Pac-12 ChampsPac-12 Champs
Spencer Allen / SportsImageWire.com
Cross Country

Pac-12 Champs

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Grant Fisher, Steven Fahy, and Alex Ostberg celebrate after finishing in the top four. Photos by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Grant Fisher used a burst of speed over the final 200 meters to win the individual title and lead the Stanford men to their first team crown in seven years, at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships on Friday.

With Steven Fahy in third and Alex Ostberg fourth, Stanford placed three runners in the top four on the way to dethroning six-time defending champion Colorado, which had won every title since joining the conference, 41-47. Fisher ran 23:44.9 over the 8K (4.97-mile) course at Springfield Golf Club to win by three seconds.

"It's exciting to win the best conference in America," said Chris Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field and head men's cross country coach. "I'm proud of the way our guys executed as a team."

The Cardinal women also had a superb day. Despite coming into the meet as the fourth-highest ranked team in the field, No. 14 Stanford was edged by No. 1 Oregon on a tiebreaker to finish third. Vanessa Fraser was fourth in the 6K (3.73-mile) race and Fiona O'Keeffe was seventh for Stanford, which scored 71 points to match Oregon, with both behind No. 3 Colorado's 53.

 



"It was such a huge step forward for us," said women's coach Elizabeth DeBole. "We talked about team goals beforehand. When we walk away, how can we be proud of our performance? We wanted to see how close we could get to Colorado and Oregon. And we definitely got close."

The tiebreaker was decided by matching the top five runners of each team. Oregon had the advantage in three of the five head-to-head.

Fisher is Stanford's first men's individual champ since Elliott Heath in 2010 and his triumph marked the program's eighth individual conference victory.
 


The team title was Stanford 13th overall and first under Miltenberg. It may not have happened if not for a monster race from Fahy, who only two weeks ago was 65th at the Wisconsin Invitational.

"That's the real Steven Fahy," Miltenberg said of the steeplechaser. "He was great at keeping his composure, executing the race plan and keeping his intensity."

Fisher, a junior who was runner-up last year to four-time champ Edward Cheserek of Oregon, was patient throughout the race, as was the Stanford team. After the first two kilometers, Stanford was sixth and never led at any split.

"We have a really young team and they competed so well today," Fisher said on the Pac-12 Network. "There's a lot of good energy on this team."

Fisher and Ostberg skirted on the fringes of the top 10 through most of the race, but it wasn't until the front pack winnowed to six with a little more than a kilometer to go that the real racing began.

UCLA's Robert Brandt, Colorado's Joe Klecker, and Washington's Mahmoud Moussa led the way three abreast before Moussa forged to the front. Fisher moved a step behind and followed Klecker as the Colorado runner took the lead.

The two had memorably battled at Stanford's Cardinal Classic last spring with Fisher outkicking Klecker on the final lap in the 5,000 meters. In similar fashion, Fisher kicked again, moving on the inside of the final turn, and increased his lead to the finish. Fisher, who crossed the line with a smile on his face, extended a Stanford men's streak of consecutive years with a top-three individual finish to five.

Miltenberg told Fisher, "'Be the most relaxed calm guy in that lead pack."

And when you get to 2K, the rest is up to you, said Miltenberg, who feels that late-race instincts are among Fisher's greatest racing skills.

"I trusted that I had another gear at the end," Fisher said. "It takes a long time to develop that confidence. I'm happy to have that now."

 



Stanford placed seven in the top 21. Tai Dinger in 15th, freshman Callum Bolger in 18th, Blair Hurlock in 20th, and Alek Parsons in 21st all finished within 6.2 seconds of each other as Nos. 4-7. Stanford's sixth and seventh runners finished ahead of every team's No. 5, except Colorado's.

"It was a great team race," Miltenberg said. "You can't look at any one spot and say we got it. If Callum and Tai didn't make  a charge in the last 600 meters, we wouldn't have gotten it. It was great great team running."

