Beavers Head to the Heartland
October 14, 2015 | Women's Cross Country
Corvallis, Ore. - Two runners will make their 2015 varsity debuts on Friday when the Oregon State cross country team competes at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Ill.
Senior Adrienne Demaree and freshman Juliana Mount will join the lineup after missing the first three races. They'll team with juniors Holly Cavalluzzo, Maureen Tremblay, Macaulay Wilson, Monica Anderson, Samantha Lewis and Morgan Anderson; sophomore Kristiane Width and freshman Kaely Gordon to form OSU's 10-woman team.
Demaree is a three-time letter winner with plenty of experience in large races like Friday's, as she ran at the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Pacific-12 Conference and NCAA West Regional meets. Mount competed unattached at the Charles Bowles Invitational at Willamette on Oct. 3 and placed 15th in the open division with a time of 18:10 over 5,000 meters.
“It will be a great experience for us,” OSU coach Kelly Sullivan said. “There will be 29 teams and unattached/open runners in our race, so it will be a big field, it will resemble a regional with 350 or 400 runners.
“It's exactly what we need. We are not tapering, we ran a hard workout [Tuesday]. We are excited. We are the only Pac-12 school there and will see a lot of teams we've never competed against.”
The 6,000-meter race consists of three 2,000-meter loops on the Newman Golf Course, starting at 3:05 p.m. Illinois is the defending women's team champion; Maria McDaniel of Western Michigan was the individual champion in 2014 in 20:41.
The Beavers will compete in the second of two women's races with host Bradley, Chicago State, Creighton, Dayton, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Illinois-Chicago, IUPUI, Iowa, Kansas State, Loyola (Chicago), Marquette, Missouri, Nebraska, Nebraska-Omaha, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, St. Louis, SIU-Edwardsville, South Dakota, Valparaiso, Western Illinois, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State and approximately 30 unattached/open runners.
“There are three huge meets in the country this weekend: The Pre-Nationals at Louisville, the Wisconsin Invitational and the Bradley Classic,” Sullivan said. “This will be great for us and it will great for us to get out of the Northwest and race in a different region of the country.”
Last time out: OSU finished 11th at the 12-team Washington Invitational at Jefferson Park in Seattle on Oct. 2. Junior Holly Cavalluzzo was OSU's top placer, as she took 31st overall with a time of 20:30 over 6,000 meters.
In the record books: Junior Holly Cavalluzzo ranks second all-time in races of 5,000 meters (16:55) and first on 6,000-meter courses (20:30).
Other 2015 team members with top-20 career times over 5,000 meters are sophomore Sam McKinnon (5, 17:06); junior Emily Weber (11, 17:26); junior Morgan Anderson (12, 17:27) and sophomore Kristiane Width (18, 17:43).
Over 6,000 meters, Weber and McKinnon rank No. 3 (20:52); Width ranks 10th (21:12); junior Kira Kelly ranks 15th (21:27), and Monica Anderson ranks 19th (21:45).
Weber and McKinnon are redshirting this season.
Regional rankings: The Beavers are not ranked in the West Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The last rankings were released on Oct. 5; there were no updated rankings this week. Pac-12 schools in the Oct. 5 regional rankings are Oregon (1); Washington (2); Stanford (3); California (5); Arizona (11); Washington State (14) and UCLA (15). Colorado (2) and Utah (4) are ranked in the Mountain Region.
National rankings: No. 2 Colorado leads five Pac-12 teams ranked in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top-30 poll, released on Oct. 6. Oregon (4), Stanford (9) and Washington (10) are also ranked. California and Utah also received votes.
Up next: Several Beavers may compete at the Oct. 23 Beaver Classic at Avery Park. Those with a chance to run at the Oct. 30 Pac-12 championships in Colfax, Wash., will take the weekend off from racing to concentrate on training for the conference meet.
Pac-12 Championships: The annual Pacific-12 Conference Championships are scheduled for Oct. 30 at the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax, Wash., hosted by Washington State. The women's race starts at 10:30 a.m. and will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
For more information: Follow the team by Facebook at Facebook.com/OSUTrackCrossCountry or on Twitter at twitter.com/@beavers_track.
