Oregon men’s and women’s cross country teams cruised to team and individual victories on Saturday at the Mike Hodges Invitational hosted by Clackamas Community College.
Sophomore Galen Rupp led the way for the men, earning an 18-second victory over teammate Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott.
“For myself, I felt relaxed the whole way, and was able to close hard at the end, so I was happy with my effort,” Rupp said in a press release.
Rupp said that the team executed well and that it was nice to run in another collegiate race.
“I don’t have a lot of collegiate cross-country racing experience, so it was good to get another race under my belt and get back into the race routine,” Rupp said.
Willamette’s Sarah Zerzan finished first for the women, with Oregon senior Dana Buchanan coming in second in the 5,000-meter race. Oregon Sophomore Zoe Nelson followed in third.
Buchanan said that she was pleased with her performance and that if her time were computed for a typical race of 6,000 meters, it would have been a personal best.
“The weather was cool, and the course was really fast, and pretty fun,” Buchanan said. “Even though it was a little short, I still ran the equivalent of a 17:15 5K, which would be a 30-second personal best.”
As a team, the Oregon men were dominant, with members taking nine out of the top twelve spots. The Men of Oregon won with a perfect 15 points, followed by Washington with 67 and Portland with 103.
The Ducks women beat Washington by a score of 24-76.
Though not racing for the team, Oregon runner Rebekah Noble finished fourth, Sarah Pearson came in sixth, Amanda Stopa came in seventh and freshman Lauren Zaludek and redshirt junior Liisa Heinonen rounded out the top ten.
“All our girls ran really well, including Rebekah and Amanda who had especially good races,” Buchanan said. “As a team, coach wanted us to experiment with running in different groups for the first two miles, and then go from there, so that was a good experience for Pac-10s.”
The Ducks next meet will be the Beaver Cross Country Classic on Saturday in Corvallis, Ore. The women’s 6,000-meter race begins at 9:45 a.m. and the men’s 8,000-meter contest follows at 10:45 a.m.
Rupp said the team wanted the use the race to prepare for the Oct. 28 Pac-10 Championships at Stanford University.
“The goal for Shadrack and I was to go out harder to get used to how it will feel at Pac-10s,” Rupp said. “And from there, the other guys would key off us.”