8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
THURSDAY,OCTOBER 26,2006
Kansas teams aspire to topple Colorado
Colorado
The Buffaloes look to sweep the men's and women's divisions for an eighth-straight year Friday. The men's team could also win a national title this year after taking first in Pre-Nationals earlier this month. Stephen Pifer, Billy Nelson, Brent Vaughn and James Strang are All-Americans on the men's side along with Liza Pascuito on the women's side. Colorado has yet to lose a men's Big 12 title; the women are 9 for 10.
Kansas
The men's team has experience, led by senior Benson Chesang, who is going for his third-consecutive Big 12 championship. The men are also coming off a very impressive performance at the Pre-National race in Terre Haute, Ind. Juniors Colby Wissel and Paul Hefferon are having standout seasons as the men's team is ranked 19th in the nation.The women's team is young but has some experience to bring to the table. Juniors Lisa Morrisey, Alicia McGregor and Melissa O'Rourke are competing well and cutting down their times.
Texas
Texas will likely have several runners named to the All-Conference team after the race, but the Longhorns will need solid队 production to compete with Colorado and Kansas. During the first three meets of the team's season, the Longhorns had three top-10 finishes. All-American Joe Thorne will lead the charge and look to unseat Benson Chesang of Kansas as the individual champion.
An injured Oklahoma State team will look to its bench to maintain its ranking Friday. The Cowboys are currently ranked No. 22 in the country, and finished eight in Pre-Nationals. The Cowboys will be without senior Ryan Ripley and sophomore Ryan Vail due to injuries, and senior Joe Gray and junior David Jankowski will run despite injuries. After an 18th-place finish in Terre Haute, the 15th-ranked Cowgirls look to challenge the rest of the conference behind senior Mary Davies, who placed 25th at Pre-Nationals.
Oklahoma State
The Cyclones are a long shot to win the Big 12 title, but sophomore Kiel Uhl leads a talented men's team that will battle for second place. The women's team isn't as strong overall but sophomore Lisa Koll could compete for the individual title after running a 20:29 in the 6K at a meet hosted by Arkansas earlier this month. Last year's winning time at the Big 12 Championship was only five
Iowa State
seconds faster.
The Red Raiders will bring the most lopsided team to Lawrence of any of the schools. The women are ranked 21st in the country and are the most credible threat to end the Colorado reign of dominance. The men will likely finish at the bottom of the pack. Their highest-ever Big 12 finish was in 2005, when they finished 10th.
Texas Tech
Missouri
Another middle-tier school in conference competition, the Aggies finished 24th in both the men's and women's divisions at the Pre-Nationals meet. They could be underrated, as Brian McKinstry was the team's top runner, but he fell down early in the race. The women's side is led by Merideth Snow, but drops off in quality from there, with most of the A&M competitors at Pre-Nationals failing to break the top 150.
The Tigers placed 17th in the men's division and 23rd in the women's in the Pre-National race in Terre Haute, Ind. Both squads were led by their seniors: Tim Ross, who placed 50th overall in the 8K for the men and Amanda Bales who placed 25th overall in the 6K for the women.
Texas A&M
Nebraska
Nebraska fared well so far this season in smaller meets but struggled against tougher competition. Nebraska is a middle of the road team in the Big 12 and probably won't be a threat to place high
road team in the big 12 and probably won't be a threat to place high on either side. Sophomore Ari Goldstein leads the women's team and sophomore Brian Parr paces the men.
Bavlor
NN
The Bears have had an unfortunate year. The women's team lost senior Brittany Brockman to injury and sophomore Erin Bedell to illness. Despite adversity, the Baylor women are ranked 30th in the nation. For the men, senior Bo Price recently made his return from a car accident and led the team in his first race back.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma has traditionally struggled at this event, and this year will likely be no exception. The women's team has just five active members, so any injury would cripple the team. Meanwhile, the men have never finished higher than ninth at the event. Earlier this year, the men's team placed sixth in the Penn State Invitational, and junior Jason Coleman received conference runner of the week honors after his 16th place finish. 12th place finish at Pre-Nationals to a 21st place finish at the meet.
Kansas State
Last season the men finished in eighth, while the women finished in tenth. Things aren't looking up this year, as the men's team is comprised solely of sophomores and freshmen.The women Wildcats are young as well with sophomore Liliani Mendez leading the team. The teams are coming off the Chile Pepper Invitational, where the men's team placed 24th and the women's team placed 23rd out of 43 teams.
— Luke Morris, Kyle Carter, Evan Kafarakis and Michael Phillips
HEFFERNAN (CONTINUED FROM 5B)
Heffernan and other former runners have helped build Rim Rock into one of the better-known courses in the nation. The NCAA national championships were run on the course in 1998. Rim Rock has also hosted three Big Eight championships.
Rim Rock came to be when Timmons bought land northwest of Lawrence so he could build a getaway cabin for him and his wife. When Kansas was having trouble finding a stable home course for the cross country team in the 1970s, Timmons decided to turn his farm into his team's home course. He purchased 40 more acres than the 40 he already owned and put his runners to work. By 1974, the Jayhawks had a course they could call their own.
"You think it might be a little nicer to be in bed and not have to worry about this stuff," he said. "But then you see some of the sunsets and some of the other things and it's just gorgeous out here. That just kind of reminds you in the end it's all worth it."
Now, other than three years that Heffernan spent working in Wichita, he has dedicated his life to the farm. And despite the long hours, a lot of which he doesn't get paid for, Heffernan wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Kansan staff writer C.J. Moore can be contacted at cjmoore@kansan.com.
— Edited by Travis Robinett
"The top guys on our team run at least 70 miles a week, sometimes even 80 and 90," Colby Wissel, junior runner, said.
Runners continue to exceed personal bests
Cross country runners don't look much different from an average size person.
BY EVAN KAFARAKIS
Athletes come in different shapes and sizes.
The average height for a cross country runner is about 5'9" as opposed basketball players whose average height is about 6'4".
Basketball player are obvious because they are inches or even feet taller than the average person, and football players are also bigger.
Cross country athletes are different from basketball or football players.
Wissel has had a break-out season so far and credits hard work and training during the offseason for his success.
"We'll also do 2,000-meter repeats, with a few minutes rest in between."
He has shed minutes off his times from last season and was named Big 12 Conference Runner of the Week earlier this season.
Wissel isn't the only one cutting time off his races.
At the Wildcat invitational earlier this season, all six Jayhawk
women who competed in the event cut time off of their performances from last year.
Alicia McGregor finished third at the meet with a time of 18:50.2, cutting 90 seconds from her time.
Lisa Morrisey cut 90 seconds off her time, and Melissa Moody had a finish two minutes better than her performance last year.
"It's a matter of maturity and how they are training," head coach Stanley Redwine said. "We're a year older and a year stronger."
Wissel ran the 8K earlier in the season at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn., with a time of 24:54, close to five-minute miles.
The men will run an 8K at the Big 12 Championships this weekend, which is just less than five miles.
The women run the 6K, which is just less than four miles.
Melissa O'Rourke finished with a time of 23:31 at the Roy Griak Invitational, helping the women's squad place 23rd out of 31 teams.
Regardless of height, hopefully the hard work will pay off for the runners on Friday.
Kansan sportswriter Evan Kafarakis can be contacted at ekafarakis@kansan.com.
Jeff and Learn Jacobson/KU ATHLETICS
Jarboe The women's cross country squad competes at the Rim Rock Farm in the Bob Timmons Invitational at the beginning of the season.
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