LIVE STATS
Smith Named Big 12 Coach of the Year
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Dave Smith

Dave Smith

Nov. 3, 2009

STILLWATER, Okla. - For the second consecutive year, Oklahoma State's Dave Smith is the Big 12 men's cross country coach of the year, it was announced today.

Smith led the Cowboys to their second straight Big 12 title last Saturday, with OSU runners claiming each of the top four spots in the race to place first in the team standings by a wide margin. In cross country, the top five runners count toward the team score and for the third straight year under Smith, each of the Cowboys' top five runners earned all-Big 12 honors by placing in the top 15 overall at the conference championship.

"It's a great honor to get this kind of coaching recognition, but this is more of a team award than it is an individual award," Smith said. "The guys did a great job out there. They executed our plan very well and ended up winning the Big 12 championship. I'm very proud of this group and look forward to lining up at the NCAA Championships in a couple weeks."

Ryan Vail became the fifth Cowboy runner to win an individual conference title when he placed first Saturday with a time of 24:50.67. He is the second Oklahoma State runner in as many years under Smith to claim the league's top spot, as German Fernandez won the conference individual crown last year.

"You really give a lot of credit to Coach Smith," Vail said. "Winning a conference title is hard enough to do just once, but to come back and win it again with everyone now gunning for us just shows how good of a coach he is. He led us to the title when nobody expected it last year and then led us to the title when a lot of people expected it this year."