Dellinger Meet To Showcase National Caliber Harrier Fields
Posted Tuesday, 25 September, 2007
EUGENE - This Saturday's second annual Bill Dellinger Invitational kicks off the collegiate cross country season in high gear and fittingly honors the Oregon running legend who was an three-time Olympian and bronze medalist, and hall of fame Duck coach.
The women's 6,000-meter race starts at 9:15 a.m., and the men's 8,000-meter race follows at 10 a.m.
The first of the Springfield Country Club’s two national-caliber cross country contests this fall showcases impressive race fields that features 30 collegiate teams from six of the nation’s nine regions and top conferences such the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Mountain West, Pac-10, Western Athletic and West Coast Conferences.
The invitational’s 15-team men’s field features seven teams that competed in the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships – Wisconsin (second), Oregon (fifth), Washington (12th), Cal Poly (13th), Portland (18th), UCLA (23rd) and Alabama (31st) – and will be joined by Colorado State, Duke, Georgia, Marquette, New Mexico, Ohio State, Utah State and UTEP.
In this year’s preseason polls, the No. 4 ranked Ducks were one of eight top-30 ranked men's teams in Saturday's field, and were joined by No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 7 UTEP, No. 14 Portland, No. 17 Alabama, No. 22 UCLA, No. 23 Cal Poly and No. 30 Washington.
Among men’s individuals to watch, Duck junior Galen Rupp is the top returnee from last year’s collegiate harrier finale among potential entries and finished sixth in his NCAA cross country debut.
Five other potential men’s individual entries were also NCAA All-Americans in ’06 – Wisconsin junior Stuart Eagon (11th), UTEP senior Stephen Samoei (13th), Cal Poly senior Phillip Reid (21st), Wisconsin junior Matt Withrow (24th) and Oregon sophomore Diego Mercado (49th), while Alabama junior August Maiyo also placed top 50 (38th) last year. Withrow was also an All-American in 2005 (ninth), as was Eagon (17th), Stephen Samoei and Japheth Ng’ojoy of UTEP (20th / 22nd), John Moore of Portland (30th) and Austin Ramos of UCLA (48th).
Saturday’s 15-team women’s race field features five top-25 NCAA team finishers from 2006, including No. 4 Arkansas, last year’s meet champion that later finished fifth in the NCAA Championships. Additional returning 2006 NCAA Championships women’s team qualifiers include Georgia (15th), BYU (22nd), Colorado State (24th) and Wake Forest (27th).
In the recently released preseason poll, the No. 24 ranked Ducks are one of six top-30 ranked women's teams that will be on-hand Saturday. The high-caliber field features No. 4 Arkansas, No. 13 Georgia, No. 18 Colorado State, No. 19 Washington and No. 23 BYU. Other teams slated to compete include Marquette, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon State, Portland, UCLA, Utah State, UTEP and Wake Forest.
Among women’s individuals to watch, Arkansas sophomore Brooke Upshaw is the highest returning finisher from the ’06 NCAA Championships potentially in the field based on her 37th-place finish, just ahead of Colorado State senior April Thomas (42nd), while Washington senior Amy Lia (55th) and Georgia senior Natalie Picchetti (59th) were less than five seconds behind Thomas.
In last year’s inaugural Dellinger Invitational held at Alton Baker Park in Eugene, the then-No. 17 Duck men enjoyed an upset win with 47 points, and cruised past then-No. 8 Portland (second, 89), then-No. 10 BYU (third, 102) and then-No. 20 Alabama (fourth, 135). The Ducks put their first five finishers in the top 20 overall – Galen Rupp (second), Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott (fourth), Mercado (seventh), Ben Stern (15th) and Carlos Trujillo (19th).
Last year on the women’s side, then-No. 28-ranked UO was without several of its top runners and placed 10th. Dana Buchanan led Oregon (31st), and fellow Duck scorers included Zoe Nelson (42nd), Sarah Pearson (50th), Amanda Stopa (67th) and Liisa Heinonen (79th).
Overall in the men’s race, eventual NCAA champion Josh Rohatinsky of BYU won the individual title (22:59) by 11 seconds over Rupp (second, 23:10) and John Moore of Portland (third, 23:20). Kassi Anderson of BYU won the women’s race (19:55) by 16 seconds over 2007 NCAA 5,000m champion Michelle Sikes of Wake Forest (second, 20:11) and Emily McCabe of Duke (third, 20:32).
Then-No. 8 Arkansas handily won last year’s women’s team title with 35 points after it put its front four in the top 10 overall, and outdistanced then-No. 6 BYU (second, 55) Wake Forest (third, 117) and then-No. 10 Washington (fourth, 119).
Prior to last year’s event, UO’s last cross country regular season home meet was the Oregon Invitational, formerly known as the Jeff Drenth Invitational, and was held at Alton Baker Park through 1998. That same season, the Ducks also hosted the Pacific-10 Cross Country Championships at Alton Baker Park.
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