Forsey Leads WVU to Third at Big 12s

Saturday, October 29

Lubbock, Texas

11:00 a.m.

West Virginia University

Big 12 Championship

jill-forsey-main.jpg

October 29, 2016 01:37 PM | Cross Country

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – Redshirt junior Jillian Forsey posted a second-place finish in the women's 6k race, helping the West Virginia University cross country team take third place at the 2016 Big 12 Championship in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday.

Results

The Mountaineers posted three top-20 finishes out of 90 runners on the Red Raiders' Rawls Course. Forsey crossed the finish line second overall with a time of 20:32, finishing 14 seconds behind Sharon Lokedi of Kansas, who won the title. For her efforts, Forsey earned All-Big 12 honors. Runners who posted a top-15 finish were named to the All-Big 12 team.

Six of the 10 Big 12 teams are nationally ranked or receiving votes in the USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll. No. 15 Iowa State won the Big 12 title, finishing with a team score of 56. The top-five team finishers were No. 18 Oklahoma State in second with a team score of 82, followed by West Virginia in third (111), Oklahoma in fourth (124), and No. 12 Baylor in fifth (126).

“We had a very good team finish today,” said coach Sean Cleary. “As a conference we felt that six teams had a very realistic shot of making the NCAA finals in November. Oklahoma showed that the league now has seven teams running at a very high level. A few weeks ago we began believing that we had a shot to finish in the top three with an outside shot of taking home the top honors. Leaving Texas today, we feel that we maximized our teams potential on the day. Individually speaking, we still have more running in us.

“Jill was brilliant over the second half of the race. She came from very far behind to run one of the best races of her life. Maggie was fully committed early to stick herself in the front of the pack to give herself a chance at a big finish. Unfortunately she was a little off today, but she still rallied for a big finish. Amy came very close to running a perfect morning. Confident that we can tweak a few things in the next two weeks before the NCAA Regional Championships. We collectively can improve and are determined to do so.”

For the Mountaineers, redshirt juniors Maggie Drazba and Amy Cashin posted top-20 finishes. Drazba crossed the finish line in 17th with a time of 21:16 and Cashin took 20th with a time of 21:25.

Senior Brianna Kerekes placed 34th, crossing the finish line in 21:50, followed by redshirt senior Megan Yuan in 38th with a time of 22:01, redshirt junior Brynn Harshbarger in 45th (22:16) and redshirt freshman Olivia Hill in 48th (22:24).

Other Mountaineers finishers were redshirt junior Rebecca Wendt in 63rd (22:52), redshirt freshman Candace Jones in 70th (23:14) and redshirt junior Allie Diehl in 80th (23:47)

Up next, West Virginia will return to State College, Pennsylvania, for the third time this season to compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 11.

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUCrossCountry on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.