OSU Harriers Open Season on Tuesday
August 27, 2015 | Women's Cross Country
It's a young team, with only one senior. But it's experienced, as 12 members have competed in a varsity meet and/or a conference or regional championship.
And that bodes well for coach Kelly Sullivan. His Oregon State cross country team has lofty but reasonable expectations as the Beavers begin their 11th campaign since it was re-instated as a varsity sport in 2005.
“They are really excited about the season,” Sullivan said of his runners. “We have a nice mix of veterans and newcomers, and a number of them were here this summer training on their own.
“We have good depth. There is some really good talent in this group and I am really excited to see what we can do.”
The Beavers open the season at 4 p.m. Tuesday against Portland and Portland State in a 5K double dual at Westmorland Park in Portland, hosted by Lewis & Clark College. It's the first of an eight-meet season that culminates with the Pacific-12 Conference championships at Colfax, Wash., on Oct. 30, hosted by Washington State, and the NCAA West Regional two weeks later.
“We will mix our lineup up early,” Sullivan said. “We are limited to racing just seven in uniform on Tuesday so we will run a couple of the freshmen unattached.
“We have a couple runners who won't race early, but will race late. Our goal is to be ready when we hit the Pac-12 championships and the regionals. We will build through the season.”
The roster returns virtually intact from 2014. The only losses are Kelsi Schaer, who placed 72nd at Pac-12s and 125th at regionals, and Aly Nielson, who was 79th at Pac-12s and 179th at regionals.
The Beavers took 12th at the 2014 Pac-12 meet at Oakland and 20th of 34 teams at the NCAA West Regional at Stanford. They did not advance to the NCAA Championships.
Veterans back for another year are:
· Junior Monica Anderson, who raced in four meets and placed 112th at Pac-12s. She is also a member of OSU's Honors College, and earned honorable-mention Pac-12 all-academic honors in 2014.
· Redshirt junior Morgan Anderson, who took 70th at Pac-12s and 100th at the NCAA West Regional. Anderson ran in every meet in 2014. She ranks 12th all-time over 5,000 meters (17:27), is a member of OSU's Honors College, and earned honorable-mention Pac-12 all-academic honors in 2014.
· Junior Holly Cavalluzzo, OSU's top finisher at Pac-12s (61st) and No. 3 placer at regionals (111th). She entered every meet in 2014 and ranks No. 2 on the all-time list over 5,000 meters (16:55) and No. 9 all-time over 6,000 meters (21:11). She earned honorable-mention all-academic honors in 2014.
· Senior Adrienne Demaree, who ran in four of five meets and placed 80th at Pac-12s and 149th at regionals. She earned honorable-mention Pac-12 all-academic honors in 2014.
· Sophomore Kala Kopecek, who ran in two meets in 2014, but not the Pac-12s or regionals. She is also a member of OSU's Honors College.
· Redshirt junior Samantha Lewis, who placed 111th at Pac-12s in her lone 2014 appearance.
· Sophomore Sam McKinnon, OSU's No. 2 runner in 2014 for much of the season. She placed 65th at Pac-12s, 150th at regionals and ran the No. 5 all-time clocking in the 5K (17:06) and the No. 3 time in the 6K (20:52). She also placed fourth in the steeplechase at the Pac-12 track championships.
· Redshirt junior Emily Weber, who ran in three meets, placed 74th at Pac-12s, and then broke through with a team-leading 56th-place effort at the regionals. She ranks 10th all-time over 5K (17:26) and 15th over 6K (21:27). She was first-team Pac-12 all-academic for the second year in a row in 2014.
Redshirt freshmen Nicole Goecke and Dakota Steen, redshirt sophomore Kristiane Width and redshirt juniors Kira Kelly and Maureen Tremblay did not compete in 2014. Kelly ran the 14th-best 6K time (21:27) in 2012; Width posted the 18th-best 5K time (17:43) and the 18th-best 6K time (21:34) in 2013.
Redshirt freshman Kimberly Solberg and redshirt junior Macaulay Wilson have also joined the team from the track program. They did not run cross country in 2014, their first year at OSU.
The incoming freshmen are Kaely Gordon of Summit High School in Bend; Rachel Johnson of Campolindo HS in Moraga, Calif., and Julia Mount of Notre Dame HS in San Jose.
Gordon helped lead Summit to the 2013 and 2014 state 5A cross country titles by placing fourth as a junior and fifth as a senior. Mount ran cross country for the first time as a senior and placed 17th at state.
Also, Corvallis native Gwyneth McMorris has transferred in from Portland State, where she was the Vikings' No. 6 runner in their first meet in her lone 2014 cross country appearance. She also ran track at PSU this past spring.
A graduate of Corvallis High, she was a four-time 5A state-meet qualifier in cross country and the fourth-place finisher in the 800 at the 2013 5A state track meet. She has immediate eligibility and has three years of competition remaining.
For more information on the Oregon State cross country team, follow the team by Facebook at Facebook.com/OSUTrackCrossCountry or on Twitter at twitter.com/@beavers_track.
