Stanford Rambles To A Pac-10 Sweep

College cross country

Stanford cruised to the men’s and women’s team titles with a pair of course records at the Pacific-10 cross country championships Saturday at Stanford, Calif.

UCLA’s Mebrahtom Keflezighi beat Oregon’s Karl Keska, the defending Pac-10 champion, by 10 seconds in the men’s 8,000-meter race. Keflezighi’s time of 23:45 broke the Stanford University Golf Course record of 24:04 set by Arizona’s Martin Keino in 1994.

Arizona sophomore Amy Skieresz defended her Pac-10 title in the women’s 5,000-meter race and took 9 seconds off her own course record with a time of 16:36.

The second-ranked Stanford men had five runners finish in the top nine spots to beat runner-up fourth-ranked Oregon 29-58. Washington State finished fourth behind the seventh-place finish of freshman Bernard Lagat (24:32).

The third-ranked Stanford women won easily over 16th-ranked Washington 38-82. WSU placed seventh overall.

The University of Portland swept both the men’s and women’s titles at the West Coast Conference cross country championships at the Crystal Springs golf course in Belmont, Calif.

Portland’s men captured the first seven places in their 8K race, led by senior Ryan Grote in 25:43.

Santa Clara was runner-up with 85 points, followed by Gonzaga with 95.

Portland regained the women’s crown from last year’s champion, Gonzaga.

However, Gonzaga sophomore Cheska Fairbanks took the individual title with a 5K course record time of 17:26. The previous mark of 17:43 was set by Portland All-American Nicole Karr in 1994. GU’s Beth Mulligan (18:54) finished eighth.

St. Mary’s (50) placed second, followed by Gonzaga (63).

Puget Sound captured both the men’s and women’s titles at the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges cross country championships at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.

Puget Sound’s men beat Pacific Lutheran 36-41, followed by Willamette with 80.

Puget Sound’s Jon Westerman (25:08.36) edged teammate Dave Davis (25:08.63) for the individual title. Whitworth was led by Josh Decker (27:16.15) who finished 34th.

Puget Sound’s women beat Pacific Lutheran 28-56, followed by Willamette at 97. Whitworth (154) placed fifth.

PLU’s Tanya Robinson (17:59.38) was the individual winner. Miranda Thygesen was the top finisher (14th) for Whitworth with a time of 19:01.07.

, DataTimes