Friday, November 18, 2022
Born to battle
D E Cook-ing time F I N I N I’ll G take him D in battle any A day Y
Sanders' competitiveness key in rise as OSU star
Kasey Dunn felt the need to interject. He wanted to clarify how Spencer Sanders, OSU’s senior quarterback, was feeling when Sanders swapped his black beanie for a helmet and ran onto the frigid Boone Pickens Stadium field where 11 defenders, wanting nothing more than a chance to hit him, stood waiting. A reporter asked Dunn what it meant for the injured Sanders to take the field in a bid to lead a comeback, despite Sanders playing through some pain. “Not some,” Dunn cut in. “A ton of pain.” Sanders’ competitiveness has been a constant factor in his rise at OSU. His burning desire to win was something he had well before he started a game for the Cowboys, and it has been a central attribute as a four-year starter to racking up 30 wins — two behind Mason Rudolph for most wins all-time at OSU. And Sanders’ availability for Bedlam Saturday in Norman — he insists he’ll start — will be vital to the Cowboys’ bid to claim a second straight win in the series and keep OSU’s faint hopes for a spot in the Big 12 title game alive. Sanders’ fourth-quarter heroics to propel OSU to a win against ISU is the latest example of his competitiveness. “It really, I think, instilled confidence in the team and to have a leader like him out there, we all definitely want to have his back and make as many plays and go hard for him,” John Paul Richardson said after the game. His first play upon entering the game for good? A read option. Sanders, listed at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, tucked it and ran,
When: Saturday 6:30 p.m. Where: Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman. TV: ABC
trading the yards for a hit. Classic. “This man lowers his shoulder every week,” defensive end Brendon Evers said earlier this season. “He plays like he’s a 300-pound defensive lineman sometimes running the ball. So a lot of respect for him.” When Dave Henigan was hired as the Denton Ryan High School football coach in 2014, he knew his first task. Talk to the kid. “The first day on the job, I went to Strickland middle school to meet Spencer Sanders,” Henigan said.” During Henigan’s job interview, Joey Florence, the former Denton Ryan coach who hired Henigan, brought up Sanders’ name in passing. As the interview wrapped up, Florence made sure his message was heeded. “(Florence) said, ‘Look, if you want this job, don’t ever forget this name again. His name is Spencer Sanders,’” Henigan said. As a kid, Sanders wanted to be a running back. His father David, who coached him as a child, was on board, but made sure Sanders understood the expectations during a tackling drill. “I said, well you know (running backs) get hit by everybody,” David said. “So I put him in line with the biggest kid we had. He wasn’t scared.” See Sanders on 2A
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Kasey Dunn
When: Saturday; Women's 6K at 9:20 a.m. ; Men's 10K at 10:10 a.m. Where: Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course Tickets: $10 onsite or online at tickets.okstate.edu TV: ESPNU What's at stake: OSU could become first team to win a national championship on its home course
Freshman phenom chasing national championship Ben Hutchens Assistant Sports Editor
Natalie Cook still gets nervous before races. Interesting, considering she’s the most accomplished high school runner to ever don the OSU orange. Cook, a freshman distance runner for the Cowgirls, is preparing for the biggest test of her college career, front and center amid OSU’s hopes to claim a title Saturday in the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships, which the school is hosting at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course. Both the Cowgirls and Cowboys are legitimate contenders for championships, with the women ranked No. 3 and the men’s team ranked No. 4. The Cowgirls are powered by Cook and senior Taylor Roe, each considered among the favorites to win the individual title. And despite so many accolades and much success, Cook said she will still feel butterflies when she toes the line to start. “I just get nervous no matter what that’s just how I am,” Cook said. “I feel like even if you’re the best of the best everyone still has nerves. It just means you actually care.” Cook tells the story of getting her nerves worked up before the Midwest Regional race this year. Because the Cowgirls had already clinched a spot in cross country championships, Dave Smith, director of track and field & cross country, told his team to tempo run the race. Smith wanted the Cowgirls to slow their pace and move up in the pack halfway through. Cook and Roe both felt good and advanced further than Smith instructed them to. Cook said she chatted with Roe the whole time they were together and when they neared the finish line coordinated to both flash a “Go Pokes” sign when they crossed, finishing second and third. “Got a cute little picture out of it so that was fun, but yeah, we were just tempoing it, just talking the entire time, having fun with it,” Cook said. It would have been hard to guess Cook, who coasted to a second-place finish in that race was nervous at the beginning of it. But that’s been how she operates, stretching back to her days running in Texas for Flower Mound High School. See Cooking on 5A
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Sam Hutchens Staff Reporter
I didn’t really expect (the transition from high school to college) to be this smooth, but I’m pleased with how I’ve been doing this year Natalie Cook