Oklahoma State University was in a precarious spot after its harrowing loss to UCF. The situation dipped below freezing for OSU when Texas Tech won the game on November 11 against Kansas. This pushed them into uncertain territory, facing a tiebreaker for the Big 12 standings. The Oklahoma cross-country team faced similar prospects last year and lost the bid to the NAU Lumberjacks. While the OSU football team still has to go through a scuffle, the school?s cross-country team made a victorious return to the top after a decade.

The OSU runners faced the three-time defending champions, Northern Arizona University, in Charlottgreatesville, Virginia, on Saturday. They won the NCAA Cross Country Championships with a team score of 49. But this crown was not won easily, as OSU head coach Dave Smith poignantly explained amidst the fanfare and celebrations.

OSU?s coach reflects on the NCAA Cross Country Championships triumph

Dave Smith turned back the clock to reveal the secret to the Cowboys? motivation in the current NCAA season. In an interview with Citius Mag, he said, ?We had to be one of the greatest teams of all-time in the NCAA ? not just in cross country, but in all sports. NAU has raised the bar for everybody and said ?now if you want to win, it?s this level?. We had to grow to that level. We always had to beat great teams but this is an all-time great team ? so to knock them off is probably meaningful to know that you?ve got one of the all-time great NCAA programs in any sport?. Smith?s interview with Citius Mag was posted on X by the media house with the caption, ?Coach Dave Smith after the men?s team took the team title at the NCAA Cross Country Championships!?

Five of Dave Smith’s runners secured the top 15 places in the race, which brought the total team tally to 49. They were ahead of NAU by 22 points, which spoke volumes about the success of the new program. OSU won their last men’s cross-country title in 2012, but since then, they have suffered one disappointing season after another. To pull the team out of their slump, Coach Dave Smith implemented a new training regimen. But, ultimately, it came down to five remarkable runners who occupied the top 15 positions at the NCAA Cross Country Championships for Oklahoma.

Cross-country runners reviving glory

Denis Kipngetich, a freshman, was the fourth-place finisher in the 10,000-meter race with a total time of 28 minutes and 59.7 seconds. His fellow freshman Brian Musau occupied the eighth position at 29:11.0. Next came Fouad Messaoudi, an athlete in his sophomore year. He zapped past the wire at 29:13.3 for the tenth rank, followed by junior Victor Shitsama at the 12th rank with 29:16.1. Lastly, Senior Alex Maier anchored the top 15 finishers for OSU with a time of 29:20.2. After the race, Maier spoke to the press to say, “When I came in as a freshman, we didn’t even make it to nationals. To see this team grow and see all my brothers work every day and sacrifice blood, sweat and tears to get to this point vindicates everything”.

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This growth was possible because of coach Dave Smith’s expertise. But the coach did not want to take all the credit for the victory. Instead, he praised his athletes, saying, “A lot of things went right, and a lot of hard work was done by these guys”. His advice for them was to stay calm and attentive towards the goal. His advice also brought remarkable results for the OSU women’s team, who finished third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

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