PAC-10 Cross-Country Championships Recap

Photos courtesy of Laura Landgreen.

Lucky for me, the PAC-10 Cross-Country Championships were in Long Beach yesterday, just 10 miles up the 405 from where I live. I packed Jaelyn and her stroller into the car and drove up to Skylinks Golf Course to watch one of the most competitive (if not the most competitive) collegiate conference championships take place on a perfectly sunny and still day.

The course consisted of a 2000m loop that was run 4 times by the men and 3 times by the women (because of course, women can't handle 4 loops).  I found a nicely shaded spot and tweeted updates as the runners passed by me each loop.  

Conference meets are exciting because there is such a high level of competition packed into such a small field. As soon as the gun goes off, the runners have to be on their "A" game or risked being left in the dust by the entire field.  There is no mass of runners to get lost in...everyone is in plain sight of the spectators and all weaknesses are exposed from the gun. The result is a very exciting race, where tactics, strategy and competitiveness are of utmost importance.

In the men's race, the lead pack of about 20 runners was closely knit until the final lap. It included the top 6 from each of the Oregon and Stanford teams, the top two teams in the country. On the last lap, Chris Derrick of Stanford broke away with only Brandon Bethke of Arizona State being able to stay within reach. The rest of the pack strung out and the Oregon runners ran by me with 400m to go looking defeated and fatigued as the Stanford men finished strong and took the team title.

Start of the women's race:

In the women's race, Kendra Schaaf, a sophomore for the top-ranked University of Washington who was a high school superstar in Canada, got out to an immediate lead.  She went through the mile in 4:55 and built up about a 16-second lead on a pack that included Oregon's All-American Nicole Blood, 2008 Pac-10 Champ Alex Kisinksi and freshman phenom Jorday Hasay as well as Washington's steeplechase star Mel Lawrence and miler Christine Babcock. Alex Gits of Stanford was also in the mix.

The second time they came by me, Schaaf was still leading but the lead had been cut to 10 seconds. She looked strong but golf courses can be deceivingly difficult. They appear to be mostly flat, but the rolling hills take their toll, especially for a runner out in front all alone. The pack behind Schaaf was already starting to string out and I saw some new faces, including Kari Hardt of Arizona State, moving up to overcome some of the runners that had gone out too fast.

Oregon was really giving Washington a run for their money. The UW Huskies had a record-breaking season last year, sweeping the top five or six places in most of their meets until NCAA's and winning the national meet by a landslide. More of the same was expected this year, as they are a young team. But Oregon's runners had different plans.

As they came around the turn and into view one last time, with about 400m to go, I could see that it wasn't Schaaf leading anymore. Whoever it was wore an Oregon uniform and was HAULING. I got a bit of butterflies in my stomach, remembering what it was like both to run like that AND to get beat by someone running like that. As she got closer, I realized it was Nicole Blood. She came by me and I heard sharp but powerful breaths as she continued her long kick to the finish, ensuring no one would take this title away from her. Several seconds back was Washington's Lawrence with Schaaf (Washington) and Hasay (Oregon) running side by side. Babcock (Washington) was holding on and Cal's Deborah Maier was in 6th (this was the first time I saw her in this pack). Then Alex Kosinski (Oregon), Kari Hardt (ASU), Alex Gits (Stanford), Katie Follett (Washington), Stanford, Oregon.

So for Oregon, their top 4 looked like they were going to score 24 points, and Washington looked like they were going to score 20, depending on everyone's finishing kick. But they score 5 runners, so it would come down to the strength of the ever-important 5th woman.

As it turned out, Washington's Katie Follett moved up to 8th to nip Oregon's Kosinski at the line. Washington's 5th woman, Kailey Campbell, placed 16th while Oregon's Bronwyn Crossman was 17th. So the Huskies took the title again, 35 to 42, a very close race in cross-country terms.

My friend Laura Landgreen brought three of her former students with her to watch because they are BIG fans of Jordan Hasay, ever since Laura took them to a meet last May to watch her run. They wore green t-shirts in the spirit of OU and had Hasay and Blood sign their shirts after the race. It was so great to see these girls admire these athletes as opposed to some bratty celebrity.

In other conference action this weekend, the Princeton women ran a "perfect race" to win the Heps (Ivy League Heptagonal) Cross-Country Championships. Steeplechase Olympian Jenny Barringer one by 46 seconds (believe it or not, this was her first Big 12 XC win) and Colorado teammate Allie McLaughlin took second. But the Texas Tech women could not be stopped and took home the first-place team trophy for the second straight year, placing all top 5 women in the top 15. 

More conference results should be pouring in as the day goes on.

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