Tulsa Teams Heading into NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday

Monday, March 15

Stillwater, Okla.

TBA

Tulsa

NCAA Championship

Tulsa Teams Heading into NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday

3/13/2021 8:00:00 AM | Cross Country

MEET NOTES I COACH GULLEY PRESS CONFERENCE

TULSA, Okla. –– The Tulsa cross country teams will race Monday in the 2020 NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships. It's the second straight year that both Golden Hurricane teams will be making appearances at the national event.

The women's 6K race will begin at 11:50 a.m. (CT) and the men's 10K meet will start at 12:40 p.m. (CT) at the OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla. The NCAA meet will air on ESPNU with coverage beginning at 11:30 a.m. (CT).

The Tulsa men, ranked 5^th nationally heading into the meet, are making their 11^th NCAA Championship appearance in school history, all coming in the last 14 seasons. The Hurricane women will be appearing at the national championship for the 4^th time ever, all in the last 12 years.

Tulsa hasn't raced since Feb. 23 when the teams got a preview of the national championship course at the OSU Winter Open.

Both Tulsa teams opened the season by winning the American Athletic Conference Championships. The Hurricane men captured its 11th consecutive conference title, including all seven as a member of the AAC. The Tulsa women hoisted the AAC trophy for the fourth time in Tulsa's seven years as a conference member and for the second consecutive year.

At last year's NCAA meet, Tulsa's men finished in a school-best 5^th place performance with 243 points behind 1^st-place BYU (109), Northern Arizona (163), Colorado (164) and Iowa State (211). The Tulsa women had a school-best 25^th place performance last year as well.

Tulsa's returning male runners Patrick Dever and Peter Lynch placed 11^th and 13^th, respectively at last season's NCAA event to earn All-America honors. The Hurricane also returns four additional runners – Cameron Field, Scott Beattie, Isaac Akers and Reed Sahadevan – from last year's NCAA team.

This season, Dever paced eight Tulsa runners among the top-20 at The American Championship with a first-place 8K time of 23:28.82. In addition to Dever, Tulsa runners finished the conference meet in places No. 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 16 and 23.

Caitlin Klopfer, who finished runner-up at this year league championship, leads the Hurricane women into this NCAA meet. Klopfer was Tulsa's top NCAA performer last season with a 67^th place finish. Caroline Miller, Jenny O'Bryan and Alice Newcombe all raced at last year's NCAA event as well.