AUGUSTA, Kan. – A familiar sight emerged during the 2020 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships that fans of The American have grown familiar to witnessing. When all was said and done at the 4 Mile Creek Resort on Saturday morning, Tulsa was once again raising the team hardware across both genders and Wichita State’s Winny Koskei staked her claim as the most decorated cross country student-athlete in conference history with a third straight individual win.
The Tulsa men earned a seventh straight championship since joining The American in 2014, tying a championship record score set by the Golden Hurricane just last season with 20 points to win the Men’s 8K team title. Patrick Dever earned his first career American individual championship with a winning time of 23:28.82, outpointing teammate Scott Beattie for the top crown as Beattie earned an equally impressive third straight runner-up trophy after crossing in 23:34:76. Peter Lynch (23:58.62, fourth), Isaac Akers (24:12.39, sixth), Cameron Field (24:35.62, seventh), Shay McEvoy (24:43.36, 10th) and Christian Baker (24:51.57, 12th) rounded out the all-conference performers for Tulsa.
Defending champion Aaron Bienenfeld from Cincinnati found the podium for the third straight season, crossing in 23:36.99 for third place, all-conference honors and to secure a second-place team result for the Bearcats. It was the best team showing for Cincinnati since 2014. Fellow senior Alec Sandusky placed fifth with a time of 24:05.37, while Toni Banos (24:56.20, 13th) and Tyler Wirth (25:01.73, 15th) turned in Cincinnati all-conference showings.
McEvoy added the title of American Men’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year to his plaudits alongside all-conference recognition. Other all-conference finishers were Kristian Holm Jensen from Temple (24:41.60, eighth), Zachary Wyatt (24:42.17, ninth) and Payton Gleason (24:45.97, 11th) from Memphis and Jed Helker from Wichita State (24:58.30, 14th).
Tulsa secured a second straight women’s 6K team championship (fourth overall) with a score of 41 points. Caitlin Klopfer improved on last season’s third-place showing by logging a runner-up time of 20:53.89, followed in the top 10 by teammates Katharina Pesendorfer (21:25.24, sixth) and Caroline Miller (21:33.12, seventh). Abbey Yuhasz (21:53.40, 11th) and Jenny O’Bryan (22:03.75) were additional all-conference performers representing the Golden Hurricane.
Koskei made conference history as the first cross country runner to ever win three individual championships in The American, completing a three-peat that dates back to 2018. She is one of just four runners across both genders to win multiple American championships in cross country, along with the only woman’s runner to win in consecutive seasons. Koskei’s championship time of 20:49.24 was her second-fastest across her three conference title victories. Wichita State was the women’s runner-up for the second straight season after Yazmine Wright (21:12.30, fifth) and McKenna Paintin (22:03.57, 13th) joined Koskei on the all-conference team.
UCF’s Valerie Lastra recorded the best finish by a freshman at the American championships since 2017, crossing the finish line in 21:10.55 for fourth place overall, American Women’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year and all-conference honors. Other all-conference performers included Cincinnati’s Ellie Leather (21:06.14, third), Katrina Patterson (21:59.91, 12th) and Maddie Walker (22:03.84, 15th), East Carolina’s Lindsay Yentz (21:38.31, eighth) and Temple’s Michelle Joyce (21:41.96, ninth) and Lea Kerbiriou (21:50.97, 10th).
Tulsa head coach Steve Gulley and his staff once again captured American Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the Golden Hurricane to the combined team victories.