Beavers finish 9th at Pac-12 Championships

Friday, October 28

Tucson, AZ

9:30 a.m.

Oregon State

Pac-12 Cross Country Championships

Senior Emily Weber placed 24th.

Photo by: Chris Hook

October 28, 2016 | Women's Cross Country

Final results Final results (PDF)2016 performance list

By: Athletic Communications

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Oregon State cross country team placed ninth on Friday at the Pacific-12 Conference Cross Country Championships at the Randolph North Golf Course.

Ranked 15^th in the West Region in the most recent USTFCCCA poll, the Beavers compiled a 224 team total and knocked off 12^th-ranked Arizona State, Washington State and USC for their best finish at the conference meet since 2011, when they also took ninth.

"It was a great job," on a very warm morning, OSU coach Kelly Sullivan said. "I am very happy for our team. They wanted to show they belonged, and they did.

"We were only 23 points behind UCLA," which was ranked 23^th nationally. "We did not taper for this race, we kept our mileage up and did not back off on our workouts.

"I am extremely proud of how we responded. Now we are looking forward to notching it up for regionals."

Senior Emily Weber led the Beavers by placing 24^th in 21:20. It was Weber's best-ever finish at a Pac-12 meet by 52 places, and the first top-30 finish by a Beaver since Laura Carlyle placed 29^th in 2011.

Sophomore Juliana Mount placed 40^th in 21:48, an improvement of 19 places from 2015. Right behind was junior Kristiane Width, who took 41^st in 21:49 in her first Pac-12 Championships appearance since 2013.

"Emily has put a great season together, starting at the Dellinger meet back in September," which she won, Sullivan said. "In the past she has shown flashes but do to it all season long against quality competition is a tribute to her.

"JJ [Mount] and Kristiane have done exactly the same thing all season."

Senior Samantha Lewis was 58^th in 22:25, a 10-place improvement from 2015. Freshman Lexi Reed completed the team scoring by taking 61^st in 22:35 in her initial championships race.

Lewis was bothered by a sore knee in training on Thursday and Sullivan said it was 50-50 if she would run on Friday, but she did and responded with a quality effort.

"That was her best cross country race ever," Sullivan said.

Senior Morgan Anderson was 69^th in 22:52 and freshman Sara Christianson was 71^st in 23:08. OSU's other runners were sophomores Sam McKinnon (96, 24:18) and Nicole Goecke (97, 24:22), and junior Kala Kopecek (101, 24:46).

Overall OSU improved two places and 97 points from 2015, when it took 11^th at Colfax, Wash., 59 points behind 10^th-place WSU.

The Beavers are now idle until the Nov. 11 NCAA West Regional Meet at Sacramento. The 6,000-meter race, a qualifier for the NCAA Championships, will be held at the Haggin Oaks Golf Club, hosted by Sacramento State.

Indiana State hosts the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terra Haute, Ind. OSU won its pool at the ISU Pre-Nationals Invitational on that course back on Oct. 15.

For more information on the Oregon State track and field program, follow the Beavers on Facebook at Facebook.com/OSUTrackCrossCountry, or on Twitter at twitter.com/@BeaverTrackXC

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Pacific-12 Conference Championships

TEAM SCORES: Colorado 33; Washington 74; Stanford 83; Oregon 88; Utah 169; California 184; UCLA 201; Arizona 204; Oregon State 224; Arizona State 236; Washington State 304; USC 375.

OSU FINISHERS: 24. Emily Weber, 21:20. 40. Juliana Mount, 21:48. 41. Kristiane Width, 21:49. 58. Samantha Lewis, 22:25. 61. Lexi Reed, 22:35. 69. Morgan Anderson, 22:52. 71. Sara Christianson, 23:08. 96. Sam McKinnon, 24:18. 97. Nicole Goecke, 24:22. 101. Kala Kopecek, 24:46.