Tulsa Women’s Cross Country Earns Seventh American Title

Friday, November 1

Wichita, Kan.

W: 4:05 p.m. / M: 4:50 p.m.

Tulsa

The American Championships

Tulsa Women’s Cross Country Earns Seventh American Title

11/1/2024 10:37:00 PM | Cross Country

Results

WICHITA, Kan. — After coming short of the podium a year ago, The University of Tulsa women's cross country team put on a brilliant team performance Friday at the American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, earning the Golden Hurricane women their seventh American cross country title, fifth title in the last six years and 10th overall championship in team history.

On the flip side, it was a heartbreaker for the men as Tulsa finished in a first-place tie with Tulane for 33 points, but the first four Green Wave runners had the head-to-head finish over Tulsa's first four harriers, giving Tulane the men's title by tiebreak. The Hurricane men's streak of 10 straight AAC titles and 14 years of consecutive conference championships came to an end by the slimmest margins.

Pacing the TU women was senior Robyn Kowalski of The Woodlands, Texas, who finished fifth overall at 21:00.3. She, along with teammates Ailey Mitchell, who placed sixth in 21:01.7, and Chloe Hershenow, the race's 11th finisher at 21:25.8, all earn all-conference honors for placing among the top-15.

Amy Morefield placed just outside the threshold for all-conference at 16th overall in 21:36.7 with McKenna Terrell rounding out TU's top five runners at the 22:00.8 mark for 25th.

Although Tulane athletes captured the top two spots in the race, it wasn't enough to catch up to the Golden Hurricane as Tulsa finished with 63 points, just three ahead of Tulane's 66 points earning the Green wave second place in team standings. Rice rounded out the podium for third.

"We utilized all 6,000 meters of that race to pull this off," said Director of Track and Cross Country and Women's Head Coach Steve Gulley. "We had some runners really step up in those last 400 meters and found a way for us to win that title. It's one of the best team efforts I've ever seen, and it took a lot of grit from these young ladies hanging in there for the whole race to win."

On the men's side, Tulane harriers also locked up the top two spots in the 8K race. Tulsa and Tulane each had four student-athletes in the top 10 and finished in a deadlock at 33 points. Conference tiebreaker rules dictated that when two teams tie, the head-to-head placers must be compared going down the top-five finishers for both teams. The Green Wave's runners crossed the finish line first, second, fifth, seventh and 18th, beating out Tulsa's third, fourth, sixth, ninth and 11th-place performers in a 4-1 decision that awarded Tulane with the overall men's title.

Leading the way was redshirt senior Chris McLeod in a 24:08.6 finish for third overall with redshirt senior Jaden Forester following in fourth at 24:11.6. Ben Brown, a redshirt freshman in his first AAC Championship, completed the race in 24:20.7, good for sixth place. Rounding out the TU men's top five finishers was last year's conference freshman of the year Charlie Krasnoff (24:33.0) for ninth and redshirt junior Shay McEvoy (24:37.6) for 11th.

Each of Tulsa's top-five runners was named all-conference as well as redshirt freshman James Knockton, who took 15th overall in 24:48.0.

"It's obviously a really tough result to take today," Head Men's Coach Taylor Gulley said. "I thought we did exactly what we had planned through three guys and placed six guys where we had probably hoped, but it ultimately wasn't enough. We lost on a tiebreaker to a team that should be pretty competitive at NCAAs in a few weeks, but anytime you lose on a tiebreaker it hurts. We'll now focus on bouncing back to give ourselves the best shot to make NCAAs."

The Tulsa cross country teams will head to Peoria, Ill., to compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday, Nov. 15.

Team Results
Women's 6K

Tulsa – 63
Tulane – 66
Rice – 72
Charlotte – 79
North Texas – 124
Wichita State – 166
Florida Atlantic – 182
East Carolina – 194
UAB – 248
South Florida – 281
Memphis – 334
UTSA – 373
Temple - 386

Men's 8K

Tulane – 33* (1-2-5-7-18 (29) (41))
Tulsa – 33 (3-4-6-9-11 (15) (16))
Temple – 101
Wichita State – 135
Charlotte – 146
North Texas – 167
East Carolina – 195
Rice – 215
Memphis – 217
UTSA – 293
South Florida – 312
Florida Atlantic – 354

* Winner of Head-to-Head Tiebreaker
Tulane (33) 4 W-W-W-W-L
Tulsa (33) 1 L-L-L-L-W

Top-5 Individuals
Women's 6K
1. Caroline Jeptanui (Tulane) – 20:14.5
2. Blezzin Kimutai (Tulane) – 20:32.7
3. Oliwia Kopec (Rice) – 20:55.3
4. Caroline Perrone (Charlotte) – 20:59.4
5. Robyn Kowalski (Tulsa) – 21:00.3

Men's 8K
1. Bernard Cheruiyot (Tulane) – 23:43.5
2. Jack Jennings (Tulane) – 24:02.3
3. Chris McLeod (Tulsa) – 24:08.6
4. Jaden Forester (Tulsa) – 24:11.7
5. Illia Kunin (Tulane) – 24:17.1

Tulsa All-Conference Honors
Women
Robyn Kowalski
Ailey Mitchell
Chloe Hershenow

Men
Chris McLeod
Jaden Forester
Ben Brown
Charlie Krasnoff
Shay McEvoy
James Knockton

Tulsa Individual Results
Women's 6K
5. Robyn Kowalski – 21:00.3
6. Ailey Mitchell – 21:01.7
11. Chloe Hershenow – 21:25.8
16. Amy Morefield – 21:36.7
25. McKenna Terrell – 22:00.8
28. Sarah Hosey – 22:04.5
30. Alicen Ashley – 22:07.6
34. Matilda Laidlaw – 22:27.5

Men's 8K
3. Chris McLeod - 24:08.6
4. Jaden Forester - 24:11.6
6. Ben Brown - 24:20.7
9. Charlie Krasnoff - 24:33.0
11. Shay McEvoy - 24:37.6
15. James Knockton - 24:48.0
16. Luke Lambert - 24:51.7
38. Luke Birdseye - 25:24.5
43. Sean Korsmo - 25:34.2