On Saturday morning the men and women’s cross country teams did what they do best: winning conference titles. In their first two seasons in the American Athletic Conference, the Golden Hurricane have swept the men and women’s conference titles.
Their streak, however, extends beyond their membership in the American. This is the sixth straight conference title for the men and the third straight for the women.
Last week, after being named the Division I Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week by the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, and the American Athletic Conference Cross Country Athlete of the Week, Marc Scott took home the men’s individual title for the second year in a row.
Tulsa had four of the top five finishers in the men’s 8K race and all five scorers were in the top-11. Ben Priesner (2nd), Luke Traynor (3rd), Adam Roderique (5th) and Austin Del Rosso (11th) rounded out the scorers for the men.
All four of them as well as TU’s sixth runner Elijah Silva earned all-conference honors for their race.
The men and women’s cross country teams celebrate their conference titles after their wins on Saturday morning. Marc Scott won the individual men’s title and Rachel Baptista led the women’s side with a third place finish in the 6K race. In Tulsa’s first two seasons as a member of the American Athletic Conference, they have swept both cross country titles each year.
After the win, Head Coach Steve Gulley talked about Marc Scott and the men’s race.
“I’m always proud of Marc. He led them. We throw a lot of stuff around Marc, and I think he got the guys really riled up. He’s a great leader. I’m very proud of Adam Roderique and Austin Del Rosso. We weren’t sure how we would run in the four and five holes, and they answered that question.”
“I think the whole men’s team ran a good race. They ran way faster than we thought we could on this course.”
Joining Marc Scott as the AAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week last week, Rachel Baptista followed that honor with a third place finish women’s 6K.
The women had three of the top six runner and all five scorers finished in the top-16. Baptista was followed by Stacie Taylor (5th), Nicole Lee (6th), Clara Langley (14th) and Alyssa Bolliger (18th).
Baptista, Taylor, Lee and Langley earned all-conference honors for the women’s team. In addition to that, Baptista, Taylor and Lee ran their fastest times at TU in this race and all five of the men’s scorers did the same.
“The women’s team, it came down to a dig down deep, tough race and the young ladies stepped up well,” Gulley said after their race.
“Alyssa Bolliger (really stepped up for us). I think we felt we had a solid four going into this season. Alyssa was probably our eight runner coming into the season, and ended up performing incredibly as our fifth runner at the conference championship.”
The Golden Hurricane will next race at the Midwest Regional Championships on Nov 13 in Lawrence, Kansas.
