Coming into the Big 12 Championships, the Jayhawks wanted to show that they weren’t the team they were at last year’s meet and had hopes of placing in the top half. They may not have placed as high as they wanted with both teams placing in eighth place, but they got more than expected.

Junior Lauren Bonds finished in 15th overall in the Women’s 6K with a time of 21:31. Not only did Bonds place first for the Jayhawks, she also earned All-Big 12 Honors, making her the second woman in the history of Kansas cross country to earn the honors.

“I’m really proud of her.” Freshman Laura Nightengale said. “She deserves it, she works hard and is really dedicated.”

Nightengale placed 91st overall coming back from having to sit out of Pre-Nationals with a stress reaction in her leg. “I had been doing a lot of cross training, which is hard to translate into running. But the rest of the team stepped up and I’m proud of them.”

Right behind Bonds was sophomore Amanda Miller in 38th place with a time of 22:17. It’s the fifth consecutive meet that both Bonds and Miller have finished as the top two performers on the women’s side for the Jayhawks.

“It’s good to have consistency.” Miller said. “Everyone has an off race and it helps to have people you know will do well.”

The women’s team eighth place performance was its second-best showing at the conference championships.

“It was a big step going from 11th to eighth place,” freshman Rebeka Stowe said. “We can only get better because we have such a young team.”

In the Men’s 8K, freshman Donny Wasinger was the top finisher for the team for the second consecutive meet, placing in 28th place with a time of 25:17.

“I went out faster than I had all year and I was little worried mid-race,” he said. “I ended up doing all right, I wanted to finish strong and to shoot for Top 30.”

Junior Bret Imgrund finished 38th overall and second for the team with a time of 25:30, followed by sophomore Nick Caprario in 40th with a time of 25:32.

Caprario felt that the team did a lot better than the previous meet.

“At Pre-Nats a lot of us didn’t hit on the same day,” he said. “At Big 12s a lot of us were on the same page. There was talk of us getting 11th in conference and everyone did a good job rising to the call.”

“The Big 12 is one of the premier conferences, and to be lined up with teams like Colorado, Oklahoma State and Texas is always fun.”

Next on the team’s schedule are the Midwest Regional Championships in Stillwater, Okla. on November 15th. It previously raced at the OSU Jamboree back in early October and the team is looking forward to returning.

“There will be a good mix of teams from the Big 12 and the Big Ten,” said Miller. “We want to go in and make them think we should’ve been higher ranked.”

— — Edited by Arthur Hur