Stillwater, Okla. ? Top-15 finishes from seniors Jacob Morgan and Evan Landes as well as freshman Sharon Lokedi highlighted the Kansas University cross country teams’ performance at the Big 12 Championships.
Lokedi’s 11th-place finish led the women’s squad to a fourth-place finish, the highest at a Big 12 meet in program history, while Morgan’s fifth-place finish helped his squad to a fifth-place finish in the team standings.
Lokedi finished first among all freshman.
Sophomore Lydia Saggau finished 17th in 21:30.2, just two spots away from claiming All-Big 12 honors.
Morgan, who duplicated his fifth-place finish at last season’s meet, joined a group of five runners who separated themselves from the rest of the field over the first half of the race. The Topeka native crossed the line in 24:21.2. Morgan’s performance made him the fourth Jayhawk since 1970 to finish among the top five at a conference meet in back-to-back seasons and added another All-Big 12 selection to his résumé.
Landes also turned in an all-league effort with a top-15 performance. The Mulvane product posted a 24:59.8 to finish 15th, which tied his career-best finish at a conference meet. Coming in after Landes was sophomore Chris Melgares, who earned his first top-25 league finish, coming in 25th at 25:23.6.
Big 12 Championships
Saturday at Stillwater, Oklahoma
MEN (8K)
Team scores: 1. Oklahoma State, 28; 2. Oklahoma, 50; 3. Texas, 83; 4. Iowa State, 93; 5. Kansas, 111; 6. Kansas State, 180; 7. Baylor, 184; 8. Texas Tech, 200; 9. TCU, 295.
Kansas results: 5. Jacob Morgan, 24.21.2; 15. Evan Landes, 24:59.8; 25. Chris Melgares, 25:23.6; 28. James Hampton, 25:27.6; 41. Daniel Koech, 26:00.0; 42. Dylan Hodgson, 26:03.2; 50. Carson Vickroy, 26:15.8; 58. Jacob Ryan, 26:26.1; 62. Ben Burchstead, 26:35.7.
WOMEN (6K)
Team scores: 1. Oklahoma State, 34; 2. Iowa State, 52; 3. West Virginia, 118; 4. Kansas, 129; 5. Oklahoma, 152; 6. Texas, 158; 7. Kansas State, 193; 8. Baylor, 195; 9. Texas Tech, 196; 10. TCU, 292.
Kansas results: 11. Sharon Lokedi, 21:09.6; 17. Lydia Saggau, 21:30.2; 32. Nashia Baker, 21:58.3; 34. Malika Baker, 22:05.8; 39. Kelli McKenna, 22:10.8; 43. Jennifer Angles, 22:15.0; 37. Hannah Dimmick, 22:24.2; 57. Grace Morgan, 22:47.1; 67. Courtney Coppinger, 23:12.9.
