Cross-country competes in Big 12 championships

This is the second time Missouri has hosted the championship.

By Patrick Hunley

Published Nov. 3, 2009

Freshman Kaitie Vanatta earned All-Big 12 honors, and the Tiger men and women's teams placed eighth and ninth respectively at the Big 12 Cross-Country Championships on Saturday at A.L. Gustin Golf Course.

Vanatta placed 11th overall with a time of 21:48.31. The top 15 finishers in both races earn the All-Big 12 tag. Vanatta is the first Tiger since 2006 and the second freshman woman in school history to receive all-conference honors.

Freshman Bailey Belvis came in second for the Tigers, placing 40th overall, and senior Ellen Ries placed 46th.

The women improved from a last-place finish at the event last year, but Vanatta said the team hoped for a better finish despite racing well.

"It's mixed emotion," Vanatta said. "We're really happy that we ran well. I think we all ran the best that we could today. I think that we wanted to place a little higher, obviously."

The men's team failed to place in the top half for the first time in five years. Junior Dan Quigley finished 29th with a time of 25:51.87. Juniors Phillip King and Michael Pandolfo finished 43rd and 44th respectively, and freshman Max Storms came in 58th place.

"I'm disappointed that we weren't top half," coach Jared Wilmes said. "That's always our goal. I feel like we had a couple of guys who didn't have their best races."

Junior Phil Bascio, normally expected to be the Tigers' No. 4 runner, finished 94th out of 103 runners after losing his shoe about a mile into the race.

Rainfall made the course muddy and forced runners to adjust to avoid puddles.

"You had to try and find the spots where it wasn't muddy, so you had to zigzag across the course, and you also had to try and avoid falling down," King said.

Wilmes partially attributed the men's eighth place finish to the team's lack of experience. The team's only senior, Ben Wade, hasn't run since the Missouri Cross-Country Classic on Sept. 12.

"Any time you're counting on two true freshmen to be your four and five, that's never a good thing," Wilmes said. "I thought they did a good job, but you need some more upperclassmen in this conference. I think it's a good sign for the future that everybody's coming back."

For the second straight year, Oklahoma State won the men's race. The Cowboys, who are ranked No. 4 in the country, claimed the top four spots in the race and finished well ahead of Colorado, the second place finisher and No. 3 ranked team in the country.

"I thought the guys were extremely patient, stuck to our plan, just kind of sat back and waited until the last mile and take command at that point," Oklahoma State coach Dave Smith said. "They did a great job doing it and they ran together. It went exactly how we had hoped it would go."

Texas Tech won the women's race with five runners earning All-Big 12 honors. Colorado senior Jenny Barringer, who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics and holds the American record in the 3000-meter steeplechase, won the race by 40.82 seconds and helped lead the Buffaloes to a second place finish.

It was the second time Missouri played host to the Big 12 Cross-Country Championships in the event's 14-year history.