Friday's schedule will begin with the women's 6k race at 10 a.m., CT with the men's 8k run starting shortly after at 11 a.m., CT.
K-State will have its hands full this weekend, as the Championships will include some of the best teams in the country, including three nationally-ranked men's teams in No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Iowa State and No. 24 Texas. Iowa State is the three-time defending champion on the men's side, while Oklahoma State snapped the Cyclones' win streak on the women's side last year in Waco, Texas.
"Our mindset is to not get ahead of ourselves by thinking about the outcome of the meet, but rather focusing on the task at hand and giving our very best effort," said head coach Ryun Godfrey about this weekend's conference championship.
Over the last five years, the Wildcats have landed in the top five of the leaderboards twice. The K-State men own both of those spots, as the group corralled a fourth-overall finish in 2017 and fifth-place outing at the 2018. Last season, the men finished in sixth place with 150 points, just three points shy of fifth-place Texas Tech, while the women's team collected an eighth-place finish with 214 points.
Individually, the Wildcats have produced 15 All-Big 12 performers since the conference's inaugural season back in 1996. Most recently, K-State saw one of its current members, sophomore Jaybe Shufelberger, earn a spot on the All-Big 12 Cross Country team in last year's 6k race down in Waco, Texas. Shufelberger busted through the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course to push herself into 14th place at a time of 21:04.9. Her pace moved her into 14th all-time for any K-State women's runner in the 6k race. A newcomer in 2019, Shufelberger became the first freshman since 2003 (Stefanie Murer) to clinch a position on the All-Conference team.
The 2019 Big 12 Championship showcased the next wave of cross country athletes at K-State, as a total of eight freshman will get their chance to compete again as sophomores (Shufelberger, Kerby Depenbusch, Sydney Burton, Hannah Stewart, Hadley Splechter, Jack Moore, Jack Thomas and Cailan Steward).
"The experience of competing at the Big 12's is invaluable," said Godfrey about his underclassman competing on a big stage once again. "The sophomores know what to expect now. We have made good improvements from last year. I'm excited for our prospects this year!"
Last year's conference championship featured solid performances in the middle tier of both races by the Wildcats. The teams hung with their conference counterparts and notched 14 top-60 individual finishes amongst both the men's and women's teams, including nine by the men and five by the women.
The men's team saw a flurry of top-50 outings, as eight Wildcats maintained a good distance from the top runners of the 8k run. Junior Cooper Schroeder returns as the leading catalyst at the Big 12 Championship, as he captured a 29th-place performance in last year's meet. Schroeder paced himself across the finish line at a time of 24:46.8, which would earn himself a spot in K-State's Top-25 8k Results Leaderboard at No. 22 all time.
In addition to Schroeder, the men's team returns five others who finished among the top 50 at last year's Big 12 Championship, including Hadley Spechter (34th/24:59.4), Noah Stevenson (35th/25:02.9), David Lutgen (37th/25:08.4), Kerby Depenbusch (45th/25:20.0) and Jack Thomas (47th/25:26.7).
Aside from Shufelberger's All-Big 12 performance, the women's team returns Cayli Hume (45th/22:37.4), Hannah Stewart (47th/22:44.6), Sydney Burton (59th/23:38.8) and Delaney Kemp (62nd/23:53.9) from the 2019 Championships. The team should also get a boost from the return of Kassidy Johnson, who missed the last year's meet, but earned a 40th place finish at the 2018 Championships with a time of 21:47.9.
K-State recently competed at the OSU Invite, which took place on October 17 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Wildcats posted top-five finishes in both races for the third-straight outing this year, as men's squad used nice performances in the middle of the field to record a spot at fifth in the 8k race. The women's team, led by Shufelberger's top-15 finish in the 6k run (14th/22:00.5), bolted through the OSU Cross Country Course en route to a fourth-place outing amongst the national field.
The men's race included reigning 2019 NCAA National Champion BYU and national runner-up Northern Arizona while the women's meet featured the other Cougars' program, which finished second at the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championship.
Sophomore Kerby Depenbusch delivered another nice outing in the men's 8k run, as he posted a new personal record of 25:00.5, which earned him a spot at 39th place and led all Wildcats on the day.
This will be the third time that the Big 12 Cross Country Championship will take place at Rim Rock Farm. For the previous two conference races in Lawrence, Kansas, K-State competed well and earned top-eight finishes in both races in 2014. Former Wildcat Laura Galvan was named an All-Big 12 recipient for the women's 6k race with her time of 20:54.4, which boosted K-State all the way up the leaderboard to sixth overall.
Results will be made available on www.kstatesports.com and K-State Track & Field and Cross Country social media accounts following the conclusion of Friday's races. Fans and viewers who want to keep up with live updates can also tune into Prime Time Timing, who will be providing live results for both races. Friday's meet will also be taped delayed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The broadcast will be made available later in the day on Friday.
Friday's conference meet will conclude the 2020 cross country season for the Wildcats. The season has been highlighted by three-consecutive top-five finishes for both the K-State men and women.
2019 Big 12 Championship Recap
- K-State Men
- Finished sixth overall in the 8k run at 150 points.
- Three Wildcats placed inside the top 30 for the 8k race.
- Cooper Schroeder's time of 24:46.8 earned him a spot at No. 22 in K-State's All-Time Results for the 8k meet.
- Jackson Schroeder's time of 24:21.2 was the best time at the Big 12 Championship since Matthew Chesang in 2004.
- Five other Wildcats rounded out the top 50 for the men's side
- K-State Women
- The women's squad ended the 6k meet with an eighth-place finish and 214 points.
- Sophomore Jaybe Shufelberger scorched through the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course en route to earning herself a spot on the All-Big 12 Cross Country Team.
- The Topeka, Kansas, native became the first freshman since 2003 to earn All-Big 12 honors and she was also the first Wildcat since Morgan Wedekind in 2015 to notch a position on the conference podium.
- Her time of 21:04.9 boosted her all the way to No. 14 on K-State's All-Time Record Books for the 6k race
- Four runners posted top-80 outings for the 6k run
For the latest on K-State cross country follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook The Link Lonk
October 29, 2020 at 12:05AM
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K-State Closes 2020 Campaign with Big 12 Championship Friday - K-StateSports.com
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