Iowa State did not win the men’s cross country competition at the Big 12 Championships. The Cyclones finished in second place just a few days after multiple runners were suspended for the season due to an undisclosed violation of team rules.
It was a major letdown for the top-ranked team in the country.
I don’t know whether the track and field athletes who were not allowed to participate in the conference championship proved to be the difference between a win and a loss, or if it was just an off day. Either way, I am certain the drama that continues to loom over the program didn’t help to improve performance.
Iowa State finished as the runner-up.
Oklahoma State absolutely dominated the Men’s 8,000-meter at the Big 12 Championships on Friday morning. The Cowboys went 1-2-4-6-7 to finish atop the leaderboard with 20 points.
Brian Musau completed his individual three-peat with a time of 22:53.7.
Iowa State finished 3-5-10-12-13 to finish in second place with 43 points. It was a strong performance but this was supposed to be the year of the Cyclones. They were ranked No. 1 in the country.
The 2025 NCAA cross country national championships are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22 at the Gans Creek course in Columbia, Missouri. Oklahoma State and Iowa State are expected to battle it out with BYU and Northern Arizona.
The Cyclones are dealing with major cross country scandal.
Rumors started to swirl last weekend about potential wrongdoing in Ames. And then Iowa State confirmed it suspended some of its top runners for “breaking team rules” on Sunday.
The names of the suspended athletes were not provided and an exact reason for the suspension remains unclear. However, there are a lot of (unconfirmed) rumors about the use of banned substances by athletes within the program. One specific athlete allegedly snitched on his teammates after getting caught. An investigation remains ongoing.
The Cyclones also revealed which runners are not suspended for the rest of the season, which alludes to those who might be. There are only so many athletes on the roster.
One particular runner at Iowa State, who did not compete at the Big 12 Championships, played a crucial role in a team victory at the Nuttycome Invitational earlier this month. Maybe his lack of place in the lineup proved to be the difference on Friday. Maybe the athletes are struggling to silence the outside noise. Or, perhaps, it was just a bad outing.
The national championships will tell us what we really need to know next month.