Friday, November 11
Sacramento, Calif.
11:00 AM
University of Oregon
at
NCAA West Regional Championship
Photo by: Kirby Lee
Cheserek Claims Third NCAA West Crown
11/11/16 | Cross Country
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Edward Cheserek and Matthew Maton finished first and second, respectively, to lead the Men of Oregon at the NCAA West Regional Championships Friday at Haggin Oaks Golf Course. Both the men's and the women's teams finished fourth on Friday and hope to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Thirteen at-large bids for the Nov. 19 NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., will be awarded on Saturday.
Cheserek, recently named the Pac-12 athlete of the year for the fourth time in his career, continues to make history with every race and by winning Friday in 29:23.7, he became the first Duck to win three NCAA West Region crowns. Maton, a sophomore from Bend., Ore., was nearly as impressive. He posted a career-best second-place finish in 29:44.9 as the men ran at 10,000 meters for the first time this year.
The two automatic bids on the men's side went to No. 4 Stanford, which won with 75 points, and runner-up No. 12 Portland (90 points). No. 10 UCLA was third with 112 points, followed by No. 10 Oregon (122) and No. 17 Washington State (143).
No. 7 Stanford won the women's race with 71 points. No. 4 Washington locked up the other NCAA automatic bid by finishing second with 88 points. No. 16 San Francisco jumped into third with 101 points with No. 11 Oregon fourth (107) and No. 10 Portland fifth (130).
Alli Cash led three Duck women who finished in the top 15 with her best finish at the Regional level. The junior was fifth in 19:43.5. Katie Rainsberger was the top freshman in the race after finishing 11th in 19:52.5. The Ducks also counted senior Sam Nadel's 15th-place finish (19:58.9), sophomore Jessica Hull's 37th-place run (20:26.7) and senior Ashley Maton's 41st-place finish (20:32.5).
How It Happened - Men: Behind the 1-2 finish of Cheserek and Maton, the Ducks were scattered throughout the pack. Sophomore Tanner Anderson was 32nd in 30:17.3, senior Tim Gorman took 43rd in 30:33.6 and senior Jake Leingang was 46th in 30:36.3.
How It Happened - Women: The competition for the two automatic spots for the NCAA Championships was close as expected, with Stanford and Washington getting the nods at the end of the day. Oregon and San Francisco battled throughout the race before the Dons edged out the Ducks for third by placing four runners in the top 25. The Ducks nearly countered that effort with three runners of their own in the top 15, but Oregon's fourth and fifth runners were a few places too far back to make up the gap.
What It Means: On paper, both the men's and women's teams have done enough to merit at-large bids to the NCAA Championships, which are awarded based on head-to-head results throughout the season. The NCAA will announce the Championship field by noon on Saturday on NCAA.com.
Odds and Ends: Cheserek won for the 17th time in his last 19 races, and for the 18th time in his career overall...Oregon's coaches have been stating that fifth-year senior Ashley Maton has arguably been the women's squad's most improved runner and no meet this season exemplified that more than Friday's West Regional. She finished a career-best 41st (20:32.5), which was nearly 40 places better than last season's regional meet where she was 80th.
What's Next: NCAA Championships, Nov. 19, LaVern Gibson Championship Course, Terre Haute, Ind.
Quoteworthy – Associate Head Coach Andy Powell on the men's race:
"Great job by Edward and Matthew on the one-two finish. Obviously we would have liked to get an automatic bid, but we're optimistic about our chances to make the NCAAs. We'll make a few adjustments and look to improve on today's performance."
Assistant Coach Maurica Powell on the women's race:
"We ran hard and I was pretty happy with Alli (Cash), Katie (Rainsberger) and Sam (Nadel) being a great one-two-three. They were better than our top three at this meet last year – and those were three all-Americans - so I think that's encouraging as we look toward NCAAs."
"I think we took some good steps forward from the Pac-12 meet, and I think we're in pretty good shape for an at-large bid. Our region is so tough. There could be six teams that get in from the West."
- www.GoDucks.com -
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Cheserek, recently named the Pac-12 athlete of the year for the fourth time in his career, continues to make history with every race and by winning Friday in 29:23.7, he became the first Duck to win three NCAA West Region crowns. Maton, a sophomore from Bend., Ore., was nearly as impressive. He posted a career-best second-place finish in 29:44.9 as the men ran at 10,000 meters for the first time this year.
The two automatic bids on the men's side went to No. 4 Stanford, which won with 75 points, and runner-up No. 12 Portland (90 points). No. 10 UCLA was third with 112 points, followed by No. 10 Oregon (122) and No. 17 Washington State (143).
No. 7 Stanford won the women's race with 71 points. No. 4 Washington locked up the other NCAA automatic bid by finishing second with 88 points. No. 16 San Francisco jumped into third with 101 points with No. 11 Oregon fourth (107) and No. 10 Portland fifth (130).
Alli Cash led three Duck women who finished in the top 15 with her best finish at the Regional level. The junior was fifth in 19:43.5. Katie Rainsberger was the top freshman in the race after finishing 11th in 19:52.5. The Ducks also counted senior Sam Nadel's 15th-place finish (19:58.9), sophomore Jessica Hull's 37th-place run (20:26.7) and senior Ashley Maton's 41st-place finish (20:32.5).
How It Happened - Men: Behind the 1-2 finish of Cheserek and Maton, the Ducks were scattered throughout the pack. Sophomore Tanner Anderson was 32nd in 30:17.3, senior Tim Gorman took 43rd in 30:33.6 and senior Jake Leingang was 46th in 30:36.3.
How It Happened - Women: The competition for the two automatic spots for the NCAA Championships was close as expected, with Stanford and Washington getting the nods at the end of the day. Oregon and San Francisco battled throughout the race before the Dons edged out the Ducks for third by placing four runners in the top 25. The Ducks nearly countered that effort with three runners of their own in the top 15, but Oregon's fourth and fifth runners were a few places too far back to make up the gap.
What It Means: On paper, both the men's and women's teams have done enough to merit at-large bids to the NCAA Championships, which are awarded based on head-to-head results throughout the season. The NCAA will announce the Championship field by noon on Saturday on NCAA.com.
Odds and Ends: Cheserek won for the 17th time in his last 19 races, and for the 18th time in his career overall...Oregon's coaches have been stating that fifth-year senior Ashley Maton has arguably been the women's squad's most improved runner and no meet this season exemplified that more than Friday's West Regional. She finished a career-best 41st (20:32.5), which was nearly 40 places better than last season's regional meet where she was 80th.
What's Next: NCAA Championships, Nov. 19, LaVern Gibson Championship Course, Terre Haute, Ind.
Quoteworthy – Associate Head Coach Andy Powell on the men's race:
"Great job by Edward and Matthew on the one-two finish. Obviously we would have liked to get an automatic bid, but we're optimistic about our chances to make the NCAAs. We'll make a few adjustments and look to improve on today's performance."
Assistant Coach Maurica Powell on the women's race:
"We ran hard and I was pretty happy with Alli (Cash), Katie (Rainsberger) and Sam (Nadel) being a great one-two-three. They were better than our top three at this meet last year – and those were three all-Americans - so I think that's encouraging as we look toward NCAAs."
"I think we took some good steps forward from the Pac-12 meet, and I think we're in pretty good shape for an at-large bid. Our region is so tough. There could be six teams that get in from the West."
- www.GoDucks.com -
Â
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