cross country, anyone?
I just finished writing an article that I really hope doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of a football Saturday. The story is about cross country runner German Fernandez, a freshman who’s about to run his first race for OSU. The kid’s unbelievable, all kinds of national awards and records, but here’s my favorite (and please, keep in mind I’m a former mediocre cross country/track runner who’s amazed by these types of things): Last year at the California state meet, the guy went out and ran a four-minute mile, which broke the state record (and keep in mind we’re talking about a pretty competitive running state). Then, TWO HOURS LATER, he went out and shattered the national record in the 3,200. Ridiculous.
I enjoyed chatting with him the other day, along with cross country coach Dave Smith, who has a pretty impressive team this year (they’re currently ranked No. 2 behind Oregon). To put in perspective just how good this team is, they return their top 4 from a team that finished 3rd at NCAAs last year, they add Fernandez and another top recruit in Texan Colby Lowe, and the guy who was the leading scorer at the SEC indoor meet last winter transferred in. So yeah, OSU men’s cross country should be pretty good this year.
by andrea cohen
Reese to LSU
Brad Reese, a junior college basketball player who was committed to Oklahoma State for a nanosecond last month, is now committed to LSU, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.Reese is a sharp-shooting guard. OSU, which has four commitments for the Class of 2009, is still looking for two more players. The Cowboys could use a skilled big man, and would also likely take a shooter if the fit was right.by andrea cohen
Sexton a real linebacker this week
By Scott Wright
Andre Sexton’s move from safety to linebacker was part of an effort to combat the spread offense by getting another player on the field who is fast and capable of covering receivers.
That theory is void this week against Texas A&M, which runs a pro-style offense.
“I haven’t played true linebacker since little league,” Sexton said. “I think this is an opportunity to showcase my physicalness, try to fight some linemen and try to make some tackles in the box. It should be a fun week.”
I don’t know if I’d call it “fun” to have Jorvorskie Lane running full speed at me, but then again, my football career didn’t last terribly long, either. Maybe that had something to do with it.
You! Are you registered to vote!?
After practice and training table, OSU football players head to tutoring sessions by cutting across Gallagher-Iba Arena to the academic center. On Tuesday night they — and a bunch of other OSU athletes — were cut off at the pass by a civic-minded soccer player.
Yolanda Odenyo, the star of the soccer team, headed a little event to get athletes registered to vote. Odenyo, ironically, isn’t a U.S. citizen and can’t vote. That didn’t stop her from spotting people and asking over a microphone if they were registered to vote. For backup she had Monica Dudley, who teaches in the political science department and tutors athletes and was more than happy to explain to everyone why they should vote. But Odenyo was in charge of catching people’s attention.
“Jones!” she bellowed at Richetti Jones. “Are you registered to vote?”
He wasn’t, but now he is. Odenyo didn’t have a final count of how many athletes registered Tuesday, but by my count at least 20 or 25 stopped and filled out the forms (stars among them? Andrea Riley and Kendall Hunter).
by andrea cohen
OSU mid-week links
Looks like there’s some concern about Michael Goodson’s rushing production on multiple levels at Texas A&M.
The Cowboys have extended an offer to a defensive tackle out of Texas, Scout.com tells us.
The Kansas City Star’s Blair Kerkhoff discusses the Big 12 Conference’s great start.
And Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter will face opposition in a man of the same surname this week — Texas A&M’s Trent Hunter, who was Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week for his 17 tackles against Army. The battle of the Hunters isn’t exactly a heavyweight bout. Kendall is 5-foot-8 (barely), 190 pounds and Trent is 5-foot-10, 185.