A year ago, Ostberg was Stanford's No. 6 runner at this meet and wasn't in the lineup at regionals or NCAA's. Since running a sub-14 in the 5,000 in June, he has continued his momentum through the fall.

"Today, we just had really good team chemistry," Ostberg said to Pac-12 Network. "We keyed off each other really well and we stayed really tough over the last 4K.

"When a teammate comes up to you on your team, you're comforted by the fact that you know who's right next to you. You can feel their presence. We can push each other because we feel so comfortable with one another."

 



In the women's race, Fraser and O'Keeffe were part of a seven-runner lead pack with 1K left. Fraser briefly took the lead, but eventual winner Dani Jones of Colorado, defending champ Amy-Eloise Neale of Washington, and Oregon's Katie Rainsberger made it a three-person race down the stretch.

For Stanford, many of the heroics came away from the eyes of most of the spectators. Elise Cranny and Christina Aragon each made their season debuts and moved steadily up the field. Aragon passed 21 runners over the final 3K, including seven over the final kilometer, to finish 19th. Cranny passed 23 runners over the final half of the race, finishing 25th.

Further back, freshman Jordan Oakes passed 20 runners over the final 3K, including eight over the final kilometer, to place 39th. She was the second Stanford freshman, behind Jessica Lawson's 37th.

"Everyone was out there fighting for every spot," DeBole said. "And watching Elise and Christina over the last half of the race, they were rolling."

Abbie McNulty, a senior, was Stanford's No. 3 runner, placing 16th. A veteran of four Pac-12 championship meets, McNulty's previous best finish was 41st last year. She continued her strongest season yet and has established herself this year as a firm No. 3.

The next step for both teams is the NCAA West Regional in Seattle on Nov. 10. The top two teams advance automatically to the NCAA Championships in Louisville on Nov. 18.

"We still have a lot of work to do," DeBole said. "But it's gratifying knowing that in two weeks we'll be that much better."


 


 * * *
Pac-12 Championships
At Springfield Golf Club

Men (8K, 4.97 miles)
Team – 1, Stanford 41; 2, Colorado 47; 3, UCLA 103; 4, Oregon 109; 5, Washington 114; 6, Washington State 138; 7, California 158; 8, Arizona 234; 9, Arizona State 282.
Individual – 1, Grant Fisher (Stanford) 23:44.9; 2, Joe Klecker (Colorado) 23:48.0; 3, Steven Fahy (Stanford) 23:51.3; 4, Alex Ostberg (Stanford) 23:51.5. Other Stanford – 15, Tai Dinger 24:08.6; 18, Callum Bolger 24:10.0; 20, Blair Hurlock 24:14.8; 21, Alek Parsons 24:14.8; 30, Sam Wharton 24:28.9; 42, Isaac Cortes 24:36.5; 52, Jack Keelan 24:52.6.

Women (6K, 3.73 miles)
Team – 1, Colorado 53; 2, Oregon 71; 3, Stanford 71; 4, Washington 128; 5, California 132; 6, Utah 146; 7, Arizona 186; 8, UCLA 221; 9, Arizona State 232; 10, Washington State 259; 11, Oregon State 263.
Individual – 1, Dani Jones (Colorado) 18:57.3; 2, Katie Rainsberger (Oregon) 18:58.5; 3, Amy-Eloise Neale (Washington) 18:58.7; 4, Vanessa Fraser (Stanford) 19:02.6. Other Stanford – 7, Fiona O'Keeffe 19:08.5; 16, Abbie McNulty 19:25.5; 19, Christina Aragon 19:28.6; 25, Elise Cranny 19:34.2; 30, Ella Donaghu 19:47.5; 37, Jessica Lawson 20:03.7; 39, Jordan Oakes 20:05.1; 48, Maddy Berkson 20:13.2; 59, Catherine Pagano 20:31.5.