In his first race of the 2008 cross country season, senior Galen Rupp made winning look easy.
Rupp cruised to the Pacific-10 Conference championships individual title in a record time of 22:55.14 at Springfield Country Club, and Oregon placed two other runners in the top five as the Ducks collected their third straight Pac-10 team title.
“We wanted to get off to a good start. We just wanted to keep our momentum going,” Rupp said. “We got the job done today.”
The No. 1 Ducks outpaced No. 2 Stanford in the team standings, 28 to 47. No. 24 Washington tied No. 24 Cal (both teams were tied in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll) with 104 points, but the Huskies’ sixth runner placed higher than the Bears’, allotting them third place.
The Oregon men, as is their wont, started the race in a large pack and positioned themselves in the front from the get-go. After a third of the race, freshman Luke Puskedra and redshirt senior Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott had distanced themselves from the pack, and Rupp had distanced himself beyond them.
More than halfway through, with Rupp figuratively miles ahead of the rest of the field, Puskedra began to break away from Kiptoo-Biwott, and as the race neared its conclusion, Kiptoo-Biwott found himself once again immersed in the front pack.
Puskedra took second in 23:32.11, but Stanford freshman Chris Derrick finished strong, taking third in 23:38.17. Derrick’s teammate, Garrett Heath, finished fourth in 23:41.18. Kiptoo-Biwott, the 2007 Pac-10 individual champion, clocked in at 23:42.50 for fifth place.
“Luke is very tough and a great competitor,” Oregon head coach Vin Lananna said. “The kid is really emotionally, psychologically tough. He’s for real.”
Redshirt sophomore Andrew Wheating applied his patented 800m finishing kick to the Pac-10s, running the majority of the race from behind the front pack before gaining position in the last 1,000 meters.
Wheating took ninth place in 23:46.79 and was followed closely by teammates Matthew Centrowitz (11th, 23:47.95) and Curtis Suver (12th, 23:48.89).
Redshirt sophomore Danny Mercado finished in 17th place with a time of 24:10.71.
Junior Kenny Klotz, competing in his first race of the 2008 season, finished in 23rd place in 24:26.71 and was the eighth Duck to cross the finish line. Klotz finished 37th at the 2007 NCAA Championships, garnering All-American honors.
Redshirt senior Chris Winter finished 27th overall (24:31.96) and redshirt senior Scott Wall finished in 42nd place (24:56.46).
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