Dever and Lynch Finish in Top 15 at NCAA Championship

Saturday, November 23

Terre Haute, Ind.

TBA

Tulsa

NCAA Championships

Dever_Patrick&Lynch_PeterNCAACHAMPIONSHIP

Dever and Lynch Finish in Top 15 at NCAA Championship

11/23/2019 3:29:00 PM | Cross Country

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The University of Tulsa men's and women's cross-country teams secured a spot in the Golden Hurricane record book finishing higher than they ever have in the NCAA Cross Country National Championship held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

The men's team finished their final race of the season on a high note capturing 243 points and a fifth-place finish. By securing the fifth place finish the Hurricane write themselves in the Tulsa history books with their highest finish. The previous top finish came in 2012 as Tulsa took home the seventh-place spot.

"I don't think we could be any happier for the Men with their performance. We came in ranked No. 6 and wanted to put ourselves in the hunt for a trophy which is placing in the top four, "Coach Taylor Gulley said," However, we didn't get out very well through 3k. To move from 10th at the 5k mark to 8th at 8k and move all the way to 5th by the finish showed incredible composure and fight."

The women's team also broke the school's record for highest finish by ending up in the 25th spot with 584 points. The previous high for the women's team came in the 2015 NCAA Championship when they secured the 29th place with 646 points.

The Hurricane were paced by juniors Patrick Dever and Peter Lynch. Dever finished with the second best place in school history behind Marc Scott who took home 10th place in the 2015 meet. Dever crossed the finish line at 30:59.4 and was followed immediately by Peter Lynch who ended with a 31:04.3 time. This is the first time that Tulsa has ever had two runners finish in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships.

"School record finish for the team and Peter Lynch (11th) & Patrick Dever (13th) both brought home All-American honors and gave us one of the best 1-2 punches in the country! Great day all around!"

On the women's side, Caitlin Klopfer put in a Tulsa highest finish placing at 67th with a time of 21:02.9. Previously the best finish was held by Rachel Baptista who finished at 69th in 2015.

"Considering it was the 1st time for these ladies to compete at the NCAA Championships, they exceeded our expectations." Head Coach Steve Gulley stated, "Caitlin Klopfer led the way up front and the other ladies got in good positions and ran really tough. First Top 25 finish in school history & hopefully a result we can improve upon moving forward!"

Following Klopfer, finishing at 148 was sophomore Caroline Miller (21:36.6) and at 152 senior Ashley Barnes (21:38.5).

2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships
LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Terre Haute, Ind.
Nov. 23, 2019
Women's Results

Team