Kansas Ready to Take On League Foes at Big 12 Championships

Meet Notes

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The University of Kansas men’s and women’s cross country teams will head south this weekend for the Big 12 Championships held in Waco, Texas on Saturday, Nov. 2. The meet will be held at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course and will feature four nationally-ranked teams in the men’s and women’s races.
 
Kansas will face several of the nation’s top teams at this year’s league championship. In the latest NCAA Division I national rankings, the Big 12 boasts three men’s teams and a women’s squad in the top 30. For the men, Oklahoma State has seen time atop the national rankings but has dropped back in the most recent poll to No. 3. The Cowboys are followed by No. 27 Oklahoma, No.29 Texas. On the women’s side, No. 8 Iowa State sits as the league’s only top-30 team.
 
The KU men have high expectations for this meet, especially with one of the deepest and most talented packs the Jayhawks have seen in some time. The group returns four of its top six finishers from the league meet a season ago, a race which saw Kansas notch its top conference finish in six years.
 
The Jayhawks have several who could lead the team this weekend but the top candidate is junior Reid Buchanan, who has been one of KU’s top-two finishers in both meets he has competed in this year. Fellow juniors Evan Landes and James Wilson have also proven their mettle in the early races this season and could also be all-conference candidates come race’s end Saturday.
 
The overall success will depend on the collective success of the top seven finishers which will likely involve senior Josh Munsch and freshmen Tyler Yunk and Alexandre Lavigne. Munsch and Yunk have already posted a win in KU’s first two races of the year while Lavigne has been a part of KU’s top-six each time he’s hit the trails this year.
 
The women’s team has seen several solid results throughout the season, as it won the Bob Timmons Classic before taking second at the Rim Rock Classic in early October.
 
Sophomore Hannah Richardson has had a breakthrough season, capped off with her 36th-place finish in a field of over 350 at the ISU Pre-National Invitational two weeks ago. Richardson notched a top-25 finish in her first league meet a year ago and is primed to claim all-conference honors this season. Veterans joining Richardson in Waco will be senior Natalie Becker, who will be running in her third conference meet and junior Hayley Francis.
 
The three veterans will be joined by a host of young, but talented, runners who will be seeing action in their first conference championship. Twins Nashia and Malika Baker finished in the Jayhawks’ top four in KU’s two most recent meets and have shown the tactical prowess it takes to navigate through a big field like they will see in Waco. Jennifer Angles ran to victory in her first collegiate outing earlier this fall and will also be looking to help the women to a high finish at the Cottonwood Creek Course.
 
Also making the trip to Waco will be freshmen Julia Dury, Courtney Coppinger, Kelli McKenna and Rachel Simon.
 
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will travel to Ames, Iowa for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships hosted by Iowa State on Friday, Nov. 15. The men’s 10K will kick the day off at noon with the women’s 6K slated to start at 1:15 p.m.
 
 
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