Sept. 30, 2003
DALLAS - Missouri sophomore Amanda Bales and Texas senior Paul Morrison have been named the Big 12 Cross Country Runners of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.
Bales finished in 13th place at last Saturday's Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minn., and led Mizzou to a ninth-place finish. The Bettendorf, Iowa, native finished higher than any other Big 12 runner in the six kilometer race. Bales' time of 21:16 was 59 seconds off the winner, Kim Smith of Providence. The Roy Griak Inviational held by the University of Minnesota was attended by 13 top-30 women's teams including Missouri who is ranked No. 21 in this week's latest FinishLynx Coaches' Poll. Bales is being named female Big 12 Runner of the Week for the second time this season and third time in her career. She is the first two-time honoree in the same season since Colorado's Molly Austin won the final two weeks of the 2001 cross country season.
Morrison was the top Big 12 men's finisher at the Roy Griak Invitational while covering the eight kilometer course in 24:30. The Montreal, Quebec, Canada, native led the Longhorns to a 14th-place finish out of 30 teams in the meet. The meet was Morrison's first cross country competition since the 1999 season as he is a transfer from Princeton. He competed in Big 12 competition for the first time in track and field last year. Morrison is the third Longhorn to earn male Big 12 Runner of the Week honors. In 1999 UT's John Wyber won the honor and Ben Dawson was a two-time honoree last year.
There are three Big 12 men's teams in the MONDO Men's Cross Country rankings released Sept. 30. Colorado heads the list at No. 6 followed by No. 23 Oklahoma State, and No. 26 Texas A&M. Texas is receiving votes in the latest poll. Four conference women's teams are rated in the FinishLynx Women's Cross Country poll released Monday. Colorado is No. 3 with Baylor No. 14, Missouri No. 21 and Nebraska No. 30.
Big 12 Cross Country Runner(s) of the Week Female Sept. 9 Amanda Bales, Missouri Sept. 16 Valerie Lauver, Missouri Sept. 23 Anne Shadle, Nebraska Sept. 30 Amanda Bales, MissouriThis Week in Big 12 Cross Country Friday, October 3 Iowa State hosts ISU Memorial (Ames, Iowa)Male Sept. 9 Benson Cheserek, Texas Tech Sept. 16 Silverus Kimeli, Oklahoma Sept. 23 Tommy Bonn, Texas A&M Sept. 30 Paul Morrison, Texas
Saturday, October 4 Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech at Cowboy Jamboree (OSU host, Stillwater, Okla.) Colorado hosts Rocky Mountain Shootout (Boulder, Colo.) Nebraska at Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational (Chicago, Ill.) Oklahoma at Murray Keatinge Invitational (Orone, Maine) Texas (women) at Texas State CC Classic (San Marcos, Texas)