Oct. 25, 2007
WACO, Texas -
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The Baylor cross country teams travel to Lubbock, Texas to compete in the first of three championship races at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships Friday, Oct. 26, at Rawls Golf Course. The men will compete in an 8,000-meter race at 10 a.m., while the women's race is scheduled for 6,000 meters to follow at 11 a.m.
Sophomore Nichole Jones leads the way for Baylor, leading the Lady Bears as the top finisher in each meet this season. She also earned individual medalist honors at the Baylor Twilight Invitational and the BYU Autumn Classic. Lauren Hagans and Lyndsy Bedell have also scored points for the Lady Bears in each competition, with Hagans finishing second for Baylor on three occasions. Bedell was the second finisher for the Bears at the Notre Dame Invitational.
The Baylor women enter the meet receiving votes in the USTFCCCA Division I Women's Cross Country Poll. The Lady Bears have been ranked as high as 22nd-nationally this season. Baylor is ranked third in the South Central Region.
Last season, the Lady Bears finished fifth at the conference championships, while Jones earned All-Big 12 honors with a 10th-place finish. Bedell just missed making the all-conference team with a 16th-place overall finish. After redshirting the 2006 season, sophomore Erin Bedell is back to full strength for the 2007 championships. Bedell has finished 11th-overall in two meets this season, and scored for the Lady Bears with a 65th-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational. As a freshman, Bedell finished eighth overall to earn All-Big 12 honors.
On the men's side, Jacob Jones and Robbie Knorr lead the young Bears into the conference championship. Jones has been Baylor's top finisher in two meets, including an 11th-place overall finish at the Baylor Twilight Invitational. Knorr, a freshman from Livermore, Calif., was Baylor's top finisher on two occasions, with a third-place finish at the North Texas Invitational to lead the Bears to the team championship. Knorr placed 34th overall to lead Baylor at the Stanford Invitational in his first-ever 8K race.
The men's team is currently ranked ninth in the South Central Region and has been ranked as high as fifth in the regional rankings according to the USTFCCCA.
Colorado has dominated the Big 12 cross country scene the past 11 seasons. The men, the reigning national champions, have won every title, while the women have won 10 of the 11 championships, with Kansas State claiming the only other crown in 1998. Nationally, the Buffs have produced three men's (2001, `04 and `06) and two women's (2000, `04) NCAA team championships as members of the league.
The Bears return to action Saturday, Nov. 10, as the Bears travel to Fayetteville, Ark. for the NCAA South Central Regional meet.
