Lubbock, Texas ? Defending champion Colby Wissel placed fifth at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships on Friday at Rawls Golf Course.

Wissel, who was 13th at the mile mark and third after three miles, was timed in 24:51 in the 8,000-meter race.

Colorado’s Brent Vaughn won in 24:22.3 and was followed by CU teammate Kenyon Neuman (24:36.5), Oklahoma State’s Ryan Vail (24:36.8) and CU’s Stephen Pifer 24:46.3.

As a team, KU’s men placed seventh with 198 points. Colorado won for the 12th straight year with 34 points, followed by Oklahoma State (48), Texas (58), Iowa State (139), Texas A&M (166), Missouri (195), KU, Texas Tech (204), Oklahoma (205), Nebraska (230), Kansas State (318) and Baylor (345).

KU’s women, led by Lauren Bonds’ 30th-place finish, placed 11th.

CU won for the ninth straight year with 59 points, followed by Tech (83), NU (98), BU (155), OSU (156), OU (170), ISU (175), A&M (176), UT (177), MU (193), KU (254) and K-State (257).

Wissel earned all-Big 12 honors for the third consecutive season.

“Colby had a decent race,” KU coach Stanley Redwine said. “It is very tough to repeat as a champion.”

Senior Paul Hefferon passed four runners in the last mile and placed 21 of 100 runners in 25:28. Bret Imgrund placed 42nd in 26:08, followed by Dan Van Orsdel (65th in 26:45), Patrick McGowan (79th, 27:08), Nick Caprario (82nd in 27:16) and Jason Schweitzer (88th in 27:49).

“For the men’s team, I wasn’t satisfied,” Redwine said. “I was hoping to perform better. I would say that maybe I made a mistake with preparing the athletes. There is a physical part of it and a mental part of it, and it seemed that some weren’t prepared mentally, and I need to do a better job of that.”

On the women’s side, Bonds was followed in the 6K race by Alicia McGregor (41st, 22:12), Hayley Harbert (47th, 22:23), Amanda Miller (62nd, 22:50), Allison Knoll (81st, 23:23).

Sally Kipyego repeated as the women’s champion breaking her own meet record with a time of 19:22.