Cowboys, Cowgirls compete in own Cowboy Preview

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State men’s and women’s cross country kicked off their respective seasons last Friday morning at the Cowboy Preview in an exhibition on home soil of the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course.

The Cowboys were the first to take the course for the men’s 5K, finishing fourth with 97 points on the day. The exhibition race saw many new faces as a couple freshmen got to take a stab at collegiate cross country. Ayden Granados was the first Cowboy to cross to line with his 15thplace time of 15:26.89. Freshman trio Jacob Deacon, Matthew Thomas and Ian Kemey rounded out the top 20 with their 18th, 19th, and 20th-place finishes, respectively.

On the women’s side, sister duo Grace and Lauren Ping led the Cowgirls with top five finishes. Grace, the older of the two, placed third with her time of 10:42.42. Lauren followed on her tail to secure fourth in her first race as a Cowgirl with a time of 10:42.68. True freshmen Autumn Michalski and Gentry Turner both ran unattached but managed to find their way into the top 10, earning fifth and seventh respectively. As a team the Cowgirls took second at their home exhibition with 46 points overall.

Next up for the Cowboys and Cowgirls is the 86th annual Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 28 in Stillwater. In each of the previous three seasons, the Cowboys and Cowgirls have swept the individual victories with a different winner each time (Isai Rodriguez and Taylor Roe in 2021, Alex Maier and Natalie Cook in 2022 and Billah Jepkirui and Denis Kipngetich in 2023).