Cross Country Primed for Season Opener in Stillwater

Saturday, October 3

Stillwater, Okla.

8:30 A.M.

Texas Tech Athletics

Cowboy Jamboree

Cross Country Primed for Season Opener in Stillwater

October 01, 2020 | Cross Country

Texas Tech set to open fall at Cowboy Jamboree.

By: Jeremy O'Brien

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech cross country is set to begin its three-meet fall season Saturday at the Cowboy Jamboree.

The group will be going head-to-head with six Big 12 programs on Oklahoma State's new course, the OSU Cross Country Course. Along with the host Cowboys, Tech will go up against the squads from Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma. Also providing good competition for the Big 12 programs will be the group from UTEP.

Oklahoma State's new course has been hailed as one of the best in the country. Head coach Jon Murray is excited for his team to open the season on a course which is planning on hosting future NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship meets.

"It's a beautiful facility," said Murray. "The design is the same as when we raced there last year, but the conditions of the course itself are much improved, namely with the irrigation and landscaping. It'll be really fun."

The course opens on a downward angle, which leads into a gulley that runners will be traversing in and out of multiple times. Murray stressed the importance of preserving stamina to make it up and down the numerous slopes on the course.

"It's a challenging course," he said. "You're running up and down the gulley multiple times. You have to be mindful of your energy throughout the race. The last leg of the race is up a hill and then down to the finish, and you have to be able to get up that hill at the end."

Murray's travel roster will consist of eight men and seven women.

Cornelius Kiprotich, a top-20 finisher at last year's conference meet, will lead the men's side. He will be surrounded by youth, including returning sophomores Bennett Barnett and Eric Maclean, as well as exciting freshmen Paul Sherrill, Thomas Velvin and Kirk Zuber. Edward Rush and Michael McCabe round out the travel party, meaning five of the eight Red Raider men traveling to Stillwater will be making their collegiate debuts.

The women's group will be paced by Claudrice McKoy and Jazmyn Martinez. Sharon Chumo will make her Tech and Division I debut after transferring in from Monroe. Tech's strong junior class also includes Kaitlyn Irving, Binta Ka, Sydney White and Kyra Young.

The men's 8k will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the women's 6k at 9 a.m. Live stats will not be available, but a full recap will be posted on texastech.com following the meet.