Oklahoma State University Athletics
1954 NCAA National Champions
Head coach Ralph Higgins led Oklahoma A&M to the 1954 NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship. The Aggies finished the season with an 8-0 record. OSU was untouchable by season's end, winning the national championship in East Lansing, Mich. A&M landed three runners in the top 10 with all five scorers in the top 23 finishers. The Aggies' winning total of 61 points outdistanced second-place Syracuse by 57 points.
2009 NCAA National Champions
Oklahoma State won its second NCAA men's cross country championship by running as a team. Senior Ryan Vail was the first Cowboy to cross the finish line, placing seventh. Teammates Colby Lowe (eighth), John Kosgei (11th) and Girma Mecheso (24th) earned All-America honors as well to lead the way for OSU, who finished 16 points ahead of second-place Oregon. Coach Dave Smith's Cowboys also won their second-consecutive Big 12 Conference Championship and spent the entire season ranked among the top three teams nationally.
2010 NCAA National Champions
The Oklahoma State men's cross country program repeated as national champions at the 2010 NCAA Cross Country Championships, winning its third overall and second consecutive national title as three Cowboys finished in the top 10 to seal the team championship. The Cowboys dominated the field in the 10,000-meter race and scored just 73 team points, 120 better than runner-up Florida State. Wisconsin was third with 223 points, Stanford was fourth with 237 points and Oklahoma was fifth with 281 points. Oklahoma State's margin of victory is the fourth-largest in the history of the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships.
2012 NCAA National Champions
The Oklahoma State men's cross country team captured its third national championship in four years in 2012 at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. The Cowboys earned 72 points, beating Wisconsin by 63 points to claim the school's 51st NCAA team title in all sports. Just as he's done all year, Girma Mecheso led the Pokes, finishing in fifth place with a time of 29:14.8. That time - his best all season - placed him fourth all-time on OSU's 10,000-meter record list. It was also his best finish ever at the national championships.
2023 NCAA National Champions
A year after missing out on a team title by the narrowest of margins, Oklahoma State rebounded with an emphatic team national championship at the 2023 Division I Men's Cross Country Championships at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va. The Cowboys earned 49 points, the lowest winning score since 2005 (Wisconsin, 37), to secure the program's fifth team time and the university's 53rd overall NCAA national championship. Denis Kipngetich, Brian Musau and Fouad Messaoudi were the first three Cowboys across the line with all three placing in the top 10. Kipngetich scored first for the Cowboys with his fourth-place finish in the 10K at 28:59.7. Kipngetich concluded his historic freshman season as an All-American with his time also serving as the fourth fastest in program history. He beat his previous best 10K best by 40 seconds to etch his name onto OSU's leaderboard.
Â2025 NCAA National Champions
Oklahoma State captured its second national title in three years with a dominant performance at the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Mo. The Cowboys' team score of 57 points tied for the third-best in the history of the NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championships, which have been run since 1938. Brian Musau, Fouad Messaoudi and Denis Kipngetich were the first three Cowboys across the line, finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. The 2025 NCAA title is the program's sixth overall, and No. 55 overall for Oklahoma State University.
