|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Ella Donaghu became the first Stanford woman to win an NCAA West Region cross country title in 12 years and the Stanford men and women qualified for the NCAA Championships together for the 26th consecutive year.
Donaghu and Jessica Lawson finished 1-2 and Jordan Oakes was fifth to lead a Stanford victory in the women’s race on a dreary Friday at Colfax Golf Club in Washington.
In a meet in which the top two teams advance automatically to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Cardinal women scored 39 points to 49 for runner-up Washington.
The Cardinal men were second, scoring 78 to Portland’s winning 65, to earn an automatic berth. Alex Ostberg (seventh), Thomas Ratcliffe (eighth), and Alek Parsons (10th) earned top-10 finishes for Stanford.
The Cardinal women accomplished several things on Friday, including winning their first regional team title since 2016, recording their first individual champion since Teresa McWalters in 2007, finished 1-2 for the first time since Arianna Lambie and Katy Trotter in 2006 and recorded their lowest Stanford regional score since 2007.
Donaghu earned her first collegiate cross-country victory by covering the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) in 19:50.8, with Lawson in 19:54.2, and Oakes in 20:04.8. Stanford, which rested Pac-12 champion Fiona O’Keeffe, had Julia Heymach in 12th and freshman Abi Archer in 19th.
Of Stanford’s top five, four placed higher than they ever have in a collegiate cross country race. The only exception was Heymach, who had placed 11th at the 2018 USF Invitational.
The women’s race was an exhibition of pack running for the most part. Gradually, the pack dwindled until it became a four-person race among Donaghu, Lawson, Washington’s Melany Smart, and San Francisco’s Aoibhe Richardson.
With about 600 meters to go, Donaghu and Lawson edged to the front. Finally, Donaghu pushed hard to the finish to gap her teammate.
Donaghu’s only other collegiate victory, including indoor and outdoor track, was the steeplechase at the 2018 Big Meet dual against Cal.
She missed last cross country season with injury, but emerged in outdoor track last spring by placing sixth in the NCAA 1,500 final. Donaghu has continued her momentum since, now under first-year coach J.J. Clark, the Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field.
The Cardinal men were locked into a duel with Portland. Splits had the Cardinal holding a one-point lead through 9 kilometers of the 10K (6.2-mile) race. The Stanford leaders were content to remain in a chase pack after Washington’s Andrew Jordan and Portland’s Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse bolted to a huge lead early.
Midway through the race, Stanford had five among the top 10. As it was, Ostberg and Ratcliffe chose to race in control and did not make a bid to close the gap or go for the victory, to preserve themselves for NCAA’s.
By David Kiefer
By David Kiefer
By David Kiefer
By David Kiefer
By David Kiefer