State of Oregon Featured at 11th Annual Bill Dellinger Invitational

EUGENE, Ore. – Cross country teams from around the State of Oregon will be featured at the 11th annual Bill Dellinger Invitational on Friday, Sept. 16 at the Springfield Country Club.

The 2016 Dellinger meet will feature 10 ranked teams, as well as a defending national champion.

The women's 5,000 meter race will go off at 5:15 p.m., while the men's 8,000 meter race will start at 5:50 p.m.

In between races, there will be a Kids' Dash led by 2015 Bill Dellinger Invitational champions Edward Cheserek and Alli Cash.

Admittance is free and spectators may park at Mohawk Elementary School and ride the free shuttle to the course.

WHAT TO WATCH
Each race features five ranked teams from the various levels of collegiate competition. Oregon's women are No. 4 at the NCAA Division I level with Portland at No. 30. The women's race also includes a defending national champion - Northwest Christian - which was the top team at the 2015 NAIA national meet. The Beacons come into the Dellinger as the NAIA's No. 1 team this season as well, while Lewis-Clark State is No. 16. Additionally, the women's race also has the NCAA Division III's No. 26 team in Willamette. The men's race has No. 2 Oregon and No. 22 Portland from the Division I level, but also the NAIA's No. 6 team in Lewis-Clark State and No. 21 Northwest Christian. Willamette comes into the Dellinger as the No. 30 team in NCAA Division III.

ENTRIES
Among the newcomers entered for Oregon are a pair of East Coast graduate transfers. The women have added Georgetown all-American Samamtha Nadal, while the men welcome Dartmouth grad Tim Gorman. Freshmen Perrin Xthona (Yamhill, Ore.) and Rennie Kendrick (Portland, Ore.) could also make their Oregon debuts for the women's team. While Edward Cheserek is not expected to compete Friday, the men will have the runners who were two through five for the Ducks at the 2015 NCAA Championships - Travis Neuman, Jake Leingang, Tanner Anderson and Matthew Maton - from their fourth-place finish. Likewise, while the women aren't expected to run all-American Alli Cash, three other runners off Oregon's third-place NCAA team are entered in Frida Berge, Ashley Maton and Maggie Schmaedick.

BILL DELLINGER INVITATIONAL WOMEN'S RACE
Time: 5:15 p.m. PDT
Length: 5,000 Meters
5K Course Record: 16:22.92, Sheila Reid, Villanova, 2009
Twitter: @OregonTF
Live Results: http://rtspt.com/events/oregon/dellinger16/ (also will be posted on www.goducks.com)
Teams (9): UC Davis, Lane CC, Lewis-Clark, North Dakota State, Northwest Christian, Oregon, Oregon State, Portland, Willamette.
Rankings: No. 4 Oregon, No. 30 Portland
Oregon Entries: Seniors Ashley Maton, Samantha Nadel and Maggie Schmaedick, juniors Emma Abrahamson, Frida Berge and Kelly O'Neill, sophomores Sarah Baxter and Jessica Hull, and freshmen Rennie Kendrick and Perrin Xthona.

BILL DELLINGER INVITATIONAL MEN'S RACE
Time: 5:50 p.m. PDT
Length: 8,000 Meters
8K Course Record: 22:55.14, Galen Rupp, Oregon, 2008
Twitter: @OregonTF
Live Results: http://rtspt.com/events/oregon/dellinger16/ (also will be posted on www.goducks.com)
Teams (8): UC Davis, Lane CC, Lewis-Clark, North Dakota State, Northwest Christian, Oregon, Portland, Willamette.
Rankings: No. 2 Oregon, No. 22 Portland
Oregon Entries: Seniors Tim Gorman and Jake Leingang, juniors Bryan Fernandez, Blake Haney, Travis Neuman and Sam Prakel, sophomores Tanner Anderson and Matthew Maton, and freshman Mick Stanovsek.

SCORING
The place of the first five finishers counts toward the team score. The next two runners may displace runners from opposing teams. First place is worth one point, second place two points, etc. Low score wins.

YOUTH RACES WITH CHES AND CASH
2015 Bill Dellinger individual champions Edward Cheserek and Alli Cash will help lead a Kids' Dash (12 and under) in between the two collegiate races. The Kids' Dash will take place at approximately 5:45 p.m. and will start at the end of the final turn.

