👟 Gibbens Earns All-Big 12 as Both the Men and the Women Place Sixth at the Big 12 Championship

AMES, Iowa – The Kansas men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the 2023 Big 12 Cross Country Championship today on a cold day in Iowa. Both teams placed sixth overall and senior Chandler Gibbens placed 11th, earning him an All-Big 12 selection.

In the men’s 8K race, Oklahoma State won the men’s title scoring 25 points, while BYU was second with 55 points. In the women’s 6K race, BYU scored 35 points, edging runner-up Oklahoma State with 39 points.

Gibbens led the way for KU yet again, as he was able to find himself in the top-15 for the third time this season. His 11th-place, 23:13.0 earned him an All-Big 12 nod. The next Jayhawk to cross the finish line was Tanner Talley, who was able to finish the 8K in 24:24.0 for 44^th in the 107 runner field. Cale Littrell followed closely behind as he finished 51st in 24:31.9. Tanner Newkirk finished 60th with a time of 24:41.0 and Sawyer Schmidt finished right behind, claiming a 62nd-place finish in 24:45.1. Christopher Stone, Quenton Walion, TJ Robinson and Treyson True rounded out the standings for Kansas, each finishing in the top-90.

The men finished sixth, ahead of Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Houston, TCU and Baylor.

“Obviously, Chandler (Gibbens) was disappointed in the outcome,” said Kansas Assistant Coach Michael Whittlesey. “He ran a tough race, but we were hoping for better and that’s where his goal was. The guys ran solid, but we lost to teams we thought we should have beaten. We had a couple guys that fell off early but worked to get back in the mix. I thought Peter (Walsdorf) was having a really good race, as well as Tanner Talley through the majority of the race. Sawyer (Schmidt) really stepped up early. I was proud of how those three executed. We just need to compete a little bit better and tougher in the later stages.”

Lona Latema and Kenadi Krueger were the first to finish among Kansas in the 6K, earning 35th and 36th-place finishes, respectively, with times of 20:56.8 and 20:58.3. Tori Wingrove was able to sneak into the top-50 as she placed 49th with a time of 21:23.6. Addie Coppinger ran to a time of 21:38.4, good enough for 57^th in the 124-runner field. Abi Street was the next to cross the finish line. She finished in 22:02.8 for 68th. Makenna Anderson, Caroline Burrow and Laya Erickson finished 95th, 96th and 98th, respectively.

While the women weren’t able to clinch any individual awards, the Jayhawks did clinch sixth place, ahead of Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, UCF, Oklahoma, Houston and Baylor.

“Lona (Latema) is not happy with where she placed, but the next four had a great race,” said Whittlesey. “They really competed extremely tough and executed well. I thought Kansas State was a team that we were shooting for, but there were about five other teams that were in a battle with us for that next spot; Texas, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. I thought they competed really tough, and I am really proud of them, especially those four.”

UP NEXT

The Jayhawks will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on November 10 as they try to earn their spot in NCAA Championships.