ROBERT HUSSEMAN | SPORTS REPORTER
Senior Galen Rupp became the third Duck runner in history to win back-to-back regional individual titles, one of three top-six finishes by Oregon men, as the No. 1 Ducks took the NCAA West Regional men’s team title, qualifying for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 24.
Oregon’s 38 points bettered No. 3 Stanford (72) and No. 4 Portland (85).
Rupp, who finished the 10-kilometer course in 27:41.24, joined Jim Hill (1982-83) and Karl Keska (1995-96) in accomplishing the feat as he crossed the tape 50 seconds ahead of teammate redshirt Senior Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott (28:32.21). The one-two finish helped secure Oregon’s third straight West Regional team title.
Freshman Luke Puskedra continued on his torrid pace, finishing in sixth place (28:45.48) behind Portland freshman Alfred Kipchumba, Portland senior David Kinsella and Stanford freshman Chris Derrick. Puskedra beat out Derrick for second place at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships on Oct. 31, but Kipchumba and Kinsella both beat Puskedra at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Oct. 4. Kinsella, an All-American in 2007, won the Dellinger. Rupp did not participate in the meet.
Oregon’s other two scorers finished in quick succession. Junior All-American Kenny Klotz, whose first race of the season was the Pac-10s, completed the course in 29:28.08, a 14th-place finish. Junior Diego Mercado, who did not race at the Pac-10s, followed Klotz in 15th place (29:29.75).

Senior transfer Curtis Suver finished 19th (29:38.46), and redshirt sophomore Danny Mercado finished 33rd (30:02.29), the final Duck across the finish line.
Kosinski, Blood pace women over Huskies
Sophomore Alex Kosinski and junior Nicole Blood recorded a one-two finish in propelling the No. 2 Ducks to a second-place team finish and qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Kosinski was the only woman to complete the six-kilometer course in under 20 minutes (19:59.01) and Blood, the highest returning finisher from last year’s West Regional (second), clocked in at 20:01.23. Behind the two Ducks was a pack of Washington Huskies: Christine Babcock (third, 20:02.25), Marie Lawrence (fourth, 20:03.21), Katie Follett (fifth, 20:07.90), Anita Campbell (sixth, 20:12.08) and Amanda Miller (seventh, 20:13.04).
Washington, the nation’s No. 1-ranked women’s cross country team, took the team title with 25 points, ahead of Oregon’s 62. No. 11 Stanford finished third, with 91 points.
Senior transfers Mattie Bridgmon (13th, 20:21.70) and Lindsey Scherf (19th, 20:32.21) and senior Zoe Nelson (27th, 20:48.94) rounded out Oregon’s scoring runners. Sophomores Zoe Buckman (34th, 21:00.53) and Betsy Bies (83rd, 21:54.00) also competed for the Ducks.
ROBERT HUSSEMAN
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