AUTOGRAPH SESSION
Immediately following the men's race, there will be an autograph session with Oregon coaches and student-athletes near the finish line.

PARKING
Spectator parking will be at the Mohawk Elementary School on Sunderman Road. Shuttle buses will then transport spectators to the course at the Springfield Country Club. The shuttles will run continuously from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Please allow sufficient time to use the park-and-ride shuttle.

To reach the Mohawk Elementary School:
• Take 105E/126E and stay on 126E for 7 miles.
• Take the 42nd Street/Marcola exit and make a left on 42nd street for 0.4 miles.
• Make a right on Marcola for 5.5 miles, going 1 mile past the Springfield Country Club.
• Turn right on Sunderman Road.
• The Mohawk Elementary School will be on your right after ¼ mile.

Signs will be posted on the roads directing traffic to the park-and-ride lot at Mohawk Elementary School.

THE COURSE
The Springfield Country Club will be the site of the Bill Dellinger Invitational. Athletes will race entirely on grass and mostly on fairways on the back nine holes along the Mohawk River. The course consists of three relatively flat loops—an outer loop, and inner loop, and a finish loop. The outer loop is approximately 2320 meters in length, the inner loop is approximately 2150 meters in length, and the finishing loop is approximately 1350 meters in length. Fans are reminded they are NOT allowed to walk on greens or tee boxes, and are asked to stay off fairways as much as possible.

WOMEN IN FLIGHT MEET
Friday's Bill Dellinger Invitational is also the "Women in Flight" meet for the UO cross country team. Women In Flight is a new initiative in collegiate athletics, dedicated to bringing awareness and funds in support of Oregon women's athletics. For more information and to support the Women of Oregon, please visit womeninflight.com.

BILL DELLINGER
Bill Dellinger initially made his name as one of Oregon's greatest distance runners. From 1953-56, he was a two-time NCAA winner, three-time All-American and three-time conference champion. After college, he balanced a stint in the Air Force with post-collegiate training. By the end of his running career, he had added two world indoor records, six American records and three Olympic appearances (including a bronze in the 5,000 meters in 1964).
   Dellinger began his coaching career at Springfield's Thurston High School, joined Lane Community College in 1967, then accepted the Oregon assistant coach position in 1968 and quickly established a reputation as one of America's finest distance coaches.
   No U.S. distance runner made a bigger impact than his first star, Steve Prefontaine, but the legacy didn't stop there. Mentoring such greats as Alberto Salazar, Rudy Chapa, Matt Centrowitz and Bill McChesney, Jr., his distance pupils broke 18 American records, made 17 Olympic appearances and won 12 NCAA individual track titles. In his 32 years as cross country head coach, the Ducks claimed four NCAA team titles, five runner-up honors and four third-place finishes, to go along with four individual titles and another runner-up finish.
   As a team, the Ducks continued their reputation as one of the nation's deepest and most balanced units. At home at Hayward Field in 1984, the Ducks added their fifth NCAA track title and tallied 113 points — the highest NCAA total ever. At the conference level, his squads claimed four team titles and nine runner-up finishes. Individually, 23 Oregon runners combined for 41 cross country All-America honors, and 58 track athletes accounted for 105 track and field honors.

MEET HISTORY
Since its inception, the Bill Dellinger Invitational has drawn top-ranked teams from around the nation to compete in Track Town, USA. The men have entertained the likes of Wisconsin, Alabama, Texas, Duke, Villanova, Michigan State, Texas-El Paso, Brigham Young, Penn State, Ohio State, Wake Forest, Georgia, Gonzaga and Portland, in addition to Pac-12 rivals UCLA and Washington. The tradition went international in 2010 with the University of Guelph from Ontario, Canada.    The women have welcomed Michigan State, Villanova, Arkansas, Duke, Penn State, Baylor, Indiana, Wisconsin, Brigham Young, Wake Forest, Georgia, Texas-El Paso, Portland and Gonzaga, as well as Pac-12 rivals Oregon State, UCLA and Washington. Like the men, the women had an international field in 2010 with the University of Guelph.