Cross Nation Set for Big 12 Championships Friday Morning – College of Cincinnati Athletics

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The fifth and biggest event to date is on the horizon for the Cincinnati cross country teams, who will both race Friday morning in the Big 12 Championships, hosted by Kansas.

Friday’s action will also air on ESPN+, with the men’s 8K beginning at 11 a.m. ET and the women’s 6K at noon ET from Rim Rock Farm.

The Bearcats’ 2024 trip to Baylor saw the men finish eighth and the women 11th, succeeding its inaugural 2023 season where the men were seventh and women 10th at Iowa State.

Sophomore Nickson Kogei headlines the men’s side, with his 22:39.4 in the 8K at Notre Dame’s Joe Piane Invitational serving as the best time for the Bearcats, in addition to winning that loaded field. Lucas Towne and Seth Elking have each been second and third, respectively, in each event to date.

Freshman Ann Lemirisho, who joins Kogei as stars from Kenya, finished third out of 255 in the Spartan Invite/B1G Preview and has led the UC pack in every women’s meet. Claire Curtsinger, the Bearcats’ top finisher in each event last year, has been second in each one this season, including the entire fields of the RedHawk Rumble and Angel Mounds Invitational.

The Big 12 boasts three men’s teams in the top eight: No. 1 Iowa State, No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 8 BYU. All three of those teams are ranked on the women’s side, including No. 1 BYU plus No. 16 Colorado and No. 18 Utah.