Men's team
Oklahoma State men's cross country first began in 1917, under the leadership of Ed Gallagher. The team cycled through head coaches with limited success until hiring Ralph Higgins in 1935. Under Higgins, the Cowboys would make their first NCAA Cross Country Championship appearance in 1939, where they would finish 5th. When they made their return 15 years later, they made it count, winning the 1954 national championship in a dominant performance, beating runner–up Syracuse by over 50 points. [4]
Throughout the rest of the century and into the 2000's, the Cowboy cross country team would maintain reasonable success, winning a handful of Big Eight conference titles and NCAA championship appearances, but they struggled at posing to be a national championship threat against the likes of Arkansas, Oregon and Stanford, until Dave Smith's hiring in 2006. [5]
The hiring of Dave Smith instantly elevated Oklahoma State into being one of the best cross country teams in the country. The Cowboys won their first conference championship in 13 years in 2008, when Smith led the team to their first Big 12 conference title. [6] One year later, Oklahoma State finally won their second national title, winning the 2009 national championship over Oregon. [7] The Cowboys immediately won their 3rd national title in 2010, blowing out 2nd–place Florida State by 120 points. [8] After a 2nd–place finish in 2011, Oklahoma State won their third national title in four years in 2012, the school's 4th championship overall. [9] During this time, they dominated the Big 12, winning nine straight conference championships from 2008–2016. The Cowboys resumed their dominance in 2020, winning another four straight conference titles from 2020–2023 and claiming the school's 5th national championship in 2023, beating the powerhouse Northern Arizona team, 49–71. [10]
Women's team
The Oklahoma State Cowgirls cross country program began in 1978. A decade later, the Cowgirls made their first of 17 NCAA Cross Country Championship appearances in 1988, where they finished 11th. The program had mixed success, highlighted by a 1986 Big Eight conference title and a 5th place finish at the 1989 NCAA Championship, but it again was Dave Smith who brought the most success to the Cowgirl program when he was hired to the position in 2009.
Under Smith, the women's cross country team has won four conference titles, winning the Big 12 in 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2022. [11] The Cowgirls have also scored their best national finishes recently, finishing 7th in 2015 before scoring a 4th–place finish in 2022. In 2023, the program claimed a 3rd–place finish, only 33 points behind the national champions, the best finish ever for the program. [12]
