The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in their first true meet of the year with both teams finishing in fourth place.
The women harriers traveled to Seattle’s Lincoln Park on Saturday, competing in the Sundodger Invitational. They were led by senior Magdalena Sandoval, who was held out of the women’s tune-up race at Pier Park in Portland on Sept. 19. She finished second overall after a closer-than-anticipated final-stretch finish.
Sandoval completed the 5,000-meter race in 16 minutes, 54 seconds, a mere two seconds behind winner Margaret Butler, a former Washington runner now competing for Kajaks TC.
“It was an OK opening race,” Sandoval said. “Exciting and fun, but there will definitely be bigger challenges down the road.”
Oregon also received strong performances from fifth-place finisher senior Eri Macdonald, 37th-place finisher sophomore Krissy Sonniksen and redshirt junior Taylor Bryant, who took 39th.
“We had a good showing up front,” first-year head coach Marnie Mason said. “We didn’t let up this week training-wise, and Magdalena and Eri are taking steps toward the ultimate goal of trying for a national qualifying berth.”
“Today was a good learning experience, and next meet we need to close the gap at the 3, 4, 5 positions.”
The Ducks finished behind overall winner Washington, while Idaho placed second and Portland took third. Oregon will now travel to the Charles Bowles Invitational in Bush Park at Willamette University in Salem.

Men finish fourth

at Roy Griak Invitational
Much like the women harriers, Oregon men’s runners finished fourth at their opening meet of the season in an 8,000-meter race featuring 30 teams from across the nation.
The Ducks outpaced 26 teams in a stacked match-up that included first-place meet finisher and second-ranked team in the nation, Wisconsin; No. 12 BYU, which took second; and No. 23 Colorado State, which took third. In all, 11 teams either ranked in the top-25 or that received votes participated in the Roy Griak Invitational at Minnesota’s Les Bolstad Cross Country Course.
Oregon, ranked fifth nationally, was led by its three-headed monster, which is made up of All-Americans senior Brett Holts and juniors Eric Logsdon and Ryan Andrus. Holts finished 11th, Logsdon 13th and Andrus 30th.
Individually, BYU’s Kip Kangogo finished first for the second consecutive year with a ledger of 23:59, only 35 seconds ahead of Oregon’s Holts.
Competing in their first varsity race were true freshmen Alec Wall, who finished 99th overall, and Kyle Alcorn at 152nd overall. Both freshmen were only two minutes off the time of Kangogo.
The Ducks compete next in the Pre-National Invitational, held Oct. 16 at the University of Northern Iowa. The race could be a preview of things to come, as the school will host the NCAA Championships in November.