A few weeks ago, right after the Bill Dellinger Invitational, Oregon women’s cross country coach Maurica Powell said her cross country team just needed to put the blinders on. They did that at the Pre-Nationals Invitational on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, taking the win and upsetting top-seeded Colorado. The men put up a strong showing in the seeded race, placing third.
Not all of the top teams who Oregon will face at NCAAs were in Kentucky for this race, as many of them raced at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin yesterday. There were 8 of the top 25 teams in attendance in Kentucky, according to FloTrack.org. Still, it’s an impressive performance from Oregon.
Sophomore Katie Rainsberger ran 19 minutes, 42 seconds for a fourth place finish, the same place she earned last year at the NCAA Championship race. The rest of the Ducks ran as a pack, with Lilli Bourdon taking seventh. Carmela Cardama Baez, a junior transfer from Florida State, got into the top 15. The final team score for the Ducks was 63 points.
On the men’s side, the pack-running has been the story so far this season. Junior Tanner Anderson was 17th at 23:26. The team had its first six runners in the top 35. Freshmen Cooper Teare ran 23:44 and took 30th place in his second collegiate 8k.
In the unseeded section, Oregon raced six more men. Sophomore Austin Tomagno finished second overall at 24:03. Oregon again finished third, this time with 118 points.
BYU’s Rory Linkletter won the men’s seeded race, which helped his team take home the victory. Scoring five in the top 15, BYU’s total team score was a low 41 points, easily beating the next closest team, Colorado, at 118 points.
The Oregon women have made a statement in the first two races of the season. They and the men will draw on their experience from this race when they return to the course on November 18th for the NCAA Championship.
Follow August Howell on Twitter @howell_august
Oregon women win cross country Pre-Nationals Invitational, men take third
August Howell
October 13, 2017
On Saturday morning, after busting out the rust in the first two races of the season, Jessica Hull came away with a first-place finish at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin. The race served as a preview for the NCAA Championships, which will take place on the same course on …
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