Postseason Begins Friday in East Lansing

EUGENE, Ore. – The 2025 postseason gets started this Friday morning with the Big Ten Cross Country Championships in East Lansing, Mich. The men's 8K will start at 7:35 a.m. PT followed by the women's 6K at 8:35 a.m., all airing live on the Big Ten Network.

How to Follow
2025 Big Ten Cross Country Championships
Forest Akers East Golf Course (East Lansing, Mich.)
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Results

The Women of Oregon are the reigning Big Ten champions while senior Silan Ayyildiz is the returning individual champion. The UO men tied for second at last year's conference meet and finished in third overall on the head-to-head count.

Oregon enters the postseason ranked fourth and 10^th in the most recent women's and men's national polls, respectively.

Hosted by Michigan State, this year's Big Ten meet will be run on the Forest Akers East Golf Course. It marks the sixth time the Spartans have hosted the meet and first since 2012.

Oregon Entries
Men: Beni Balazs, Simeon Birnbaum, Evan Bishop, Connor Burns, Sergio Del Barrio, Tayson Echohawk, Anthony Fast Horse, Abdel Laadjel, Jack Meier, Michael Mireles, Jeff Rogers, Aiden Smith

Women: Silan Ayyildiz, Mia Barnett, Diana Cherotich, Juliet Cherubet, Katie Clute, Dalia Frias, Ali Ince, Landen LeBlond, Allura Markow, Hannah Seubert, Anika Thompson, Ella Thorsett

All-conference accolades are determined by individual finish with places one through 10 collecting first-team honors and places 11 through 20 named to the second team. New to the Big Ten last year, an all-freshman team will be announced as part of the championship release following the event.

The Ducks return seven all-conference performers from a season ago. Ayyildiz, Barnett, Birnbaum and Smith all ran themselves onto the first team while Echohawk and Thompson both earned second-team accolades. Birnbaum, Echohawk and Ince added all-freshman honors.

Ranked Teams in the Big Ten
Men: #10 Oregon, #13 Michigan State, #15 Wisconsin, #25 Michigan
Women: #4 Oregon, #8 Northwestern, #12 Penn State, #19 Wisconsin, #20 Washington, #24 Michigan State

Wisconsin is the defending Big Ten champion on the men's side.

Collectively, the Ducks have won 27 conference team titles—16 men, 11 women—in program history. Last year's win by the women marked the Oregon athletic department's first Big Ten title. Individually, Oregon has 25 conference titles—16 men, nine women—spread among 17 runners. Edward Cheserek, the most recent UO man to win a league title, was a four-time Pac-12 champion. Prior to Ayyildiz' win last season, Jordan Hasay (2010) had been the most recent UO woman to win a conference title.

Team Titles by the Years
Men (16): 1969-70, '73, '76-79, '82, '88-90, '92, '95, 2006-08
Women (11): 1986-88, '90-92, '95, 2012, '14, '18, '24

Shalane Flanagan, head coach for the UO women's cross country program, was last season's Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Last Time Out
For the first time since 2015, the Men and Women of Oregon swept the team titles and the individual races at the Bill Dellinger Invitational (Oct. 10). Balazs and Cherotich, on their way to national athlete of the week honors, won their respective races. The teams posted identical winning scores of 16 by taking spots one through four and seeing their fifth cross in sixth place.

Up Next
The postseason continues Nov. 14 with the NCAA West Region Championships in Sacramento, Calif. The top-two teams in each race earn automatic placement into the 2025 NCAA Championships which will be held Nov. 22 in Columbia, Mo. The entire NCAA field including at-large qualifiers will be announced that same weekend.

For more news and information about Oregon cross country and track and field, follow @OregonTF on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.