The men’s cross country team took fifth place in the Big 12 championship meet last Friday in Lawrence, Kan. The finish, which was the Cyclones’ highest finish in the meet since placing fifth in 2002, was an unsatisfying result, said coach Corey Ihmels.

“I’m a little disappointed in our final place,” Ihmels said. “We wanted to crack into the top four, but we ended up fifth.”

Colorado, ranked No. 2 in the nation, won the meet for the 11th straight year. The Buffaloes finished the meet with five runners in the top 11. No. 27 Texas had a strong race to take second place in the conference. No. 19 Kansas and No. 22 Oklahoma State also bested Iowa State in third and fourth place, respectively.

Although a fifth-place finish is not what the team had set out to do, it is still a respectable finish given the strength of cross country programs in the Big 12. Ihmels said he knew the team would need to run a great race to finish in the top four, and he does not take the result as a failure for his team.

“The conference is really good and not being in those top four teams doesn’t mean we’re not a good team,” Ihmels said.

Sophomore Kiel Uhl led the Cyclones with an eighth-place finish in a time of 24:48.30. Redshirt freshman Guor Majak, running in his first Big 12 meet, took 14th place in a time of 25:09.60. Both runners were awarded all-Big 12 honors for finishing in the top 15.

Ihmels said Uhl gave a great effort and proved once again why he is one of the best runners in the Big 12.

“Kiel did a solid job for us,” he said. “He just got out there and competed hard. He’s one of the top guys in the conference.”

Ihmels said that the fifth-place finish should motivate the team to run better at regionals on Nov. 11 in Minneapolis. He said the effort was there and that the result should be something the team can improve upon as the runners move into next season.

“All in all, I thought the guys competed really hard. They laid it out there and tried to run as a top four team and just came up one place short,” Ihmels said.

“It’s something to build off of for the next two weeks for regionals and then next year for the Big 12 Championships.”

Iowa State finished only six points behind No. 22 Oklahoma State. Finishing behind Iowa State in the meet were Missouri, Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Nebraska and Kansas State.

The meet was won by Kansas junior Colby Wissel. It was the third straight year a Kansas runner took the individual title. The Cyclones’ next competition is the NCAA regional meet Nov. 11 in Minneapolis.