BETHANY, Okla. – Oklahoma City University ran its way to its fifth consecutive Sooner Athletic Conference men's cross country championship Saturday at Eldon Lyon Park.
Zouhair Talbi paced OCU, ranked sixth in the NAIA, by nailing down the SAC individual championship, while Shimales Abebe took runner-up for the second year in a row.
Nine Stars became all-conference recipients. Oklahoma City accounted for six of the top eight finishers and seven among the top 10.
Milan Todorovic came in fifth place, while Milos Pendic snared sixth for the Stars. Paul Welch finished seventh with Joseph Engel eighth.
Emmanuel Kipruto of OCU racked up a 10th-place finish. Fares Marrouf (14th) and Brendan Robeaux (15th) rounded out the Stars' all-SAC runners. Frezer Legesse from OCU collected conference coach of the year.
Oklahoma City will represent the conference in the NAIA Championships on Nov. 19 in Vancouver, Wash.
"Our men and women accomplished the mission this morning and booked their tickets to nationals," Legesse said. "We've worked extremely hard for the opportunity to line up against the best in the nation. We're ready to go out there and put it all on the line."
Talbi, a junior from Tighassaline, Khenifra, Morocco, recorded the top time of 24 minutes, 38.3 seconds. Talbi covered each mile in an average time of 4:57.4. Talbi, the defending individual national champion, became a two-time SAC champion.
Abebe, a sophomore from Los Angeles, produced a mark of 24:40.2, finishing 1.9 seconds behind Talbi. He had an average mile time of 4:57.8.
Todorovic, a senior from Belgrade, Serbia, and Pendic, a sophomore from Raska, Serbia, posted identical times of 26:06.0. Each made the all-SAC team for the second year in a row.
Welch, a junior from Piedmont, Okla., ran a time of 26:31.4, while Engel, a senior from Oklahoma City, reached the finish in 26:37.7. Engel collected all-conference for the second consecutive year.
Kipruto, a sophomore from Kapsabet, Kenya, covered the 8,000 meters in 26:41.4 with his second all-SAC honor and top-10 finish in the conference championship. Marrouf (26:48.4) and Robeaux (26:48.8) finished close together.
Oklahoma City's Pedro Becerra (27th), Tanner Huffman (28th) and Tate Smithhart (30th) turned in top-30 finishes.
