Ducks Go 1-2 at Pre-Nationals

Saturday, October 15

Terre Haute, Ind.

TBD

University of Oregon

Pre-Nationals Invitational

10/15/16 | Cross Country

Pre-National Invitational Results Pre-National Invitational Men's Results Pre-National Invitational Women's Results

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Edward Cheserek won again, while a handful of newcomers helped lead the Oregon cross country teams' efforts Saturday at the Pre-National Invitational.

The No. 4 men won with 85 points. No. 5 Arkansas was second with 110 points, followed by No. 6 Colorado (124), No. 20 Michigan (200), No. 13 Indiana (254) and No. 12 Texas-El Paso (257).

The ninth-ranked women made a statement with a second-place finish. No. 2 Colorado won with 93 points. The Ducks were next at 154, followed by No. 13 Michigan (179), No. 5 Portland (196), No. 12 Arkansas (225), No. 7 Stanford (229) and No. 16 Eastern Michigan (255).

How It Happened - Men: Cheserek's win was backed by top-20 finishes from sophomores Matthew Maton and Tanner Anderson, as well as a top-30 run from freshman Levi Thomet. Cheserek pulled away from the pack halfway through the race and went unchallenged for the remainder of the competition. He won in 23:34.7, which was more than :20 faster than Frankline Tonui of Arkansas, who was second in 23:56.1. Maton had one of the best races of his young career with a fourth-place finish in 24:07.7, while Anderson was solid with an 18^th-place finish in 24:22.9. Thomet was impressive in his Oregon debut, taking 26^th in 24:29.5. Junior Sam Prakel rounded out the scoring for the Ducks by running 36^th in 24:38.8. Later Saturday, junior Travis Neuman won the men's open race in 25:23.3 with teammate Tim Gorman second in 25:27.2.

How It Happened - Women: Newcomers Katie Rainsberger and Sam Nadel led an impressive effort for the women, who also welcomed all-American Alli Cash back to the lineup for the first time in 2016. Rainsberger was the top freshman at the Pre-Nationals and finished sixth overall in 20:19.1. Nadel, another newcomer as a fifth-year transfer from Georgetown, took 13^th in 20:20.7. Jessica Hull continued her strong sophomore season as the Ducks' No. 3 runner. The Australian was 34^th overall in 20:50.6. In her 2016 debut, Cash clocked in at 20:59.1 as the Ducks' fourth runner, while Maggie Schmaedick rounded out the scoring for the Ducks in 53^rd (21:02.0). Later Saturday in the open individual race, junior Frida Berge finished eighth in 22:01.5.

What It Means: With a pair of low sticks (Cheserek first, Maton fourth), the men made a good case to be in contention for a podium finish when the teams return to the LaVern Gibson Course next month for the NCAA Championships, with an eye to improve on 2015's fourth-place finish. The women, who were dropped five spots in the polls despite a solid runner-up finish at Washington two weeks ago, took down all the ranked contenders but Colorado as they too look like a team with a chance to bring home a trophy from Terre Haute in November.

Odds and Ends: Cheserek won the for the 15^th time in his last 17 races, and for the 16^th time in his career overall … He also won this race in 2014 … This was the first Pre-National title for the men since 2009 … Maton matched his career best race by finishing fourth … He was also fourth at Washington two weeks ago … The women matched their best-ever finish in this meet … They also finished second in 2014 … The NCAA Championships will be held on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course on Nov. 19.

What's Next: Pac-12 Championships, Oct. 28, Tucson, Ariz.

Quoteworthy – Associate Head Coach Andy Powell: "It was nice to walk away with win and be able to see the course. We haven't won here in a while so that was good. We still have lots of room for improvement. We need to close the spread between our second and fifth runners, and we still have some other guys we need to plug back into the lineup," said associate head coach Andy Powell.

On some individual performances
"I'm really happy for Levi (Thomet). That was a big performance for his first cross country race as a Duck. Our two sophomores (Maton and Anderson) were pretty good behind Ed (Cheserek). And it was a nice win for Travis (Neuman) in the open race as we get him back to where he was."

Quoteworthy – Assistant Coach Maurica Powell: "We ran pretty well. It's a sneaky-hard course. The first mile was kind of slow and then the second mile where you get some incline was a lot faster, so that made for a tough race, but I thought our kids were pretty resilient. They executed their race plan very well," said assistant coach Maurica Powell.

On some individual performances
"Katie (Rainsberger) had a great race and showed a ton of maturity for a freshman. Sam Nadel had huge performance and we knew it was only a matter of time before we saw that out of her. Jess Hull just keeps getting better every week. And it was good to have Alli Cash back with us. She's not even up to full speed yet so she's only going to get better from here," said assistant coach Maurica Powell.

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