Men’s Race

As we predicted, it was once again the Colorado show as the Buffaloes claimed their fourth straight Pac-12 conference title with a shocking 30-point spread. Edward Cheserek claimed his second consecutive conference title after pulling away from the field at 5k to finish in 23:23, 11 seconds ahead of runner-up and training partner Eric Jenkins. 

Saucony Flo50’s No. 1 ranked team ran once again as an unstoppable pack, led by Blake Theroux who clocked a fourth-place individual finish (23:42) and was followed by an astonishing 5-6-7-8 score with Connor Winter, Ammar Moussa, Pierce Murphy, and Ben Saarel rounding out the top five. 

The No. 7 Oregon Ducks followed for a runner-up team finish led by the 1-2 punch of 2013 NCAA champ Cheserek and Jenkins. Matthew Melancon (15), Daniel Winn (16) and Cole Watson (23) followed for a team score of 57, just barely ahead of No. 6 Stanford’s 60-point spread. Led by a third-place finish from senior Joe Rosa, the Cardinal finished with four runners in the top 15, Maxim Korolev (9), Sean McGorty (13) and Michael Atchoo (14). 

Women’s Race

Saucony Flo50’s No. 1 Shelby Houlihan showed that she is back in the saddle once againafter winning her first Pac-12 cross country title of her career. After coming off of a disappointing third-place finish at Wisconsin, the Arizona State Sun Devil asserted herself and pulled away from freshman phenom Elise Cranny to clock a winning time of 19:59. In the team race, the No. 4 Oregon Ducks used the power of the pack to take the team title with 54 points ahead of the Stanford Cardinal. 

With a new low stick in Columbia transfer Waverly Neer, the Ducks were led by a sixth-place finish from Frida Berge and took over the top 15 with Neer (10), Molly Grabil (11), Alli Cash (12) and Maggie Schmaedick (15) rounding out the top five. With just 11 seconds between Berge and Schmaedick, the Duck pack is looking dangerous heading into November. 

Stanford’s Elise Cranny continues to show her incredible range on the cross country course after finishing just five seconds behind individual champ Houlihan in 20:04. The freshman led her squad to a third-place finish with 74 points totaled by Emma Fisher (13), Molly McNamara (14), Sophie Chase (21), and Rebecca Mehra (24). 

Full results of the 2014 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships