freshman Lucas Holdren (92^nd; 25:24.0) shaved seconds off his best time in his first postseason race with sophomore Jacob Norris (97^th; 25:41.2) finishing in the top-100 and senior Matthew Hauser (105^th; 26:18.8) racing in his second meet of the season.

The Wildcats will continue postseason racing with the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday, Nov. 15, racing again this season in Peoria, Ill. at Newman Golf Course.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head Coach Kate Bucknam
On how the teams placed with young squads and tough competition…
"I thought we battled hard. This is a competitive meet and we held our own. I'm really proud of both groups and their mindsets going in- we knew it was going to be tough. Thought the women showed a lot of consistency and keyed off each other well. The men moved well the second half and closed hard. Relatively young squads so a lot of experience gained from today. We're excited to keep building with this group and use this as fuel for Regionals and beyond."

WOMEN'S TEAM FINISHES (6K)
1. BYU, 41 pts
2. West Virginia, 60
3. Utah, 86
4. Oklahoma State, 103
5. Texas Tech, 155
6. Colorado, 165
7. Iowa State, 171
8. Kansas, 230
9. Arizona State, 316
10. K-State, 319
11. Cincinnati, 320
12. UCF, 350
13. Baylor, 363
14. TCU, 371
15. Houston, 391
16. Arizona, 463

K-STATE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (6K)
51. Christine Jerono, 21:10.7 (PR)
58. Grace Meyer, 21:21.7
86. Gracie Jacobs, 22:12.0
91. Cecilia Fisher, 22:22.2
94. Paige Baker, 22:26.8
99. Bree Newport, 22:32.1
131. Alexa Rios, 23:43.4

MEN'S TEAM FINISHES (8K)
1. BYU, 41 pts
2. Oklahoma State, 52
3. Iowa State, 62
4. Texas Tech, 101
5. Colorado, 122
6. TCU, 222
7. Kansas, 223
8. Cincinnati, 234
9. Arizona, 280
10. Houston, 297
11. Arizona State, 318
12. K-State, 328
13. Baylor, 380

K-STATE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (8K)
58. Tommy Hazen, 24:12.8 (PR)
77. Jackson Esquibel, 24:50.4 (PR)
79. Alex Gutierrez, 24:57.4
92. Lucas Holdren, 25:24.0 (PR)
97. Jacob Norris, 25:41.2
105. Matthew Hauser, 26:18.8

-- k-statesports.com --

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Players Mentioned

Paige Baker

Jackson Esquibel

Cecilia Fisher

Alex Gutierrez

Matthew Hauser

Tommy Hazen

Lucas Holdren

Gracie Jacobs

Christine Jerono

Grace Meyer

Bree Newport

Jacob Norris

Alexa Rios