SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The Washington State women's and men's cross country programs were in action Saturday morning, competing at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon.Â
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WSU MEN
The men's program, currently ranked ninth overall in the west region, finished 10th overall Saturday morning, totaling 221 points.Â
Sophomore
Amir Ado turned in an impressive performance today, finishing 12th overall at 23:53.1, and held a top ten spot at various points of the race. Crossing the finsh line next for the Cougars was
Colton Johnsen at 24:27.4 (49th), and
Justin Janke at 24:35.4 (59th).
Matthew Watkins placed 68th with a time of 24:49.9, and right behind him was
Zach Stallings in 69th place at 24:51.2. Rounding out the remaining Cougars in this race was
Reid Muller at 24:52.9 (72nd),
Sam Griffith at 25:26.6 (106th),
Jacob Nicholson at 25:53.3 (125th), and
Nate Pendleton with a time of 25:55.8 (126th).
"We had some great performances on both sides today,"
Wayne Phipps discussed. "Amir led the way with an awesome race, especially considering how early in the season it is, and that it was his first race of the year. His time was the fastest we have had on that course, but we will need to reduce the time spread between our one and five as the season progresses, but I feel a part of that today was due to some sickness going through the team."
Oregon placed first on their home turf, scoring 54 points as a team, followed by BYU in second at 60 points, and UCLA in third with 62 points.Â
WSU WOMEN
The Washington State women's program, currently ranked 14th in the west region, totaled 292 points in this event, placing 12th overall as a team.Â
WSU saw
Zorana Grujic cross the finish line first for the Cougars, placing 44th overall with a time of 20:49.3. Grujic was followed by teammate
Josie Brown in 62nd at 21:03.1, and
Kaili Keefe in 75th with a time of 21:12.6.
Marie Gaudin was not far behind Keefe, finishing in 81st overall at 21:20.6, and
Erin Mullins went on to place 92nd with a time of 21:24.9. Capping off the results for Washington State was
Melissa Hruska at 21:51.3 (110th),
Natalie Ackerley at 22:02.3 (118th), and finally
Kiyena Beatty with a time of 22:32.7 (128th).
"Zorana also had a great race, and our top five grouped-up very well," Phipps said. "We will continue to get a little more aggressive earlier on in the race as the season progresses. We have trained through all of these early meets, and we will getin two more weeks of solid training before we begin our final preparation for the most important meets of the season."
BYU took the top spot at 35 points in this contest, followed by Boise State at 81 points, and Air Force in third with 103 points.Â
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INTO THE TWITTER-VERSE
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
WSU cross country returns to action next, Sat. Oct. 12 at the Inland Empire Championships, making the trip to Lewiston, Idaho for the fourth competition of the fall for the Cougars.Â
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