👟 Jayhawks Wrap Up Cross Country Season at Big 12 Championship
LAWRENCE, Kan. – It was a picture-perfect day at Rim Rock Farm Friday morning, as the University of Kansas and Kansas Athletics hosted the 2020 Big 12 Conference Cross Country Championship. Iowa State claimed the women’s team title while the Oklahoma State men were declared the champions after a head-to-head tiebreaker with ISU. The Cyclones swept the individual titles with Callie Logue and Wesley Kiptoo each winning their third-straight crown.
The Kansas women finished seventh out of the 10 teams competing, scoring 190 points. The Cyclones of Iowa State ran away with the team title, accumulating just 39 points, 23 ahead of runner-up Texas, which scored 62. The Jayhawks were once again led by a pair of sophomores in Lona Latema and Avryl Johnson.
After accomplishing her 6K in 21:30.2, Latema came in 14th individually out of 82 competitors, which earned her All-Big 12 Team honors for the first time in her career. Johnson was the next Jayhawk to cross the finish line, running 22:24.8 to place 33rd. KU’s final three scorers were senior Lisa Lauschke (44th, 23:05.4), freshman Kenadi Krueger (49th, 23:24.1) and junior Alexys Barton (23:26.1).
On the men’s side, the pink and blue-clad Jayhawks finished fifth out of the nine conference teams competing, with 136 total points. OSU and ISU both ended the race with 30 points, which led to a tiebreaker to determine the team champion for 2020.
KU senior Ben Butler led his team for the third-straight race this season, traversing the 8K course in 23:45.9. The time earned him a 13th-place individual finish and a trip to the awards stand as a member of the All-Big 12 Team. Chandler Gibbens was the next Jayhawk down the finish chute. The sophomore ran to a time of 24:16.2 to finish in 21st place on the leaderboard.
Sophomore Teddy Buckley, senior George Letner and freshman A.J. Green accounted for the Jayhawks’ other scorers on the afternoon. Buckley placed 31st in 24:54.8 and was followed closely by Letner in the 34th position with his 25:13.8 finish with Green not far behind, running a 25:40.5 in in his first Big 12 meet to finish 37th.
Today’s Big 12 Conference Championship concludes the 2020 season for the Kansas cross country teams.
Kansas Women’s Individual Results
14. Lona Latema, 21:30.2
33. Avryl Johnson, 22:24.8
44. Lisa Lauschke, 23:05.4
49. Kenadi Krueger, 23:24.1
50. Alexys Barton, 23:26.1
57. Addison Coppinger, 23:51.6
63. Riley Colby, 24:32.7
Women’s Team Results
1. Iowa State, 39
2. Texas, 62
3. West Virginia, 66
4. Oklahoma State, 71
5. Kansas State, 134
6. Baylor, 148
7. Kansas, 190
8. Texas Tech, 238
9. Oklahoma, 257
10. TCU, 312
Kansas Men’s Individual Results
13. Ben Butler, 23:45.9
21. Chandler Gibbens, 24:16.2
31. Teddy Buckley, 24:54.8
34. George Letner, 25.13.8
37. A.J. Green, 25:40.5
45. Ethan Donley, 26:05.2
52. Chase Dornbusch, 26:40.1
Men’s Team Results
1. Oklahoma State, 31*
2. Iowa State, 31
3. Texas, 84
4. Kansas State, 103
5. Kansas, 136
6. Texas Tech, 187
7. Baylor, 215
8. Oklahoma, 230
9. TCU, 265
* – Oklahoma State was determined the winner by Big 12 tiebreaking procedures (head-to-head amongst top-five runners)
