LUBBOCK, Texas — Colorado's grasp on the Big 12 Conference men's and women's cross country championships is domination defined.

The CU men's team has won the title in all 12 years of conference history, including another strong effort Friday at Rawls Golf Course on the Texas Tech campus. The women won for the ninth consecutive time and the 14th time in the past 15 conference seasons.

The one constant in that time is coach Mark Wetmore.

"Boulder is the perfect place to build a distance-running team and CU is the perfect school to build a distance-running team," Wetmore said. "I've been lucky to have the support of all the administrators during my 15 years at CU and great athletes who are willing to work hard.

"They recruit each other. Once you get good a little bit, if you pick the right athletes, then they attract the right athletes."

One of those athletes is Jenny Barringer, who finished second in the women's 6,000-meter race behind her nemesis in the sport, Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego.

Kipyego led throughout and appeared to be on her way to another easy victory. She won last year's individual title with a 45-second cushion over Barringer. But at the halfway point, Barringer began to make up ground and she was closing in the home stretch, forcing to Kipyego to look over her shoulder at one point to gauge the distance.

"Today I had to run fast the last part of the race because I knew she was coming," Kipyego said. "I felt that part of the race was really hard today."

Kipyego won in 19 minutes, 22.50 seconds — only nine second ahead of Barringer. Lisa Koll of Iowa State finished third in a distant 20:11.15."I'm not satisfied," Barringer said after cutting so much time off Kipyego's victory from one year to the next. "I'm dying for a conference championship."

CU won the team race with 59 points and five runners finishing in the top 25. Texas Tech was second 83 points and Nebraska was third a score of 98.

Led by senior Brent Vaughn's first-place finish in 24 minutes, 22.30 seconds, a surprising second- place effort from sophomore Kenyon Neuman in 24:35.50 and Stephen Pifer's fourth-place finish in 24:46.30, the fifth-ranked Buffs men claimed the team title with 34 points.

Vaughn's win snapped a three-year run of first-place finishers from Kansas in the 8,000-meter race.

Oklahoma State finished second in the men's team standings with 48 points thanks to a strong third- place finish by Ryan Vail, and Texas finished third as a team with 58 points.

The CU men might not be the favorite to win their fourth national championship since 2001 on Nov. 19 at the national championships, but it wouldn't be a surprise if it happened. Wetmore said the Buffs are right where they need to be to have a chance, especially after Friday's performance.

The veteran coach spoke to both the men's and women's teams earlier in the week about running one race at a time and not taking for granted another shot at a conference championship. It proved to be sage advice on what most of the runners said was a more-difficult-than-expected course.

"People think it gets old because we've won 12 in a row now or something, but every time it feels great," Vaughn said. "I mean the Big 12 has a lot of really great teams and Mark really had to prepare us this week because we were really worried about the other Big 12 teams. We took this seriously today and got it done."

Both the CU men's and women's team victories came, in part, because of surprising performances by unheralded runners. Neuman's second-place finish in the men's race was the best of his career. He finished 21st in the conference meet in 2006 but did not score because he was the sixth CU racer across the finish line.

"I'm really happy," he said. "I didn't expect to finish that high."

Big 12 Cross Country MEN

Team scores — 1. Colorado, 34; 2. Oklahoma State, 48; 3. Texas, 58; 4. Iowa State, 139; 5. Texas A&M, 166; 6. Missouri, 195; 7. Kansas, 198; 8. Texas Tech, 204; 9. Oklahoma, 205; 10. Nebraska, 230; 11. Kansas State, 318; 12. Baylor, 345.

Top individuals — 1. Brent Vaughan, Colorado, 24:22.39; 2. Kenyon Neuman, Colorado, 24:36.59; 3. Ryan Vail, Oklahoma State, 24:36.89; 4. Stephen Pifer, Colorado, 24:46.39; 5. Colby Wissel, Kansas, 24:51.14; 6. Erik Stanley, Texas, 24:53.14; 7. Kyle Miller, Texas, 24:55.29; 8. David Chirchir, Oklahoma State, 25:02.69; 9. Leonel Manzano, Texas, 25:04.09; 10. Sean Fleming, Oklahoma State, 25:04.19.

Other CU finishers — 11. Peter Janson, Colorado, 25:04.39; 16. Brad Harkrader, Colorado, 25:16.39; 17. Richard Medina, Colorado, 25:17.49; 24. Chris Pannone, Colorado, 25:33.94; 33. Matt Tebo, Colorado, 25:53.39; 64. Rob Thayer, Colorado, 26:43.99.

WOMEN

Team scores — 1. Colorado, 59; 2. Texas Tech, 83; 3. Nebraska, 98; 4. Baylor, 155; 5. Oklahoma State, 156; 6. Oklahoma, 170; 7. Iowa State, 175; 8. Texas A&M, 176; 9. Texas, 177; 10. Missouri, 193; 11. Kansas, 254; 12. Kansas State, 257.

Top individuals — 1. Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech, 19:22.50; 2. Jennifer Barringer, Colorado, 19:29.30; 3. Lisa Koll, Iowa State, 20:11.15; 4. Irene Kimaiyo, Texas Tech, 20:28.15; 5. Grace Kemmey, Iowa State, 20:32.25; 6. Erin Marston, Colorado, 20:53.10; 7. Jessica Eldridge, Oklahoma, 20:54.00; 8. Sara Vaughan, Colorado, 20:56.95; 9. Lara Crofford, Nebraska, 20:59.15; 10. Lauren Hagans, Baylor, 21:00.70.

Other CU finishers — 18. Laura Thweatt, Colorado, 21:34.10; 25. Aislinn Ryan, Colorado, 21:51.70; 39. Jen Hooper, Colorado, 22:10.25; 52. Anna Chase, Colorado, 22:34.50; 55. Allison Sawyer, Colorado, 22:39.15; 61. Allison Eckert, Colorado, 22:50.25.