MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – For the second time this season, the West Virginia University cross country team travels to Lubbock, Texas, to compete at the 2016 Big 12 Championship, hosted by Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 29.
The women’s 6k race is set to begin at 11 a.m. ET at the Red Raiders’ Rawls Course. The top-15 runners in each race will earn All-Big 12 honors. WVU previewed the championship course earlier in September as it opened its season with a win at the Texas Tech Open.
Additional championship information is available at
Big12sports.com. A live blog can be followed on the National Results Wall at
USTFCCCA.org. Fans who want to watch the race live can sign up at
Flotrack.org ($).
"Training has continued to progress throughout the season as well as we could have hoped for,” said coach Sean Cleary. “As we prepare for the championship we are healthy and ready to run. Our motto is simple. We have not talked about specific teams and or individuals. The team knows that this is the deepest field that we have faced at the Big 12 Championship. Upwards, six of the programs have a realistic shot at making the final field of 31 at the NCAA Championships. All of that aside, we will do as we always do, line up, run hard and let the results fall as they may.”
Six Big 12 women’s teams are ranked or receiving votes in the USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll Top 30 – No. 12 Baylor, No. 15 Iowa State and No. 18 Oklahoma State with West Virginia, Texas and Kansas receiving votes.
WVU has won a title from each conference it’s been in and is looking to achieve the Big 12 crown on Saturday. Entering the conference in 2012, the Mountaineers posted their best team finish for second place in 2013 and 2014.
At last year’s Big 12 Championship, the Mountaineers placed third, posting three top-25 finishes. Oklahoma State, the championship host, won the Big 12 title with 24 points. The top-five teams were Iowa State in second (52), WVU in third (118), Kansas in fourth (129) and Oklahoma in fifth (152).
In WVU women’s cross country history, the Mountaineers have won two conference titles. West Virginia was named Big East Champions in 2007, and in 1994 the team won the Atlantic 10 title. In 2000, Megan Metcalfe earned Big East Freshman of the Year accolades, while in 1994, Charity Wachera was named the Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Yeah and Heather Bury earned the award in 1993.
The Mountaineers finished their regular season with a fourth-place finish at the Penn State Open on Oct. 14.
Looking ahead, West Virginia will return to State College, Pennsylvania, for the third time this season to compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, November 11.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUCrossCountry on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
