NCAA Men’s XC — Oklahoma State Strikes Back

EARLYSVILLE, VIRGINIA, November 18 — One year ago, Oklahoma State lost the NCAA Championship to Northern Arizona on a tiebreaker.

Rather than pout over the loss, Cowboys’ coach Dave Smith reloaded by adding three top level newcomers — Denis Kipngetich, Brian Musau, Adisu Guadia — to returnees Alex Maier (5th at last fall’s NCAA XC), Fouad Messaoudi (12th in ’22) and Victor Shitsama (31st in ’22).

“I had been aware of Denis Kipngetich for about a year but didn’t have scholarship money for him. When we did, we opened our recruiting back up and signed him,” said Coach Dave Smith. “I was clued into Brian Musau but he was primarily a middle distance runner. We brought him on as guy we thought could develop into a contributor in cross country over the next couple of years.”

But the Pokes still had to overcome the undefeated Lumberjacks, who were aiming for their fourth straight team title and seventh in the last eight years.

The 31 contending teams sprinted off the start line in front of a sold-out crowd lining the University of Virginia’s Panorama Farms course. Clear skies and temperatures in the low 60s greeted the runners as they charged into the rolling 10,000m course.

The Arkansas Razorbacks led with 47 points when the men’s made the first turn at the kilometer. NAU was just behind at 79 points with Drew Bosley and Nico Young leading the way past the split in a swift 2:29. The Cowboys were third with 187 points.

By the time the field looped back past the start line at 2K, the Lumberjacks had a slight edge over Arkansas, 91 to 95, with Oklahoma State’s point-score dropping to 149.

“We went into the year knowing that to win we would have to beat NAU and NAU is very good at forcing you into difficult decisions from the gun. So we tried to prepare for that by running hard from the gun at the Big 12 championships,” said Coach Dave Smith. “For today we talked about running to win, not running not to lose and that meant being much more aggressive than we typically are. But when I heard we were already down to 149 points at 2K — I was hoping to see more like 200 — I was a little nervous that we might be out over our skis.”

The Cowboys pulled even with NAU by 4K, with both teams scoring 86 points and Oklahoma State’s Musau and Kipngetich…