For the second straight year, the Oregon men will make the trip to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., as regional champions.
They’ll have company this time.
The Oregon women finished second at Saturday’s NCAA West Regional Championships at the Springfield Country Club, clinching their first berth at the national meet since 2000.
“Both teams got the job done,” head coach Vin Lananna said.
Two weeks after edging No. 5 Arizona State and No. 7 Washington for second place by four points each at the Pacific-10 Championships, the No. 2 Duck women easily managed to claim the second and final automatic qualifying spot behind No. 1 Stanford. The Cardinal won the meet with 33 points, followed by the Ducks with 72, Arizona State with 106 and Washington with 118.
“For us to come out like this, finish second, have a guaranteed spot to nationals and feel good going into it, it’s really great,” sophomore Nicole Blood said.
The men had an easier time of it, dominating with five runners in the top 16, led by Galen Rupp’s win, to score 47 points. No. 20 Portland upset No. 8 Stanford and No. 10 California, claiming second with 76 points.
“We ran unbelievable today,” Rupp said. “Our main goal here was just to make sure we got in the top two and got the automatic bid and we did that without taxing ourselves too much.”

Midway through the race, a lead pack of five runners, including Rupp, Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott and Portland’s David Kinsella, broke away from the field. Rupp pulled away in the last mile to finish in 29 minutes, 35.45 seconds. Kinsella was 10 seconds back and Kiptoo-Biwott was third in 30:03.50.
“Pac-10s was a little bit of a rust-buster, but I’m real happy with where I’m at now,” Rupp, who was running in just his second race of the season, said.
Kenny Klotz was Oregon’s third finisher in 30:26.40. Daniel Mercado (15th, 30:32.75) and Scott Wall (16th, 30:34.60) rounded out the scorers for the Ducks.
In the women’s race, a familiar pack of four quickly formed at the front. Stanford’s Arianna Lambie and Teresa McWalters and Oregon’s Alex Kosinski and Nicole Blood, the top four finishers from the Pac-10 meet, pulled away early. Lambie and Kosinski fell off the pace by the end, leaving McWalters and Blood to duel to the finish. McWalters won in 19:57.30 and Blood was second in 20:05.35. Kosinski was sixth in 20:36.45.
“I felt great the entire race,” Blood said.
Bria Wetsch (16th, 20:54.30), Zoe Buckman (21st, 21:02.50) and Sarah Pearson (27th, 21:11.50) were the other scorers for the Ducks.
“We’re thrilled to get to the (NCAA Championships) and see how close we can get to being a trophy team,” Lananna said.
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