Colorado Men Four-Peat, Oregon Women Win Title at Pac-12 Championships
OAKLAND, Calif. – With all five of their scoring runners crossing the finish line in the top eight, the top-ranked COLORADO men captured their fourth-consecutive Pac-12 Men’s Cross Country title in Oakland on Friday morning at the Metropolitan Golf Links. On the women’s side, OREGON claimed its second Pac-12 Women’s Cross Country crown in three years. In the individual races, ARIZONA STATE’s Shelby Houlihan and OREGON’s Edward Cheserek were the top finishers.
The tape-delayed coverage of the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships will air on the Pac-12 Networks on Monday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. PT. Check pac-12.com for times and air dates.
The defending NCAA and Pac-12 Champion Buffs scored 30 points to win the league crown. Colorado has been ranked the No. 1 team in the country all season, receiving all first-place votes each week. It is the first time since STANFORD won six in a row from 2000-05 a team has claimed four-straight league titles.
“I’ve been at this long time and we’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of good things happen to us,” said Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore said. “It feels great, but I always put it in big perspective and know that we have more work to do in the next couple of weeks … They had a great run and I'm really happy with them.”
A sophomore from Newark, N.J., Edward Cheserek defended his title from last year, pulling away from the pack at around the 5k mark. Cheserek became only the third Duck to win back-to-back titles in the program’s history, joining Steve Prefontaine (1970 and 1971) and Jim Hill (1982 and 1983) in the category. He is the fourth to win a pair of Conference titles with Galen Rupp winning in 2006 and 2008.
In one of the most competitive races in the country, five of the nine teams in the field were ranked in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) top 12 poll. The second-ranked Ducks scored 57 points to place second, followed by No. 9 STANFORD with 60 points, No. 12 WASHINGTON with 87 points and No. 11 UCLA with 168 points was fifth.
In sixth place was ARIZONA STATE with 182 points, edging out host-CALIFORNIA, who collected 189 points for seventh place. ARIZONA had 206 points for eighth place, and WASHINGTON STATE was ninth with 224.
The top-two individual men’s finishers were Ducks, with Eric Jenkins crossing in second place with a time of 23:34, behind Cheserek’s winning time of 23:23. The Cardinal’s Joe Rosa was third with a time of 23:37, and the next five runners were Buffs: Blake Theroux (4th, 23:42), Connor Winter (5th, 23:44), Ammar Moussa (6th, 23:49), Pierce Murphy (7th, 23:53) and Ben Saarel (8th, 23:54). Stanford’s Maxim Korolev (23:56) and Cal’s Chris Walden (23:57) rounded out the top 10, placing ninth and 10th, respectively.
The 1,500-meter NCAA Champion in track and field in the spring, and a top-10 finisher at the 2013 NCAA Cross Country Championships, ASU’s Shelby Houlihan (Sioux City, Iowa) crossed the finish line in a time of 19:59 becoming the first Sun Devil since Amy Hastings in 2004 to win the league’s individual women’s crown. Houlihan crossed four seconds ahead of STANFORD’s Elise Cranny (20:04). CALIFORNIA freshman Bethan Knights was the third-place finisher with a time of 20:17.
Third-ranked OREGON had all of its scoring runners place in the top 15, led by sophomore Frida Berge, who placed sixth overall (20:25) and 10th-place finisher Waverly Neer (20:32), and scored 54 points for the team crown. All seven UO participants were in the top 20. Half of the women’s field was also ranked in the USTFCCCA’s top 30.
“Overall it was a great day for the Ducks. The women executed the same race plan that we’ve used all year and it really came together today," said Oregon head coach Robert Johnson. "The men still have a little work to do but that was a really impressive performance by Cheserek and Jenkins going 1-2 like that.”
No. 11 STANFORD finished second with 74 points, finishing ahead of seventh-ranked COLORADO, who scored 82 points for third place. In fourth was No. 17 WASHINGTON (93), 29th-ranked UCLA was fifth (143) and No. 22 ASU was sixth with 158 points.
The host Golden Bears were seventh with 185 points, followed by ARIZONA (8th, 200), UTAH (9th, 241) and WASHINGTON STATE (10th, 246). In 11th place was USC with 336 points and OREGON STATE was 12th with 342 points.
Other notable finishers in the top 10 were UCLA’s Kelsey Smith, who placed eighth in a time of 20:29, and WASHINGTON STATE’s Abby Regan, who was ninth, clocking a time of 20:30.
All teams look to the NCAA Regional meet on Friday, Nov. 14 with the West Regional hosted by Stanford, and the Mountain Regional taking place the same day in Albuquerque, N.M. Teams and individuals that advance go on to compete for the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 22.
PAC-12 CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Friday, Oct. 31, 2014
Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland
WOMEN’S RESULTS
1. Oregon 54
2. Stanford 74
3. Colorado 82
4. Washington 93
5. UCLA 143
6. Arizona State 158
7. California 185
8. Arizona 200
9. Utah 243
10. Washington State 246
11. USC 336
12. Oregon State 342
INDIVIDUAL WOMEN’S RESULTS
1. Shelby Houlihan, ASU 19:59
2. Elise Cranny, STAN 20:04
3. Bethan Knights, CAL 20:17
4. Erin Clark, COLO 20:19
5. Maddie Meyers, WASH 20:21
6. Frida Berge, ORE 20:25
7. Maddie Alm, COLO 20:28
8. Kelsey Smith, UCLA 20:29
9. Abby Regan, WSU 20:30
10. Waverly Neer, ORE 20:32
MEN’S RESULTS
1. Colorado 30
2. Oregon 57
3. Stanford 60
4. Washington 87
5. UCLA 168
6. Arizona State 182
7. California 189
8. Arizona 206
9. Washington State 224
INDIVIDUAL MEN’S RESULTS
1. Edward Cheserek, ORE 23:23
2. Eric Jenkins, ORE 23:34
3. Joe Rosa, STAN 23:37
4. Blake Theroux, COLO 23:42
5. Connor Winter, COLO 23:44
6. Ammar Moussa, COLO 23:49
7. Pierce Murphy, COLO 23:53
8. Ben Saarel, COLO 23:54
9. Maxim Korolev, STAN 23:56
10. Chris Walden, CAL 23:57