University of Oregon
NCAA West Regional
Cheserek, Neer Lead UO at Regional
11/14/15 | Cross Country
SEATTLE, Wash. ? The Oregon women's cross country team won the NCAA West Regional Championship Friday at Jefferson Park Golf Course to clinch an automatic bid to next weekend's NCAA Championships.
Edward Cheserek captured the men's individual title to lead the Men of Oregon to a third-place finish. With a strong resume of head-to-head wins this fall, the men will also likely be headed to the NCAA Championships, though they will have to wait a day until the at-large selections are announced to make it official.
How It Happened: The women's race provided the day's fireworks with the fourth-ranked Ducks scoring 79 points to edge No. 9 Boise State by only one point for their second-straight regional team title. The Ducks placed two in the top 10 in redshirt senior Waverly Neer and redshirt sophomore Alli Cash.
Neer led the Ducks with a second-place finish, finishing the 6,000-meter course in 20:32.2, While Cash came in sixth at 20:46.1. Frida Berge took 20th in 21:08.2, Molly Grabill placed 25th and Maggie Schmaedick finished 26th in 21:13.1 and 21:15.7, respectively, to round out the scoring for Oregon.
Another strong performance by Cheserek led the seventh-ranked Men of Oregon to a third-place finish as the Ducks tallied 99 points to finish behind Pac-12 foes Washington (63) and Stanford (83). The men were racing at 10,000 meters for the first time this season.
Cheserek, a junior, was the first to cross the finish line on Friday in 30:43.2, more than 11 seconds ahead of runner-up John Whelan of Washington State for his fifth win in his last six races. Redshirt sophomore Travis Neuman had an impressive day as well, taking fourth with a time of 31:07.8. Matthew Melancon finished 24th in 31:41.3. Tanner Anderson came in 31st in 31:51.5 ahead of Jake Leingang's 31:56.8 to finish 39th.
What It Means: The Oregon men's and women's cross country teams both expect to be competing at next weekend's NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky. Although the Men of Oregon fell short of an automatic bid Friday, the Ducks should earn an at-large bid on Saturday with head-to-head wins over nine automatically qualified teams (Georgetown, Minnesota, UTEP, Arkansas, Texas, Louisville, Washington twice and Stanford twice). The women clinched an automatic berth with their win.
Notes and Numbers: Next weekend, the Oregon women's cross country team will be making their ninth-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships ... Friday marked the 15th time the women have earned the West Region crown, passing Stanford for the most in the region's history ... Cheserek won the West Regional for the second time in his career. He also won as a freshman in 2013. Last season, the West Regional was the only race Cheserek did not win ... Neer, Cash and Neuman all posted career-best finishes at the Regional Championships.
Players Mentioned
