Cross Country

Before the Oregon football team took the field Saturday, the Ducks already had two wins under their belt.
The Oregon men’s and women’s cross country teams both took first place Saturday morning as they entered “B” teams in Oregon State’s Beaver Classic.
Freshman Nicole Feest won the overall race for the women, finishing the 4,000-meter course in 14 minutes, 11 seconds.
Eleanor Gordon, a recent addition to the Oregon squad, took second in the meet. The freshman ran the course in 14:16. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Bryant came in shortly behind her teammates, completing the race in 14:34 and earning a third-place finish overall.
The Oregon women won the small meet, earning 23 points. The Portland squad finished second with 42 points.
Freshman Krissy Sonniksen (14:44) finished fourth for the Ducks and seventh overall, while redshirt freshman Haripurkh Khalsa (15:02) took 15th overall and fifth for Oregon. Also running were freshman Chelsea Manesh (15:35), who finished 21st overall and sophomore Beth Jackson (16:34) who took 33rd overall.
The men’s race featured eight Oregon freshmen running the 5,000-meter race.
Shane Ahlers led the Oregon men with a seventh-place finish and a time of 18:39. Collin Stark-Benz (18:47) finished ninth overall and second for the Ducks, while Jan Olszowy (18:53) was third for Oregon and 13th overall.
“They did a real nice job,” men’s head coach Martin Smith said.
Ryan Flaherty (19:16) finished 19th overall and fourth for the Ducks. Ricky Scott (20:34) came in fourth for Oregon and 36th overall, and Kyle Sutherland (22:01) finished 44th overall and fifth for the Ducks. Tomas Finol (22:02) finished 45th overall and Adam Bailey (22:53) closed out the Oregon squad, finishing the race in 49th place.
“It was an opportunity for some of our young freshmen to compete,” Smith said.
Oregon won the meet with 32 points. Willamette came in second with 44.
Saturday, both Duck squads travel to Pasadena, Calif. to take on the rest of the Pacific-10 Conference in its championship meet.