Cheserek Leads Ducks to Win at Washington

Saturday, October 1

Seattle, Wash.

11:00 AM

University of Oregon

Washington Invitational

Photo by: GoDucks.com

10/01/16 | Cross Country

Washington Invitational Men's Results Washington Invitational Women's Results

SEATTLE, Wash. – In his 2016 debut, Edward Cheserek broke from the pack with 1,000 meters remaining to lead No. 3 Oregon to the Washington Invitational men's team title Saturday at Jefferson Park Golf Course.

The Ducks had four runners in the top six to win with 26 points. No. 29 Colorado State was second with 39 points, while No. 21 Washington was third (64) and No. 24 Washington State was fourth (127).

In the women's race, No. 12 Washington won with 24 points. The fourth-ranked Ducks were second with 57 points, Harvard was third (78) and Colorado State took fourth (115).

How It Happened - Men: While Cheserek led the way, it took a solid effort by a number of the Ducks in the lead pack to earn the win on Saturday. Sam Prakel, coming off his win at the Dellinger Invitational two weeks ago, finished third in 23:27.30, Matthew Maton was fourth in 23:28.10 in his 2016 debut and Tanner Anderson was sixth in 23:31.10. Oregon also had solid depth backing the top four runners with Blake Haney 12^th in 23:46.30, Bryan Fernandez 13^th in 23:48.30 and Tim Gorman 17^th in 24:00.50.

How It Happened - Women: Freshman Katie Rainsberger led the Ducks with a second-place finish in her Oregon debut. The 2015 Gatorade national runner of the year finished in 19:42.90, six seconds off the pace of Washington's Charlotte Prouse, who won in 19:36.80. The Ducks' next four runners all finished within 10 seconds of each other. Jessica Hull was 12^th in 20:22.40, Ashley Maton was 13^th in 20:26.10, Emma Abrahamson was 14^th in 20:27.80 and Maggie Schmaedick was 16^th in 20:32.20. Washington had six runners finish in the top nine to secure the team title.

Rallying Around a Teammate: The Ducks dedicated the race to Bryan Fernandez and the memory of his father Juan Fernandez. Juan Fernandez passed away last week and Bryan travelled directly from the memorial service to run in Seattle. "It was an emotional run for the guys rallying behind Bryan. For him to come here and run like that – it really inspired a lot of guys around him."

What It Means: The men added Cheserek and Maton to the team depth they already put on display in winning the Bill Dellinger Invitational two weeks ago. Behind Cheserek, Oregon's next five runners all finished within :21 of each other as the Ducks look to develop that pack-running mentality.
For the women, Rainsberger showed why she is one of the nation's top freshmen, carrying the low stick for the Ducks, who held all-American Alli Cash out of the Washington Invitational. Much of fall camp was spent focusing on running as a pack as evidenced by the fact that Oregon's next four runners behind Rainsberger finished within 10 seconds of each other.

Odds and Ends: The Ducks wore white singlets with the word "Oregon" in pink in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month…It was Cheserek's 14^th win in his last 16 cross country races.

What's Next: Pre-National Invitational, Oct. 15, Terre Haute, Ind.

Quoteworthy: "It was a good team effort. The guys behind Cheserek, Those sophomores (Anderson and Maton) and Sam Prakel did really well. For this time of year, I think we're in a good spot. There are a few things we need to work on, but we're healthy and everyone's racing," said associate head coach Andy Powell.

"We're in high-volume training cycle right now and it was a good opportunity to be tough and compete on tired legs. It's a challenge to execute a race plan under those circumstances and I think we did a pretty good job of running together. Katie (Rainsberger) had a phenomenal debut for us. She went out conservatively and finished strong. I was really impressed with Jess Hull and Ashley Maton, who have shown some big improvement over last year," said assistant coach Maurica Powell.

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