Beavers Absorb Tough Breaks; Finish 11th At Pac-12 Championships
Oct. 27, 2012
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - The Oregon State cross country team absorbed some tough breaks at the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday morning, eventually battling their way to an 11th-place finish in the women's 6K at Robinson Ranch Golf Course in Santa Clarita, Calif.
The Beavers' five scorers, Sandra Martinez (52nd; 21:53), Kira Kelly (54th; 22:00), Taylor Nowlin (65th; 22:26), Teresa Lawson (75th; 22:27) and Samantha Lewis (84th; 22:37), all ran well and continued the steady improvement that has characterized OSU's squad all season. Noticeably absent from that group, however, were Kinsey Gomez and Kelsi Schaer - two integral pieces to Oregon State's puzzle.
That duo had paced the Orange & Black in the two biggest races of the season, the Charles Bowles Invitational in September and NCAA Pre-Nationals two weeks ago.
Schaer, unbeknownst to the staff, was knocked down on a tight turn about 300 meters into the race and trampled by trailing runners. The sophomore regained her composure and heroically finished 92nd in 23:25, but was unable to find her normal spot among Oregon State's lead group. Gomez, who was OSU's top returning finisher from last season's conference championship, had been battling a sickness leading up to today's race and finished 86th in 22:43.
"We saw Kelsi at 200 meters where she normally is right by Sandra (Martinez)," Head Coach Kelly Sullivan said of the incident that took out one of his top competitors. "She got pummeled on a turn about 100 meters later which is really disappointing and frustrating. And with Kinsey fighting a bug this past week, when you are as young and as thin as we are, to lose two women that run No. 1 and don't score, it's definitely going to have an effect and wasn't a part of the plan."
Despite the unfortunate situations that were out of their control, the Beavers showcased the fight and promise that makes the future so bright. Without a senior in its lineup, Oregon State is one of only two schools (Colorado) that could potentially return all of their scorers to the 2013 edition of the Pac-12 Championships.
"The team was all with Kelsi right when she went down," Sullivan said. "It gives you a huge shock to lose one of your key people 300 meters in. It's no different than having someone get injured in a football game. It took everyone awhile to rally and realize what happened in front of them, but they did a fantastic job and battled as they have all year.
I had us penciled in at 240 and realistically 250 is what we would have been with both Kelsi and Kinsey scoring today. Then we are a solid 10th and closing in on the teams that have beaten us this year and closer to them then we were at Pre-Nationals. But in the end you walk away saying we did pretty darn well considering eight of these women have never raced at Pac-12's before and we lost our No. 1 runners from the biggest meets."
Adrienne Demaree (23:01) and Sabrah de Voir (23:14) came in 90th and 91st and were followed closely by Schaer. Lacey London rounded out the Beaver competitors in 97th with a time of 23:46.
Oregon State's team score of 305 was just 10 shy of 10th-place USC. Oregon (47), Arizona (69) and Stanford (82) took the top three spots.
"The results don't show what really happened or indicate the circumstances," Sullivan said. "It's really unfortunate because this group has worked so hard to be in a position where they could have scored better."
Next up for Oregon State is the NCAA West Regional meet on Friday, Nov. 9 in Seattle, Wash. The women's portion of that event begins at noon.
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