By: Garrett Zatlin
Reminder of the list so far...
#08 Oklahoma State Cowboys
8. Oklahoma State
Cowboys
Flotrack’s #8: Virginia
Cavaliers
Coach: Dave Smith
Notable Departures: Kirubel
Erassa, Shane Moskowitz, David Osborn
Notable Additions: Benito Muniz, Sukhi Khosla
Notable Additions: Benito Muniz, Sukhi Khosla
Projected Scoring
Five: Craig Nowak (SR) [ET#27],
Fabian Clarkson (SR) [ET#28], Cerake
Geberkidane (SO), Brian Gohlke (SR), Vegard Oelstad (SR)
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The powerhouse is back and they are ready to go. Oklahoma State took the 10th spot on Flotrack’s rankings, which is a fair analysis.
They lost a huge piece in Erassa as well as some other veterans that gave
Oklahoma State some back up. However, with the amazing history of success and
Dave Smith at the helm, I’m struggling to put the Cowboys higher. This
group is very experienced and still has some underrated depth that could have
an impact on this team at one point or another.
The issue I have with OKST is the fact that they run so few
meets. It also doesn’t help that the ones they do run are often small and
without any big-time competition. Although considering the success they’ve had,
I don’t imagine that changing anytime soon. The men in orange started their
season off at the Kentucky Bluegrass Invite where they would race teams like
Ohio State, Eastern Kentucky and more. The Cowboys would not run stacked and
instead let their B-team go at it and see how they could do. Even with the
backups in, OKST did extremely well placing second overall, 3 points off from
nationally ranked Eastern Kentucky. Oklahoma State would return back home to
train for another two weeks until they would host a meet of their own,
the Cowboy Jamboree. Small teams from around the area would enter the meet, but
the Cowboys were the only relevant team. This time the Pokes were at full
strength and steamrolled the competition taking spots 1 through 11. The Cowboys
continued to leave the nation in question about just how good this team was. The
next meet on the schedule was the Bronco Invite where Stanford was also set to
run! Finally, we would see two of the top teams in the nation go at it…but not
really. Stanford had sent their B-team and Oklahoma State would once again go on to
win the meet with an uncontested 30 points. Still, no one could figure out just
how good OKST was. But that wait would finally end at BIG-12’s where Oklahoma
State would need to face Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa State, and more to get a
conference title. For the Cowboys however, that would not be a problem. Erassa
took the conference title while Clarkson finished 4th and the rest
of his teammates took spots 6th, 7th and 9th. Oklahoma
State crushed some very solid teams and totaled a score of 27 points! The regular-season hibernation for Oklahoma State seemed to be the right decision.
However, things would only get harder at the Midwest regional with a very
strong Tulsa team that was looking to pull off the upset and finally snag a
regional title. Although things weren’t as smooth as conferences, the Cowboys
still took the title with a convincing 14 point win over the Hurricanes. Erassa
took the title while his teammates Craig Nowak took 8th. The rest of
the pack was slightly spread out with Moskowitz at 11th, Gohlke at 21st,
and Obsborn at 22nd. Fabian Clarkson was given time to rest for the
big dance. With one of their best rested, and the team now rounding into shape
at the right time, Oklahoma State would return to Terre Haute and attempt to
make the podium for the 6th straight time. With Coach Smith
constantly able to have his guys prepared come championship season, it was
impossible to think they wouldn't make the podium. They just had to get on the podium…right? Wrong. The
Cowboys struggled greatly placing 9th overall with a performance that
very few expected. Nowak broke out and had an outstanding race placing 18th
for an All-American spot. His teammate Fabian Clarkson also held his own and
placed 52nd. The junior duo did quite well, but what really crushed
the team score was their much-needed leader in Kirubel Erassa. The talented ace
struggled and fell to 69th. Erassa was at least a top 20
talent so to be (roughly) 50 points back had to hurt. The issue with the
scoring was not Brian Gohlke’s respectable 89th place. It was
freshman Cerake Geberkidane’s 126th place that crushed the team
score and sent the Cowboys way out of position for a podium spot. It just goes
to show how crucial experience can be.
Oklahoma State now enters 2015 looking to avenge their rough
NCAA finish. The biggest problem is that they lose two guys in Erassa and
Moskowitz who played a crucial role in the success of this team the last couple
of seasons. That said, this team still has an outstanding talent in Craig Nowak who will
team up with fellow Cowboy, Fabian Clarkson to lead OKST back to the national
championship and another top 10 finish. However, they will both have to be
All-Americans if they want their team to succeed and I believe that both of these
guys can do it. They now have multiple years of experience at NCAA’s and have
proven that they can run well when it matters. I believe they are huge asset to
this team, which is why I ranked them so highly on my top 50 list. When I look at
the other guys, I’m really high on Cerake Geberdikane. Yes, the rising
sophomore did struggle at NCAA’s, but he was in and out of a deep scoring five
all season and with a big first year of experience under his belt, I’m
expecting him to breakout and surge towards the top of the field. His 14:28 5k
and 8:09 3k indicate he’s on the verge of making a massive jump. Brian Gohlke
and Vegard Oelstad are concrete scorers as well. They were both very consistent
throughout the season and rarely let the score get too high. However, I’m
worried about how much they can improve. If this is a team that is serious
about getting back to the podium then these two will need to drop a good chunk
of spots. I’d also like to see the group get closer together. It seems that
when the Pokes entered the post season, they were a little more spread out and
not as tight of a pack (that’s what happens when you face big time
competition). Of course, there are others on this team that could contribute. Anthony Armstrong has had a very quiet, but quality career under Dave Smith so far. I
expect him to breakout and have a quality season, but for now, I’ll have to hold
him out of the top five until I see him in action. Incoming freshmen Benito
Muniz and Sukhi Khosla are both 4:09 milers. Muniz also has an 18th
place finish at Footlocker on his resume. Clearly the talent for the freshmen is there and to
dismiss them because they’re so young may not be the best idea. Overall,
Oklahoma State has many pieces with firepower up front and a dependable group
of scorers. We may not seem them make much noise to start the season, but come post-season,
that might be a different story.
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