by SHAWNEE, Okla. – The Oklahoma City University men’s cross country team won its third consecutive Sooner Athletic Conference championship Saturday at Gordon Cooper Technology Center.
The Stars, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, finished 48 points ahead of 14th-ranked Wayland Baptist (Texas) in the 8,000-meter race and earned an automatic bid to the NAIA Championships.
Arya Bahreini, Reno Blum, Chris Ebert, David Mountford, Dylan Smith-Sutton, Michael Vercoe-Curtis and Mackenzie Wahpepah-Harris (Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma) of OCU all finished in the top 15 and received all-SAC honors.
“The boys followed my race instructions very well today and are now looking forward to the national championships and defending their national title,” said OCU head coach Conor Holt.
Bahreini, a senior from Edmond, Okla., led OCU, posting a second-place finish with a time of 24 minutes and 38.6 seconds.
Mountford, a junior from Shotton, Wales, and Wahpepah-Harris, a junior out of Norman, Okla., finished fourth and fifth with times of 25:01.8 and 25:11.6, respectively. Vercoe-Curtis, a sophomore from Kelston, Auckland, New Zealand, followed in sixth place with a time of 25:14.6.
Blum, a senior from Tahlequah, Okla., rounded out the top 10 for the Stars with a ninth-place finish at 25:43.9.
Ebert, a freshman from Edmond, Okla., placed 11th with a time of 26:11.3, while Smith-Sutton followed in 13th place with a time of 26:24.0.
Freshmen Jonathan Falcon, of Katy, Texas, and Lucas Harrington, of Columbia, Mo., crossed next for OCU in 23rd and 29th place with times of 26:50.8 and 27:20.4, respectively.
Tyler Wade, a freshman from Piedmont, Okla., and Erick Meza, a freshman from Midlothian, Ill., finished back-to-back at 30th and 31st place.
Kyle Copp, a freshman from Burleson, Texas, placed 35th, while Ryan Hummel, a freshman from Katy, Texas, placed 47th.
Competitors faced temperatures of 61 degrees with a 6 mph wind.
The Stars will compete in the NAIA Championships on Nov. 21 in Charlotte, N.C.
