Sooner Men's & Women's Cross Country - Starts Sept 1st at OSU

[OUBeliever56A]

The 2023 editions of the Oklahoma Sooner Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams has their first meet of the 2023 season on Friday in Stillwater at the Cowboy Preview. The meet starts at 9 AM.

Here is the announcement article by staff writers about the schedule for the Sooners with both the men and the women participating in each meet.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/8/14 ... 3-schedule

Looking at the rosters, both team shave some rebuilding to do. Here is the roster page link for the Sooners.

https://soonersports.com/sports/cross-c ... oster/2023

Women:

They return 3/4 of the runners that ran in most meets for the Sooners in 2022 but lost 3 runners also.

Erin O'Brien (SOPH) led the way for the Sooners in 2022 with the best times.
Gabi Barrera (JR) was a consistent runner for the Sooners in 2022 as a #3 or #4 runner.
Nicole Clifford (SOPH) was a solid #5 or #6 runner for OU in 2022.
Danielle Rinn (SOPH) ran in the Regional meet in 2022 with a #6 run for OU.

The Sooners lost 3 runners also. Jordyn Kaplan was a consistent #2 or #3 runner for OU in 2022. Madeline Medina was right there with Barrera and Kaplan in the the group of 3 runners. Sierra Williams was the #5 or #6 runner in 2022.

The Sooners have two newcomers to the team as freshman.

Grace Hansen from Kansas City, Kansas
Lily Horvath from Red Rock, Texas.

The Sooners have 8 other runners on the roster who did not compete for the Sooners in 2022. The Sooners surprised some in 2022 as they qualified for Regionals and ran well in the Big 12 Championships finishing 5th in the 6k with a total of 145 points. That was the Sooners best finish in seven years. If the Sooners could find a couple runners to run up there with E. O'Brien the Sooners might be able to challenge for a podium position in the Big 12.

Men:

According to the roster, the Sooners Men return 5 runners of the 7 that competed for Oklahoma in 2022.

Colin Caso (JR) - Caso was consistently in the 2nd spot and a couple of 1st spots for the Sooners in 2022.
Antonio Florcruz (JR) - Florcruz started strongly for the Sooners with a couple of personnel best times in 2022. He was either the 1st or 2nd for the Sooners in 2002
Peter Makuei (SOPH) - Makuei ran in the Big 12 Championships for OU in 2022.
Fernando Morales (SR) - Morales was in a group of Sooners that all ran between 3rd and 6th place for the Sooners.
Logan Seeger (SOPH) - Seeger ran in the Big 12 in the same bunch of Sooners as Morales.

The Sooners lost 3 consistent runners from the 2022 team. Jordan Gledhill ran consistently in the 2nd spot for the Sooners in 2022. Thomas Knepshield ran strongly in the Big 12 Championships and in the top of the group from 3rd to 6th all year. Anass Mghari was in the group of Sooner runners from 3rd to 6th.

Newcomers for the Sooners are:

Sam Boyer (FR) from Rogers, Arkansas
Joshua Cherry ((FR) from Edmond, Oklahoma
Gabe Medina (FR) from West Springfield, Massachusetts
Nicholas Young (Red-SR) from Ontario, Canada

The Sooner Men finished 8th in the Big 12 Championships in 2022. If they could find a couple good runners to run with Florcruz and Caso, they could move up pretty quickly in the Big 12.

Good luck to both teams is 2023 as they try to move up inthe Big 12 rankings.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner Staff writers article about the Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams opening fall meet in Stillwater on Friday.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/1/ ... oy-preview

A 4th place finish is not bad for the men. A 5th place finish for the women is not bad either.