Agreement Comes After Successful Live Coverage of 2016 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship on FloTrack.com
Austin, TX (Oct. 5, 2016) – The Big 12 Conference and FloSports announced the expansion of their live stream partnership to include the 2016 Big 12 Cross Country Championship at the Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas. The meet will air live on FloTrack on Saturday, Oct. 29, with the women’s race starting at 10 a.m. CT, followed by the men’s race at 11 a.m. CT. FloTrack and the Big 12 most recently partnered for a live broadcast of the Big 12 indoor track and field championship.
“The Big 12 has been a creative and passionate partner, and like FloSports, they are dedicated to producing their championships at the absolute highest level,” FloSports co-founder and COO Mark Floreani said. “We are incredibly excited to get one of the best conference championships in the nation on FloTrack streaming live.”
Big 12 schools have a proud history in distance running. From 2001 to 2012, Big 12 schools won half of all the men’s NCAA cross country team championships. In 2012, Texas Tech’s Kennedy Kithuka and Iowa State’s Betsy Saina swept the individual cross country titles.
“The Big 12 is excited to be partnered with FloSports for the production and distribution of its cross country championship,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. “Through FloSports, our programs and student-athletes will be exposed to a broad audience of cross country fans.”
FloTrack ranks the men’s and women’s teams from Oklahoma State and Iowa State and the Baylor women in the top 25 in the Saucony Flo50 national rankings. The coaches poll includes Texas men and Kansas women teams as national contenders.
Oklahoma State will attempt to defend its men’s and women’s team titles, but the Iowa State men and Baylor women are strong contenders. Last year was the Cowboys’ eighth-straight conference title and the Cowgirls’ first ever.
Seven Big 12 teams went on to the national championship last year: both the men’s and women’s teams from Oklahoma State and Texas, as well as Oklahoma’s men and the Iowa State and Kansas women.
Iowa State’s Perez Rotich is the defending women’s champion. But she’ll have her hands full with Sharon Lokedi, who finished in the top ten nationally last year in cross country, the indoor 5K, and the outdoor 10K.
Jacob Burcham is the top returner on the men’s side. His Oklahoma teammates were recently featured on FloTrack’s Workout Wednesday series.
To access the live streaming coverage and post-event replays of the 2016 Big 12 Cross Country Championships, users must sign up to become FloPRO subscribers on FloTrack.com. Monthly and annual FloPRO subscriptions on FloTrack are $20 and $150, respectively. Members get access to all live events and replays, our original documentary series, technique videos and more. Yearly subscribers also gain access to premium content across the FloSports network of sites.
ABOUT FLOSPORTS
FloSports is a direct-to-consumer, subscription-based sports media company based in Austin, Texas, that partners with event rights holders and governing bodies to unlock a world of sports coverage that true fans have been waiting for. Through live streaming of premier events, original video programming, and weekly studio shows, FloSports is growing the sports, the athletes and the fans. Current verticals under the FloSports header are Wrestling, Grappling, MMA, Elite Fitness, Boxing, Softball, Gymnastics, Marching, Basketball, Volleyball, eSports, Cheerleading, and Track.
ABOUT BIG 12 CONFERENCE
The Big 12 Conference is comprised of 10 Universities – Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia. It also boasts the following affiliate members for its wrestling championship – Air Force, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming. The Big 12 is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics conference that encompasses five states with over 38 million people within its geographic footprint. In its 20th year, the Conference has produced nearly 600 Academic All-America selections and claimed national championship team titles in 17 of its 23 sponsored sports. Its student-athletes and teams have combined for 587 individual NCAA titles and 54 team national championships. Nearly 5,000 student-athletes from across the United States and around the World compete annually under the Big 12 banner.