Wildcats Take Quick Trip to Lawrence for Big 12 Championship

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State men's and women's cross country teams begin the postseason with the Big 12 Championship on Friday (October 31) down the road in Lawrence, Kan., at Rim Rock Farm, hosted by Kansas.

The men will start the day at 10 a.m. with the 8k, the women's 6k will follow at 11 a.m. Parking and admission is free and open to the public or the races can be streamed on ESPN+.

Rim Rock Farm is a familiar course to the Wildcats, starting the 2022-24 seasons racing in the Bob Timmons Classic. The course also hosts annual high school races, multiple K-State freshmen having competed in them.

This season the first 15 finishers in both the men's and women's races will be considered for the All-Big 12 team. Last year, in the first season with a 16-team conference, the women's team finished 10^th, the men's team in 12^th place. Then-freshman Christine Jerono led the women in 51^st place, her time of 21:10.7.

During the Pre-National Invitational on October 17, the women ran in the first 6k of the season as senior Cecilia Fisher (61^st; 20:40.6) and sophomore Stella Miner (82^nd; 20:56.3) both climbed up the K-State all-time top-25, at no. 8 and no. 13, respectively.

Similarly, sophomore Jackson Esquibel (80^th; 24:26.6) shaved another couple seconds off his 8k personal best to advance one spot to no. 15 in the K-State records.

"Obviously KU, a lot of the kids are really familiar with it. So, I think that's going to play into our favor, I think we can manage a tougher course like that," head coach Kate Bucknam said. "Some kids really thrive on the hunt and others don't, you know, they need more of a tougher course to be able to kind of show their strengths. And so, we'll see how that plays into our favor, kind of going into some tougher, course wise, tougher races."

-- k-statesports.com --

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on the K-State Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.