November 10, 2026 | Cross Country
BOULDER — For the first time since 2007, the Big 12 Conference title belongs to Colorado men's cross country. The Buffaloes won their 13th conference championship by two points, with Dominic Serem finishing second and Meshack Kipruto fourth. Colorado won without the individual champion, and won as a pack.
"It was a great weekend for our program," CU Head Coach Sean Carlson said.
The No. 2 men's and No. 9 women's teams have both had standout seasons. The men finished in the top three at every meet, and the women placed fourth at the Big 12 Championships. Both groups' strong performances are fueled by the Buffaloes' unique ability to run as a pack, which lends itself to the team scoring of NCAA Division I cross country.
Here's what fans should know about how scoring works.
CROSS COUNTRY SCORING:
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Similar to golf, the lowest score wins.
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Points are based on runners' placements. A runner who finishes second scores two points for their team.
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Each team's top five finishers score. The sixth and seventh runners don't score, but they act as "displacers," pushing opposing runners back a spot and raising those teams' scores.
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Teams can enter five to 12 runners. A team receives a Did Not Finish (DNF) if fewer than five of its runners complete the race.
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Women's races are typically 6K and men's races 8K. At regionals, the men run 10K.
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32 teams advance to nationals. The top two teams from each of the nine regions (18 total) qualify automatically, and the remaining teams are selected at large based on regular-season performance.
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In the event of a tie between teams, the placements of the five finishers of each team will be compared in order, the first finishers against the first and so on. For example, if the first place finisher for Colorado placed second and the first place finisher for Oklahoma State got third overall, Colorado would win the comparison. The team with the majority of winning comparisons will win.
RUNNERS TO WATCH:
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Meshack Kipruto won both the Roadrunners Invitational (24:00.0) and the Nuttycombe Invitational (22:30.1). His Nuttycombe time broke both the meet record and the 8K course record. The freshman placed fourth at the Big 12 Championships (23:10.3) and earned all-Big 12 honors.
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Dominic Serem was the Big 12 runner-up (23:06.9) in his first race of the season and earned all-Big 12 honors. The senior ran a personal-best 29:18.0 in the 10K at last year's NCAA Championships and was the 2024 MAC Champion at Toledo.
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Adrianna Buitelaar won the Roadrunners Invitational (20:41.87) in her freshman season. She has since placed 16th at Nuttycombe (19:38.8) and 25th at the Big 12 Championships (20:34.8).
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Sheylah Kurgat has been Colorado's top women's finisher in every race she has run. The freshman placed seventh at Nuttycombe (19:24.3) and eighth at the Big 12 Championships (19:46.7).
UP NEXT: The Buffaloes head to Albuquerque, N.M., for the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m. MT.
