O'Bryan signs with Tulsa

[Chris Harmon]

By Michael Bauer
mbauer@morningsun.net
Posted Nov. 16, 2015 at 10:42 PM

Pittsburg, Kan.

Jenny O’Bryan’s cross country career has included many firsts, and that’s not just including first-place finishes at meets.

The senior at St. Paul high school was a part of the first cross country varsity squad during her freshman season. A year later, she became the first individual cross country state champion from St. Paul, winning the Class 1A State Title for three consecutive years. This past season, the Indians took third place as a team in Wamego, the first such honor for the program.

Now, she has become the first cross country runner from St. Paul to run at the collegiate level.

On Monday, O’Bryan signed her letter of intent to run at the division I level, signing with the University of Tulsa.

O’Bryan will run cross country and track for the Golden Hurricane.

“I’m really excited to be competing at the division I level,” O’Bryan said. “That’s something that I never imagined would be possible. They also have great academics, and I’ll be surrounded by good people academically as well. The team was really welcoming. The coaches were nice too.”

O’Bryan chose Tulsa over other division I schools, including Oklahoma State, Kansas and Kansas State.

"When I compared (the other schools) to Tulsa, everything just felt right,” O’Bryan said of her decision to choose Tulsa. “Nowhere else felt like Tulsa.”

She also feels comfortable about the distance from home.

“I wanted to get a little bit away from home, but not too far away,” O’Bryan said. “I want to be able to come home if something happens.”

O’Bryan won the 2015 State Championship Meet in a time of 20:06.10, beating out Robyn Selzer of Wallace County by 24 seconds.

The Indians finished third as a team with 50 points, beating out Tescott by 14 points for a state trophy.

Centralia and Greeley County both finished second and first, respectively.O’Bryan says she’ll miss competing at state the most in her cross country career.

“The state meets are certainly a lot of fun,” O’Bryan said. “I also made a lot of friends from surrounding schools that we’ve gotten really close to as far high school and athletics.”

At the 2015 Class 1A Regional meet, O’Bryan was first in a time of 20:19.41, helping her team to a first place finish with 29 points.In track, O’Bryan will be running long distance.

 

[Chris Harmon]

From Parson Sun...

ST. PAUL — For the last three years, Jenny O’Bryan of St. Paul has stormed through the cross country ranks, winning three consecutive KSHSAA 1A state titles. So perhaps it’s fitting that one of Kansas’ best female runners will continue her career as a Golden Hurricane.

The 11-time state medalist in both cross country and track signed a letter of intent to run with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane cross country team on Monday, becoming the first St. Paul High School athlete to commit to play Division I collegiate athletics straight out of high school since 1992.

“I would have never imagined that,” O’Bryan said of her chances of becoming a D-I athlete.

“I knew probably sophomore year that I probably would get to run in college, but I didn’t know what level,” O’Bryan said. “By my junior year, maybe winter, I figured maybe Division I would be a reach. But I met with some coaches and saw it was attainable, so that’s when I decided.”

O’Bryan, who is currently the KSHSAA 1A defending state champion in cross country as well as the girls 3200-meter and 1600-meter runs, also took official visits to Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Her and her family also unofficially visited Arkansas and Pittsburg State.

Arguably the most distinguished athlete in school history, O’Bryan decided to commit to Tulsa — her first visit — after seeing the level of commitment from the team.

“Mainly, the team was really, really welcoming,” O’Bryan said. “The coaches are great as well, they have great academics and the girls know how to work hard. I saw that on my visit, and I really liked that about them.”

The women’s cross country team at Tulsa has won four conference championships in its history, including back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014. The Golden Hurricane now compete in the American Athletic Conference.

O’Bryan’s father, David, who recently ran the Boston Marathon the year of the attacks, said his daughter along with him were sold on Tulsa early in the recruiting process.

He also indicated that he tried to remove himself and allow his daughter to make the decision on her own.

“As far as guiding her, I felt really good about Tulsa from the time the assistant coach visited our house in August, before we ever set foot on campus down there,” David O’Bryan said. “I liked the sound of it. But as far as guiding her, I tried to keep my mouth shut.”

David O’Bryan prided himself on his daughter not only earning a chance to run at Tulsa, but to continue her academic career at a university that accepted just 38 percent of female applicants according to the U.S. Department of Education online statistics.

For O’Bryan, who registered a 28 on her ACT and plans to major in accounting, she still has a track season this spring to complete before heading south. Should she medal in the same three events she competed in last season, including titles in the 3200-meter and 1600-meter races, she’ll finish her career as a 14-time state medalist.

 

[TU_BLA]

Fitting. Both the men's and women's teams finished in the top 25 Cross Country polls this season and head into the NCAA Championships. Coach Gulley has done a great job since coming to TU and not enough people know what he has accomplished, much of it without the benefit of having a track complex his first few years on campus.