Mount to debut at Notre Dame Invitational

Friday, September 30

South Bend, IN

Noon

Oregon State

Notre Dame/Joe Piane Invitational

Sophomore Juliana Mount will run her first race of the season on Friday.

Photo by: Pac-12 Conference

September 28, 2016 | Women's Cross Country

2016 performance list USTFCCCA Top 30 USTFCCCA regional rankings UTTFCCCA regional rankings

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State cross country team will make the first of what it hopes will be three trips to Indiana this season this weekend when it competes at the Joe Piane Invitational in South Bend on Friday.

Hosted by Notre Dame at the Burke Memorial Golf Course, the 52-team meet is divided into the Blue (24 teams) and Gold (28) pools and is one of the premier regular-season races in the country. The host Fighting Irish are ranked 16th in this week's USTFCCCA Top 30 poll and many other national contenders will be on hand.

"It's the best meet in the country to this point this season," OSU coach Kelly Sullivan said. "There are 24 teams in our race, and 22 of them are regionally-ranked.

"It will be a great test for this group. It is early for us to be testing ourselves at this level but based off of where people were at the start of the season and what we've been doing the first five weeks," he believes the team will respond with a quality effort.

Sullivan said the meet will be even tougher than an NCAA regional because the field is so much stronger and deeper.

"There is no regional we've ever competed in where 22 teams are regionally-ranked," he said. "After the first mile there will be 70 or 80 runners within five seconds of the lead, and that's something this group has ever faced.

"There will be no separation. I looked at last year's results; at the mile mark the leader was at 5:24 and the 80^th runner was at 5:30. It's just a blob of talent all together. We will prepare knowing there won't be a lot of separation.

"But we need to do it, sooner rather than later," to acclimate for the upcoming Pacific-12 Conference and NCAA West Regional meets. "Whatever the outcome, we'll just be better from having experienced it."

The Beavers' eight varsity competitors will run at noon PDT in the Blue race. Four others will run at 1:30 p.m. in the Open competition. Both races are 5,000 meters.

The Blue race features six teams in this week's USTFCCCA Top 30 national rankings: Providence (1); New Mexico (t2); North Carolina State (5); Notre Dame (16); Vanderbilt (24) and Utah (28). Minnesota, Eastern Michigan, Weber State, California, Mississippi and Texas also received votes.

OSU's projected counting runners are seniors Morgan Anderson, Samantha Lewis and Emily Weber; junior Kristiane Width; redshirt sophomores Nicole Goecke and Sam McKinnon; sophomore Juliana Mount, and freshman Lexi Reed.

It will be the first race of the season for Mount. She was OSU's No. 2 placer in all three of her varsity races in 2015, and then posted all-time top-10 marks in the 1500 (4, 4:26.53) and 800 (8, 2:12.03) in track last spring.

"JJ [Mount] brings another level of competitiveness to our team," Sullivan said.

Junior Kala Kopecek, redshirt sophomore Gwyneth McMorris and freshmen Emily Bacon and Sara Christianson will run in the Open race. It will be the first competition of the season for Christianson, a former standout at Borah High School in Boise.

"Sara has not run a cross country meet since her junior year in high school," Sullivan said of Christianson, who was injured her senior season. "She is physically ready to handle [the Blue] race, but I need to do what is best.

"The Blue race might be just a little too much for her" in her varsity debut. "The Open race will be a better first step for her."

OSU will return to Indiana on Oct. 15 for the NCAA Pre-Nationals at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course at Terra Haute. The NCAA Championships will be held on the same layout on Nov. 19.

WELCOME BACK: Senior Emily Weber ran her first cross country race since the 2014 NCAA regionals at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Springfield on Sept. 16, and took first place in 17:26. She tied her lifetime cross country best for that distance with the 11^th-fastest time in school history.

Redshirt sophomore Nicole Goecke made her cross country debut at the Dellinger race and placed 39^th in 19:02 as OSU's No. 7 runner. Goecke did not race in cross country in 2014 or 2015.

FANTASTIC FROSH: Incoming freshmen Lexi Reed (Denver) was OSU's No. 3 runner in both previous meets. Sara Christianson (Boise) will race for the first time on Friday. Emily Bacon (Newport Harbor, Calif.) will run first race on varsity after two meets as an unattached competitor.

OSU's other freshmen are Brooke Chuhlantseff (Salem); Emily Mackay (Endicott, N.Y.), and Mikayla Sodersten (Fresno). They will redshirt this fall.

REDSHIRTING RETURNEES: Senior Holly Cavalluzzo underwent off-season ankle surgery and will redshirt. A three-year letterwinner, she was OSU's No. 1 runner in every meet in 2015 and placed 52^nd at Pac-12s and 67^th at the NCAA West Regional. Cavalluzzo ranks No. 1 on the career 6,000-meter list (20:30) and is No. 2 over 5,000 (16:55).

Charlotte Corless, a junior from Beaverton who ran at Boise State the past two seasons before transferring to OSU for winter term of 2015-16, will also redshirt. She was 20^th at the Mountain West meet, 36^th at the NCAA West Regional and 207^th at NCAAs in 2015.

LOSSES FROM 2015: OSU lost Maureen Tremblay, Kira Kelly, Macaulay Wilson, Adrienne Demaree and Dakota Steen from the 2015 team. Kelly was OSU's No. 3 finisher at Pac-12s and No. 4 at regionals. Demaree was No. 5 at both meets, Tremblay No. 7. Wilson ran at Pac-12s but was not in the regional lineup. Steen ran in the season-opener only.

WEEKLY RANKINGS: The Beavers were not ranked in the Sept. 26 USTFCCCA West Region rankings. They are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region.

Eight Pac-12 teams were ranked in the West Region: Oregon (1), Stanford (2), Washington (5), UCLA (7), California (8), Arizona (10), Arizona State (11) and Washington State (12). Colorado (2) and Utah (4) were ranked in the Mountain Region.

In the national poll, Oregon is No. 4, Stanford is No. 6, Washington is No. 12, Utah is No. 28 and UCLA is tied for No. 29. California also received votes. Portland, which edged OSU 21-34 on Sept. 3, is No. 7.

UP NEXT: The Beavers return to action on Oct. 15 at the NCAA Pre-Nationals at Terra Haute, Ind. It will be run on the same course as the NCAA Championships, set for Nov. 19. No one will run at the Charles Bowles Invitational at Willamette University on Saturday, as had been scheduled.

POSTSEASON PLANS: The Pac-12 Championships are Oct. 28 at Tucson, hosted by Arizona. Sacramento State hosts the NCAA West Regional in Sacramento on Nov. 11. Indiana State hosts the NCAA Championships, set for Nov. 19 at Terra Haute, Ind.

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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