STILLWATER, Okla. – Ole Miss men’s and women’s cross country will face stiff competition at one of the marquee meets of the season at the 84th running of the Cowboy Jamboree, hosted by Oklahoma State this Saturday morning. This will be a preview of the national championship course, as the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships will return to Stillwater on Nov. 19.
The Rebels will run alongside a total of 28 nationally ranked teams in combined men’s and women’s competition, with the No. 17 Ole Miss women among 12 ranked squads in the 6K and the No. 24 Rebel men among 16 such teams in the 8K race. The top-end of those nationally ranked schools provide a powerful punch for this early-season contest, with six top-10 teams in women’s competition and eight top-10 teams on the men’s side – including the top six and the defending men’s national champions, No. 1 Northern Arizona.
Other ranked teams alongside the No. 17 Rebel women are No. 3 Colorado, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Washington, No. 7 BYU, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 12 Michigan, No. 20 Harvard, No. 22 Northern Arizona, No. 27 Utah Valley and No. 29 Kentucky. Also running are Syracuse and Toledo, which are both receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll.
Aside from the No. 24 Rebel men and the aforementioned No. 1 Northern Arizona, ranked men’s teams running on Saturday morning will be No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 BYU, No. 5 Colorado, No. 6 Tulsa, No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Wake Forest, No. 11 Air Force, No. 15 Harvard, No. 16 Gonzaga, No. 20 Syracuse, No. 21 Princeton, No. 23 Furman and No. 29 Texas, with Kentucky also receiving votes.
The Ole Miss women will kick things off with the 6K race at 7:45 a.m. CT, and will look to keep up the pace after two solid outings to start the season at the Memphis Twilight on Sept. 3 and a perfect team scoring outing at home last week in the SEC Preview on Sept. 16. Leading that 15-point performance last week was senior Ryann Helmers, who is running again this week after being named SEC Women’s Co-Runner of the Week for her winning 6K time of 20:29.2 – currently the top 6K time in the SEC this season.
Junior Loral Winn is also back in action and was one tenth of a second behind Helmers as the runner-up last week at 20:29.3. She was followed in succession by three…
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