Oklahoma State claimed another Big 12 indoor track champion on Saturday as Colby Lowe won the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:03.11. Lowe’s crossed the line more than six seconds ahead of second-place David Adams of Nebraska. The Southlake, Texas, native finished fourth in the 3,000 meters at the 2009 indoors.The Big 12 title continued Oklahoma State’s recent dominance of the 3,000 meters at the Big 12 indoors. Ryan Vail claimed the title in 2008, while German Fernandez was the Big 12 champion a year ago. Lowe became the sixth Cowboy all-time to win the 3,000 meters at the Big 12 Championships.
“He did a great job,” Cowboy coach Dave Smith said. “He ran exactly how we wanted him to run. I’m happy for him. Good for him, it’s his first Big 12 championship.”
Lowe’s time was also almost two seconds lower than the NCAA provisional mark of 8:05.00. The time improved on Lowe’s previous 3,000 meter provisional time by nearly half a second.
The Cowboy milers opened the action on day two, with Jonathan Stublaski scoring three team points with a sixth-place finish in a time of 4:15.25.
In the 800 meter finals, Raul Botezan added to OSU’s team score with a fifth-place finish. The Cluj-Napoca, Romania, native clocked a time of 1:51.05 and earned four team points.
“We had a rough meet; it didn’t go near as well as wanted,” Dave Smith said. “We had some guys run well, but they are young guys. I was thrilled with Taylor Monaghan. Raul ran tough in the 800 he just didn’t have enough in the end. He ran tough, but he’s a miler and when he moves back up to his natural distance he’s going to have a great outdoor season.”
