Oct. 27, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - Baylor's men's cross country team ran to a fourth place finish and the women came in sixth overall Saturday at the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla.

The men's fourth place finish marks BU's best ever placing at the Big 12 Championships. The women had not finished as high in the conference standings since the 1998 season when they placed fifth overall.

Colorado swept the team titles scoring just 31 points in the men's race and 33 points in the women's race. Oklahoma State and Texas A&M finished second and third in the men's race scoring 93 and 104 points, respectively. Baylor followed close behind the Aggies turning in 125 points.

On the women's side Oklahoma State and Texas rounded out the top-three with 75 and 115 points. Baylor finished with a team total of 145.

Individually, Colorado's Jorge Torres won the men's 8K race with a time of 23:35. Baylor's top finisher was sophomore Matt Chance who placed 10th overall turning in a time of 24:35.5. Nick Devenport and Ferenc Bekesi were the only other Bear runners to finish in the top-20 as Devenport placed 17th (24:47.3) and Bekesi followed in 18th (24:48.8).

After almost a month without running competitively senior Kara Newton returned to true form and paced the Baylor squad finishing 10th in the 6K race ( 21:19.9). Colorado's Molly Austin won the meet with a final time of 20:12.5, besting the second place finisher by more then 10 seconds. Erin Dixon was the only other BU runner in the top-20 as she placed 19th overall (21:41.9).

The Bears will have two weeks off to prepare for the NCAA South Central Regional in College Station on Nov. 10.