Parity may have been the word coming into the Big 12 Cross Country Championships on Saturday, but everything about the races went according to plan.

Before the meet, ISU head coach Corey Ihmels said No. 3 Oklahoma State was the favorite to take the overall team title. That prediction ended up being an understatement, as the Cowboys ran away with the title, beating second-place Colorado by 40 points. This was the first time in thirteen tries that Colorado didn’t walk away Big 12 champions.

Oklahoma State freshman German Fernandez won the individual title with a time of 23:47, while pre-race favorite Ryan Vail finished fourth.

The Cyclone men, led by junior Guor Marial, finished one point behind Colorado for third.

“We felt we were better than last year,” Marial said. “We just went out there and tried to compete as a team.

“I felt like we could beat Colorado,” Ihmels said after the meet concluded. “You know, we were fifth two years ago, fourth last year, third this year, and hopefully we can keep moving up the ranks.”

Marial finished sixth — the first Cyclone to cross the finish line — with a time of 24:15. He was followed by teammate Kiel Uhl, who came in five seconds behind. Uhl struggled in traffic early in the race, but was able to battle his way to the front as the race progressed.

Marial’s sixth place finish was his highest of the season. Sophomore Hillary Bor added a strong 11th place finish, and freshmen Rico Loy and Joel Limo came in 21st and 22nd, respectively.

“We tried to just go out there and compare ourselves to the rest of the Big 12 teams and be able to compete with them,” Marial said.

“I thought we ran pretty well,” Uhl said on his team’s performance. “The goal today was to beat Colorado. It came down to one man, and it proves that in this sport every man counts.”

Uhl’s race was his last at home, but the emotions of the race didn’t affect him.

“It’s a little sad, but it’s just like any other race,” Uhl said. “There’s always an end to anything, and I guess it’s a good place to end it.

Ihmels spoke about the development of the men’s cross country program in general.

“It’s exciting for the guys because they’re disappointed they weren’t second, and that just speaks volumes for where we’re at as a program now, and we’ve got to keep plugging away and getting better, and hope they can improve every week,” he said.

The Texas Tech women also lived up to their pre-race hype, winning the team title by 27 points. Texas Tech senior Sally Kipyego left the rest of the field in her wake, winning the race by 51 seconds over teammate Lillian Badaru.

Baylor’s Erin Bedell came in third and led the Bears to a second-place finish.

Defending champion Colorado finished in fifth, 101 points behind Texas Tech.

The ISU women struggled to a ninth-place finish.

“We were 22 points out of eighth, I feel like we could have been maybe 20 to 25 points better today if everything would have gone perfectly,” Ihmels said after looking at the women’s results.

Freshmen Meaghan Nelson and Dani Stack led the way for the Cyclone women, finishing 33rd and 36th, respectively. Junior Paige Ties came in just 12 seconds behind them.

“Our one-two did a great job, both true freshmen, top 36 in the conference,” Ihmels said of Nelson and Stack. “That bodes well for the future, we’re really excited. They did a great job.”

“Next year we get to add [All-Americans] Lisa Koll and Grace Kemmey, and that’s just going to make our team that much stronger.”

Ihmels had hoped his women would finish in the top half when he addressed the media early last week. Nonetheless, he was pleased with his teams’ performances.

“I felt like they came to the course today, ran hard and competed really well.”