It’s only October, and Oregon already has its first conference championship haul of the year.

The Ducks’ men’s and women’s cross country teams both took blowout wins at the 2025 Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Friday in East Lansing, Michigan. Abdel Laadjel took the men’s individual title in a 32-point win, while freshman Diana Cherotich led the Oregon women to a 60-point title defense later that morning. 

The Oregon men’s cross country team won their first Big Ten team title in style. Laadjel won the 8k individual title in 23:11.6, joined by fellow Ducks Evan Bishop (fourth place, 23:28.2) and Aiden Smith (sixth, 23:32.7). Benjamin Balazs and Connor Burns took 12th and 13th place, respectively, while sophomores Simeon Birnbaum (17th) and Tayson Echohawk (19th) and freshman Jack Meier (20th) rounded out the Oregon top-20 placers.

For Laadjel, a senior, the win was his first of the 2025 season. He ran for Oregon last year in the indoor and outdoor seasons after transferring from Providence College, and finished fifth in the men’s 5000-meter final at the Big Ten Indoor Championships before taking sixth and seventh in the Big Ten Outdoor 10000-meter and 5000m finals, respectively.

Oregon’s final 36-point haul bested second-place Michigan State by 32 points, and third-place Wisconsin by 54 points. It’s the Ducks’ first men’s conference cross country title since 2008, when Galen Rupp won the race — they also took the men’s NCAA title that year.

An hour later, the women’s 6k race was underway — and it was once again controlled by Oregon freshman Diana Cherotich, who cruised to victory in 19:31.3 as the Ducks swept the top three places with a decisive victory and successfully defended their 2024 title. Cherotich, who led through every checkpoint after 1000 meters and also won the Bill Dellinger Invitational earlier this year, has only grown with an Oregon team that looked unstoppable in Michigan.

Junior Juliet Cherubet finished second in 19:46.2, and senior Silan Ayyildiz came third (19:47.8) in her first official race of the 2025 cross country slate after her long 2024-25 season. Junior Dalia Frias (fifth, 19:57.0) and seniors Mia Barnett (seventh, 20:10.8) and Anika Thompson (ninth, 20:13.4) rounded out the top ten. Oregon scored 18 points to beat second-place Penn State by 60 points and third-place Northwestern by 78. 

The men’s and women’s NCAA Championships are set for Nov. 22, at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri.