Kansas University junior Colby Wissel won the Big 12 men’s cross country individual championship Friday morning at Rim Rock Farm with a time of 24:34.40, pacing the Jayhawks to a third place team finish.
Wissel, who was 10th at the conference meet and 87th at the NCAA Championships as a sophomore, edged Texas senior Joe Thorne by nearly three seconds. Finishing roughly seven seconds behind Wissel in fourth place was fellow KU junior Paul Hefferon, who crossed the line at 24:41.10.
“The good thing was I was always in contention with the leaders, but I was never having to block the wind or set the pace,” Wissel said. “So that really played to my advantage towards the end.”
This marks the third straight season in which a KU runner has won the men’s individual crown. Doing so the previous two years was senior Benson Chesang, who on Friday finished 12th.
Colorado swept both the men’s and women’s team titles for the eighth consecutive year, while the Buffs remain the only team to have ever won the men’s Big 12 title. CU finished with 26 points, followed by Texas (80) and Kansas (82).
For more on this story, watch Channel 6 News tonight at 6 and 10 p.m. and read tomorrow’s Lawrence Journal-World.
