Elmore Wins Dellinger Invitational

Friday, October 11

Springfield, OR

11:15 AM

University of Oregon

Bill Dellinger Invitational

10/11/24 | Cross Country

The Eugene, Ore., native is the eighth UO woman to win the meet.

By: Rob Moseley

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Maddy Elmore not only busted the rust off, she left it in her wake along with the rest of the field in the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

Elmore, the Oregon senior from Eugene, whose spring outdoor season was cut short by a calf injury, showed she's back to form Friday with a dominant performance in the Ducks' home cross country meet. She went to the lead early in the women's six-kilometer race at Pine Ridge Golf Club and pressed her advantage the rest of the way, finishing in 19 minutes, 40.2 seconds — nearly 10 seconds faster than the runner-up.

That helped the UO women finish second to Utah in the team race, with 53 points to the Utes' 25. The Men of Oregon also were second, with 97 points, behind a dominant sweep by BYU of the top-five finishing spots individually.

Knowing she needed a rust-buster to kick off her season, Elmore — a South Eugene High grad — pressed UO women's coach Shalane Flanagan to give her the green light to compete Friday. When Flanagan agreed, Elmore had only one thing in mind, and it wasn't rust-busting.

"Then, the goal definitely was to win," Elmore said. "I was like, I don't want to lose on my home course. I've always wanted to win this race, and I've never really had a good race out there, I felt like. So it was good to get that."

Junction City native Anika Thompson was eighth for the Ducks, in 20:13.0, Wilma Nielsen and Ali Ince crossed in 14th and 15th, respectively, and Charlotte Sinke was 17th to round out the scorers for the UO women. Utah put all five of its scorers in the top 10, but none was a match for Elmore.

"This should hopefully be a nice confidence boost," Flanagan said. "She ran really fast on this course. She's in great shape. And I think these really hard hits that we can't replicate in training — as much as we do hard things in training all the time — but these kind of situations when someone puts on a Duck kit and fires a gun, they're going to get way more out of themselves. So yeah, I felt like we competed really well, and Maddy in particular, I think, is headed for a really stellar season."

On the men's side, UO senior Elliott Cook also made his season debut. He also had a challenging offseason in some regards; while Elmore was navigating a return from injury, Cook had to recover from a long outdoor season that saw him qualify for the 1,500-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

But Cook said his maturity over the last few years helped him manage that transition well. He finished the men's 8k race Friday in 23:21.3.

"There's been a lot of miles run since I ended my summer season," Cook said. "And yeah, my season was a little bit later this year, but overall, with the altitude training camp we had and with the miles that I got under my belt this season, I felt like my season opener went really well. …

"The more you progress in this sport, the more you have to kind of mature yourself mentally. And it's been fun to see and it's been fun to reap the rewards of it."

Tayson Echohawk was the second Man of Oregon across the line Friday, in 23:28.4. Simeon Birnbaum crossed in 22nd and Quincy Norman came in three places later. Evan Burke rounded out the UO scoring with a 34th-place finish.

"I feel like we learned a lot," UO coach Jerry Schumacher said. "BYU is one of the top teams in the country, and they have been for the last few years. We got to race kind of head-to-head, just seeing what that takes to be that good. And that was good for them to witness and see in a small setting — because you lose it in a big race. And they got to see it in kind of a smaller meet setting. And that's where we want to be, we want to get to be one of those types of programs."

With the rust now gone, Elmore, Cook and their respective teams turn their attention to the Big Ten Championships, on Nov. 1 in Illinois. Clearly Elmore's injury recovery and Cook's long outdoor season are behind them. And big things could be in front of them.

"I think now the goal is pretty much the same as if I had been healthy the whole time," Elmore said. "I think I have a huge base from last year that I can really feel now. So honestly, that setback for as long as I was out for, it doesn't really feel like that."

Meet Results
MEN (top 5)
1. #2 BYU – 15
2. #22 Oregon – 97
3. Gonzaga – 101
4. Montana State – 102
5. #25 Portland – 159

UO Individual
11. Elliott Cook – 23:21.3
14. Tayson Echohawk – 23:28.4
22. Simeon Birnbaum – 23:40.1
25. Quincy Norman – 23:44.6
34. Evan Burke – 23:50.7
36. Evan Dorenkamp – 23:52.4
53. James Harding – 24:12.7
99. Matthew Erickson – 24:53.2

WOMEN (top 5)
1. #6 Utah – 25
2. #12 Oregon – 53
3. Nebraska – 105
4. Oregon State – 135
5. UCLA – 148

UO Individual
1. Maddy Elmore – 19:40.2
8. Anika Thompson – 20:13.0
13. Wilma Nielsen – 20:25.2
14. Ali Ince – 20:28.8
17. Charlotte Sinke – 20:33.3
21. Ella Thorsett – 20:39.5
22. Ella Nelson – 20:39.6
26. Harper McClain – 20:43.6
33. Samantha McDonnell – 20:56.7
38. Kendall Martin – 20:59.1
77. Tatum Miller – 21:49.5

Up Next: The Ducks' postseason begins Nov. 1 with the Big Ten Championships in Savoy, Ill.

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