University of Oregon
Washington Invitational
Duck Flock Overcomes Stanford to Win in Seattle
10/04/14 | Cross Country
SEATTLE, Wash. – Senior Lindsay Crevoiserat's fourth-place led six Duck runners in the top 15 as the Women of Oregon clipped No. 4 Stanford to win the Washington Invitational 48-55 Saturday at Jefferson Park.
The two teams chased each other the entire 6,000 meter race before Oregon's pack overcame an individual victory by Stanford's Elise Cranny in 20:11. The Ducks answered with Crevoiserat's fourth-place finish in 20:29, followed by Frida Berge in eighth (20:40) and Molly Grabill ninth (20:41). It was the first cross country race as a Duck for Berge, a freshman from Norway, as well as the 2014 season debut for Grabill, a junior from Poway, Calif.
Stanford then claimed the next three spots, meaning the third-ranked Ducks had to have two runners cross the tape before Stanford's fifth runner could get in. Oregon did one better than that as sophomore Maggie Schmaedick was 13th in 20:48, freshman Alli Cash capped the scoring for Oregon in 14th at 20:49 and junior Brianna Nerud crossed as the Ducks' sixth runner in 20:51.
In a race where nearly half the field was ranked, No. 15 Washington took third with 119 points, followed by UCLA (134), Portland (144), Wyoming (160) and No. 13 Villanova (195).
How It Happened: With Crevoiserat leading he squad for the second straight race, the Women of Oregon executed their race plan to perfection, running as a pack and placing six runners in the top 15. That allowed the Ducks to overcome an outstanding individual performance by Cranny and Stanford.
What It Means: It was an important, hard-fought victory for the Duck women, who had not raced since the season-opening Bill Dellinger Invitational. Oregon got the victory with one runner making her Oregon cross country debut, Berge, and another making her 2014 season debut, Grabill.
Odds and Ends: Saturday was also the 2014 season debuts for Annie Leblanc (33rd) and Megan Patrignelli (34th), who were both members of Oregon's 2013 NCAA team. Saturday's Washington Invitational marked Oregon's first regular season appearance in Seattle since the 2003 Sundodger Invitational.
What's Next: Pre National Invitational, Oct. 18, Terre Haute, Ind.
Quoteworthy: “It was a total team effort. We wanted to stay together and run conservatively and then attack the last part of the race. We put in a lot of hard work at fall camp and it showed with some good depth today,” said Oregon assistant coach Maurica Powell.
“We really executed our race plan well today. We learned that we can win by running like this. A couple of us were getting antsy to go, but we knew we had something left because we were patient, and it was definitely exciting being in a big pack and running down people like that,” said Lindsay Crevoiserat, who finished fourth for Oregon.
Players Mentioned
