Buoyed by experienced senior star Luke Puskedra@@CE@@ and a collection of various freshmen, the No. 23@@goducks@@ Oregon men’s cross country team claimed a third-place@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4337&SPID=238&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205324519@@ finish at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships@@CE@@ this weekend in Litchfield Park, Ariz@@CE@@. The Oregon women didn’t fare as well, taking fourth@@CE@@ behind a third-place@@CE@@ finish by junior Jordan Hasay@@CE@@.
“I thought the guys did a pretty good job, considering we have one senior and the rest of the team is freshmen and sophomores,” associate athletic director Vin Lananna@@CE@@ said to GoDucks.com. “They ran tough. We still have some work to do. Luke (Puskedra) did a great job, and most of our young guys did a good job.”
Competing in their first conference meet ever, Colorado had an impressive showing, grabbing both the men’s and women’s crowns. The Buffaloes’ men’s squad, ranked No. 6@@goducks@@ in the nation, was able to best four ranked teams (No. 4 Stanford, No. 20 UCLA, No. 23 Oregon, and No. 25 Arizona State@@goducks@@) with a total of 46 points@@CE@@. Individually, Arizona freshman Lawi Lalang@@CE@@ dominated, winning the men’s race by eight seconds with a time of 22:37@@CE@@. Puskedra paced the Oregon men with a fifth-place finish, followed by Parker Stinson (7th)@@CE@@, Jeramy Elkaim (20th), Lukas Verzbicas (23rd) and Ryan Pickering (39th).
“In the end, I kept my distance a little bit, and caught myself in the lead,” Puskedra said to GoDucks.com. “It was a good accomplishment. I just kind of have to work on the start. I was diligent in training, so I think it might have been a blessing in disguise starting running later. With everybody that’s coming in around the conference, I just have to race the way I have been.”
The No. 16 Colorado women took the women’s title with 50 points@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4337&SPID=238&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205324519@@, followed by No. 2 Washington and No. 8 Stanford. The next four finishers were No. 11 Oregon, No. 5 Arizona (126), Arizona State (126), No. 10 California (186)@@CE@@. Finishing behind Hasay were Claire Michel (15th), Bronwyn Crossman (17th), Melanie Thompson (22nd) and Molly Grabill (32nd)@@CE all@@. Individually, Katie Flood of Washington took first place with a time of 19:31@@changed from :32: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4337&SPID=238&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205324519@@, followed by Kathy Kroeger@@CE@@ of Stanford and Hasay.
“The whole thing was just to do well as a team, and we didn’t do as well as we wanted, but we just gave it our best,” Hasay said to GoDucks.com. “We have a lot of things to work on for the next couple of races.”
Oregon will now look forward to its next meet, the NCAA West Regional Championship@@ce@@, on Saturday, Nov. 12.