By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Maggie Montoya is hoping to do what only one other Baylor runner has done in the 20-year history of the Big 12 Conference, while the men's team is shooting for its first top-four finish since 2001.

The Baylor men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the Big 12 Championships Saturday at the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla., with the men's 8,000-meter race starting at 10 a.m., followed by the women's 6K race at 11.

"We're looking to do as well as we can here, and then try to punch that ticket to nationals at regionals in two weeks," said head coach Todd Harbour, who works with a women's squad that is ranked second in the South Central Regional and receiving votes in the USTFCCCA national coaches' poll.

Harbour said the women will have a tough time challenging 11th-ranked Iowa State, which has won four straight Big 12 titles, but "if we had the team we had last year, I think we'd be running with them right now. They're not quite as strong as they were last year when they finished second at nationals."

The reigning Big 12 Runner of the Week, Montoya has emerged as one of the favorites to win the individual title. With Iowa State running without All-Americans Crystal Nelson and Bethanie Brown, Montoya beat the Cyclones' top two of Perez Rotich and Erin Hooker and placed 11th overall at the prestigious Wisconsin adidas Invitational last week with a career-best time of 19:56.0.

"If she'll just sit on them and pick the right spot, I don't think anybody could run with her the last (1,000 meters)," Harbour said. "That's something (2014 All-American Rachel Johnson) didn't have. Rachel had to get away from them, because she couldn't beat them that last (1,000). Maggie can sit and do the damage that last part."

Trying to become Baylor's first individual Big 12 champion since Sherri Smith in 1998, Montoya's biggest challenge could come from Kansas freshman Sharon Lokedi, who placed fourth at the Pre-National meet in 20:08.3.

"I told Maggie, we've got to try to seize this moment," Harbour said.

"It's pressure, but pressure is good. It makes you do things you didn't previously think you could do," said Montoya, who placed seventh at last year's Big 12 meet. "I think it's really exciting to be at that point and hopefully do that and have that opportunity. It's nerve-wracking, but it's also thrilling."

Johnson's third-place finish at last year's meet was the Bears' highest individual finish since Smith won it in '98. In the Southwest Conference, Baylor had a run of four straight individual champions (1990-93), when Natalie Nalepa and Sally Geis each won it twice.

Montoya leads a young women's team that includes juniors Peyton Thomas and Alex Davis, sophomores Ann-Marie Dunlap, Madison Zimmerman, Katie Grovatt and Aubree Miller, freshman Leila Rohde and senior Chelsea Orr, a transfer from Washington.

"Peyton Thomas is the story of this cross country team right now," Harbour said. "Looking back at conference last year, she was our sixth runner. If she wasn't doing what she's doing right now, we probably wouldn't have any shot at going to nationals. But with her (and Montoya), we basically have the same 1-2 punch we did last year."

Assistant coach Jon Capron said the men have had a goal all year of placing in the top four at conference, but that's made tougher with junior Jordan West being out with a stress fracture.

"He's a missing piece that would have been important," Capron said of West, a scoring runner in the three meets he ran this fall. "I think my guys can fill in for him, but that's going to make top four pretty hard. If we can be top five, I'm going to be really, really stoked."

The Bears have only had two top-five finishes in the history of the Big 12 meet, including an all-time best of fourth in 2001.

"This year, we kind of have the motto of 'belief,''' said senior JR Hardy, who's also been among the team's top five, placing 48th overall at the Chile Pepper Invitational. "In past years, I feel like we haven't been where we needed to be. I can definitely say this is the best Baylor team we've had in the four years I've been here, at least. We've really been focusing on finishing the season on the highest note we can. We want to be fourth or better."

Sophomore Eric Anderson has been the Bears' top runner in each of the four meets he's raced this season, including placing 16th at the Stanford Invitational with a 8,000-meter time of 24:18.1.

"The season got a little long on him last year," Capron said. "We were able to protect him a little this year and not run him so much. I'm hoping he can get real close to that top 15. But if he's 16th or 17th, I'm still going to be high-fiving him."

With a balance of veterans and newcomers, the men's lineup also includes seniors Matt Galvin, Chris McElroy and Kyle Scanlan, junior Matt League, sophomore Matt Parham and freshmen Seth Brown, Henry Huff and Sean McCullough.

Coming off an injury, Galvin is the "wild card," Capron said. "He's a senior and he's just going to have to suit up and see what he's got. He's a tough hombre. If his body will let him, he'll do it."