The Cyclones made it three in a row.

The ISU women’s cross-country team added yet another piece of hardware to its trophy case Saturday, Nov. 2, after it won the Big 12 Conference Championships in Waco, Texas.

“It was a really fun day today. We enjoyed it and are continuing to enjoy the moment now,” said ISU women’s coach Andrea Grove-McDonough. “But when we get back to Ames, we will be all business. We will be right back to work to prepare for the last two big meets.”

Crystal Nelson led the women’s squad and finished second overall, with a time of 19:49. Katy Moen came in fourth in the race with a time of 20:33. Bethanie Brown, Perez Rotich and Ejiro Okoro came in fifth, ninth and 15th, respectively.

“It means a lot. I wasn’t expecting to finish as well as I did,” Nelson said. “I’m just really happy. Of course I’m real happy with team as well. It’s really cool to win the meet for a third time in a row.”

All five scoring runners for the Cyclones made the All-Big 12 Team, and Brown was named the Newcomer of the Year.

“I didn’t even know that award was such a thing,” Brown said. “I thought they made it up when they told me that I won, so I was shocked when they gave me the award. It was very neat.”

In the men’s race, Iowa State came in second with 77 total team points, its highest team finish at the conference meet since 1997.

Mohamed Hrezi was the first Cyclone to finish, coming in seventh with a time of 23:24. Martin Coolidge was the next runner to finish, good for 14th with a time of 23:37.

Both Hrezi and Coolidge were named to the All-Big 12 team as well.

“The men ran extremely well today,” said ISU men’s coach Martin Smith in a news release. “They were able to transfer all of the things that we have been working on in practice into a meet situation. Today, it worked out, being able to finish second, tying our highest finish ever at the Big 12 meet.”

The Cyclones will host the regional meet Nov. 15 at the ISU Cross-Country Course. The top two finishing teams at this meet will be guaranteed a spot at the national meet at the end of November.

The fact that Iowa State is hosting the regional meet provides a big advantage, said members of the teams.

“We have run that course about every week throughout the season. We know it like the back of our hand,” Nelson said. “It is a definite advantage to have it on our home course. We will be more relaxed and hopefully have a big fan base.”