Oregon’s women cross-country did not repeated as national champions after they finished fifth in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 2017 NCAA Championships. The men came in sixth at Saturday’s races.
Katie Rainsberger, who came in third at the Pac-12 championships, was the highest finisher among Oregon’s women in the 6,000-meter race, finishing 16th in 19 minutes, 50.6 seconds.  Tanner Anderson the highest finisher among the Oregon men, coming in 41st in 30:01.4 in the 10,000-meter race.
“I think anytime you can come out and be top 10, it’s a good thing,” head coach Robert Johnson said in a press release. “Maybe not quite our expectation here as we came up a little short of earning trophies, but I’m proud of how our kids competed and hung in there today. I thought the men came away with the best race they’ve run all year in cross-country, and kudos to coach (Andy) Powell on getting those guys to rise up at the right time. We were a little snake-bitten on the women’s side and maybe weren’t quite full strength, but I’m proud of them for pulling together and giving it all they had.”
New Mexico is the champions in the women’s race as Colorado and Stanford finished third and fourth, respectively. Northern Arizona won the men’s team title as Stanford, the only Pac-12 school to finish above Oregon, came in fourth.
Oregon’s Lilli Burdon finished 21st in the women’s race in 19:57.6 after a sixth place finish in Pac-12s. Cooper Teare, who finished sixth at Pac-12s as well, came in 44th at NCAAs in 30:06.77.
The men have now made five straight, and 10 in 11 years, top-10 finish at the NCAAs.
This concludes the cross-country season as the Ducks will now shift focus to the indoor track season that begins on Jan. 13 in Seattle with the UW Preview.
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow