The Kansas University men’s cross country team successfully defended the Big 12 Conference individual championship for the second consecutive year at Rim Rock Farm on Friday.

However, it wasn’t two-time defending champion Benson Chesang who claimed the title, but junior Colby Wissel coming in at 24 minutes, 34.40 seconds – with his arms raised, thanks to a 2.9-second advantage over Texas’ Joe Thorne.

“We come out here for a lot of our regular runs, a lot of workouts, so we know the course, and the key to this course is to be patient,” Wissel said. “The good thing was, I was always in contention with the leaders, but I was never having to block the wind or set the pace. So that really played to my advantage toward the end. Toward the end, I was right there, and I thought, ‘Here I am, I’ve got to go for it. If I don’t get it, I don’t get it, but I have got to go for it.'”

Chesang could only muster a 12th-place finish, laying way for Paul Hefferon to be the second KU runner to cross the finish line. Hefferon said knowing the course helped in his fourth-place finish – especially in such soggy conditions.

“When you have a course this tough, this challenging, especially with the mud they had out there today, I think it makes a difference that we train on it and know it really well,” Hefferon said. “I don’t know how many people I passed at the end, but it was enough – I wish I could have passed a few more.”

The team tied its best finish from last year, coming in third – after originally thinking it was locked with Texas in second place.

However, Oklahoma State’s David Jankowski was disqualified after breaking the nose of Colorado’s Erik Heinonen after throwing either a retaliation punch (according to Heinonen) or elbow (according to Jankowski) for Heinonen admittedly “clipping his heel” in retaliation for getting elbowed. The disqualification forced new results and put the Longhorns two points ahead of the Jayhawks.

“I wasn’t mad at him particularly because I made the mistake and you get what’s coming to you sometimes,” Heinonen said.

The KU women’s team wasn’t able to capitalize on the home-field advantage as its top finisher was Ottawa native Lisa Morrisey in 45th with a time of 22:48.89. The group dropped from its eighth-place showing a year ago to an 11th-place finish just ahead of Kansas State – whose men’s team also came in last in the conference.

Once again, Colorado swept both the men’s and women’s team titles in convincing fashion. The women topped Texas Tech by 19 points, with the men coming up 44 points ahead of Texas. The Colorado men have now won all 11 Big 12 Conference championships, with the women winning 10 of the 11.

The Jayhawks will next race at the Midwest Regional Championships in Minneapolis on Nov. 11. Wissel and the No. 19-ranked team in the USTFCCCA national poll will be looking to return to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 20 in Terre Haute, Ind., where they finished 12th a year ago.

“I think, not just in the Big 12, but on the national level, we’re showing people that we’re a program that’s not going to just have a couple of fluke years, but we’re here to stay,” Hefferon said.

Notes

Former city runners: Free State High alum Danny Schneider – a sophomore at Kansas State – finished 87th in the men’s race with a time of 27:30.10.

Meg Gentry, a former Lawrence High athlete who runs for the women’s team at K-State, came in at 24:02.24 – placing 81st in the field of 98.

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Dueling sisters: Kansas freshman Lauren Bonds topped her older sister, Morgan Bonds of Kansas State, in the championship event at Rim Rock.

Lauren crossed the finish line at 23:17.62 in 58th place, two spots ahead of Morgan, who had a time of 23:19.48.

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Texas Tech two-step: Red Raider Sally Kipyego won the women’s individual race with a time of 20:00.82 and broke Colorado’s seven-year individual win streak.

Kipyego’s gold-medal performance also earned her the women’s Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year award and a spot on the All-Big 12 team.

Oklahoma State’s Daniel Watts was the men’s Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after his 13th-place finish.