by MONMOUTH, Ore. — After a two-year hiatus, the Pac-12 Men’s Cross Country Championship trophy is heading back to Boulder as No. 3 Colorado defeated No. 16 Oregon, 41-57, in an exciting race at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Ore. on Friday afternoon.
THE MEN’S RACE: The men’s race saw a field full of talent with four teams ranked in the top 10 and another in the top 20. But a solid day for the Buffs gave them the advantage. Colorado recorded 41 points to Oregon’s 57, while Stanford, which was tied for third with CU, ended the day with 69 points.
“Stanford is a very good team,” Wetmore said. “They were off a little today. Oregon didn’t look good in the past couple of races, but had earlier in the season and was very good today. Washington is a very solid team. There are probably four teams in this conference that are top-10 in the country. Our team ran really well today, especially some of the young guys. Of course, we’re happy to get the title back.”
Colorado’s senior duo of Klecker and John Dressel stayed in the front of the pack for the majority of the race. While Klecker pulled ahead and eventually won the race, Dressel was not able to keep pace and finished eighth overall. But Dressel played a bigger part than he may know, as Klecker said in his post-race interview ‘I would not have won if John wasn’t wearing his uniform and running this race, so I very much credit him.’
“If you’re running out there with an ego and trying to do everything by yourself, it’s not going to work,” he said. “I very much fed off of John, and John put off some good surges and tired some people out in this race.”
Dressel was third for the Buffs in the race. The second scorer was true freshman Kashon Harrison (Navajo), who was the highest freshman with a seventh-place finish.
“Kashon did very good work over the summer, which is rare for a male coming from high school into college,” said Wetmore. “He’s been solid for us from the day he arrived and he’s going to be good for us in the future.”
Klecker echoed Wetmore’s thoughts on Harrison, saying “Kashon is probably one of the hardest-working kids I’ve ever met.”
Men’s 8k Individual Results (top 10)
1. Joe Klecker, Colorado, 23:02.7; 2. Cooper Teare, Oregon, 23:05.7; 3. Andrew Jordan, Washington, 23:06.2; 4. Alex Ostberg, Stanford, 23:08.0; 5. Robert Brandt, UCLA, 23:11.9; 6. Thomas Ratcliffe, Stanford, 23:15.1; 7. Kashon Harrison, Colorado, 23:18.0; 8. John Dressel, Colorado, 23:19.7; 9. James West, Oregon, 23:20.0; 10. Garrett Reynolds, UCLA, 23:21.0.
UP NEXT: The postseason will continue for the Buffs at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships, November 15, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The women will continue to race a 6k, while the men move up to a 10k run.
