By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
It’s championship season in the Big 12, as Baylor is set to run in the conference’s Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
Despite having a young team, the Bears have found early success this season, as the women’s team won the UIW Twilight meet and the men finished in the top 10 at the Gans Greek Classic. But now it’s postseason time in one of the top conferences in the country. The Big 12 boasts three of the top six men’s teams and two of the top six women’s teams in the nation, which head coach David Barnett said could be a stiff challenge for a team full of newcomers.
“We have a lot of people in our top five, that it’s their first time being in the top five,” Barnett said. “So there’s definitely some growth going on. But I think that there’s no reason not to expect them to have their best race this weekend.”
The men’s team will enter eight runners into a loaded 117-man field that features No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 BYU and No. 6 Texas. Barnett said sixth-year senior Ryan Hodge will lead the team for the third time this season.
“He’s had a great season, had a great career, [and] this’ll be his last conference meet,” Barnett said. “So, super excited for Ryan, he’s been looking really good. And then behind him, we just have a group of guys that, it’ll be their first time going for a lot of them, but they’ve been doing really well.”
The women’s team is sending nine runners to compete in a field of 137, with No. 4 BYU, No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 17 Iowa State among the bunch. Junior Hayden Gold and freshman Rosanna Pugh, who have each led Baylor in a race this season, will be competing on Saturday.
“I think we have a couple women that are definitely capable of running really well,” Barnett said. “It’s just a matter of putting it together on the day, but they’ve had their best workouts leading up to the race, [and] for the most part, the people that are racing have been healthy all season. So it’s an opportunity for them to show what they’re capable of.”
The men’s Big 12 Cross Country Championship will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Iowa State Cross Country Course. The women’s meet will start an hour later. Both will be broadcast on ESPN+, with live stats on PrimeTime Timing.
