Every week the stakes get a little higher for senior Magdalena Sandoval.
Every week the senior responds with a top-10 finish.
Saturday was no different for Sandoval. She finished ninth in the 2003 NCAA Western Regional Championships in Portland. The finish will most likely qualify the senior for the NCAA Championships next weekend.
As a team, the Oregon women finished ninth overall and will await word from the NCAA today on whether the team qualified for the NCAA Championships with enough at-large points accumulated throughout the season.
Oregon needed a second-place regional finish to guarantee a team spot in the championships.
Sandoval’s time of 20 minutes, 48 seconds makes it likely she will receive an individual invite.
Four individuals automatically qualify out of the regional if their teams fail to make it. Sandoval finished behind just two other individual-only invites; Iryna Vaschuck of USC finished sixth overall and Cal’s Bridget Duffy finished eighth.
However, three other individuals ahead of Sandoval — Amy Hastings and Anna Masinelli of Arizona State, and Ingvill Makestad of Washington — should earn at-large invites with their teams.
“I’m glad it’s over because it was not an easy race,” Sandoval said. “The plan was to get out fast and be up with the contenders and fight as long as I could. Now, I’ll have another few days of nervousness as I wait and see if I make it or not.”
Finishing behind Sandoval was fellow senior Erin Macdonald with a time of 21:22, which earned her a 27th place finish.
No.1 Stanford easily won with 45 points. No. 15 UCLA claimed second place and an automatic invite to the NCAA Championships with a team score of 69.
No. 12 Oregon men finished the regional fifth Saturday, leaving their chances of an NCAA Championship invite to the at-large points the team has accumulated throughout the year.
No. 1 Stanford dominated the regional, while No. 15 Cal Poly finished second overall. No. 27 Arizona, No. 20 Washington and No. 12 Oregon rounded out the top five team finishes.
Oregon was led by juniors Eric Logsdon and Ryan Andrus, two of it’s three All-American runners. Logsdon finished in 30:07 and 12th overall. Andrus finished at 30:11 for 14th. The third All-American in Oregon’s line-up, senior Brett Holts, came in 34th with a finish timed at 30:30. Holts was followed by teammate John Lucas, who placed 37th in a time of 30:35.
“We would have liked to have placed a spot or two higher,” Oregon men’s head coach Martin Smith said. “But, we had to big a gap from our fourth to our fifth runners. Eric and Ryan ran patient races and moved up fairly well and Lucas hung in there as well. Hopefully, we’ll still get a bid for nationals (today), so we can give it another go.”