Pac-12 Conference Meet Approaching At Monmouth's Ash Creek Preserve

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Last spring, Oregon State track and field and cross country coach Louie Quintana crossed the bridge going out of Corvallis and made a walking tour of Trysting Tree Golf Course. 

Quintana knew that OSU was up to host the Pac-12 Conference Cross Country Championships, but had some concerns about the course the school used to host the 2007 meet. 

"There had been some flooding that affected a few areas and left others pretty badly rutted," Quintana said. 

After reviewing some options over the summer, Quintana latched onto the idea of hosting meet 20 miles north in Monmouth, at Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Division 2 school Western Oregon University. 

"It turns out I only live a mile from Mike Johnson," Quintana said. 

Johnson is the veteran coach of the WOU program. And the dedicated cross country course in Monmouth is becoming more and more prominent. It's mostly flat, fast, and can be adjusted to accomodate races from 2,000 to 10,000 meters.

WOU hosted a high school invitational there in early September. The PDXC State Middle School Championships will be held there on Sunday. And the NCAA D2 West Regional meet will be there on Nov. 9. 

And Friday, the Beavers will play official host as nationally ranked teams from Stanford, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, UCLA and Utah descend on Monmouth to conduct the conference cross country championship, which will be carried live on Pac-12 Network.

The men's race, featuring four Top 10 teams, will see Stanford trying to win its third consecutive title with a lineup that includes Alex Ostberg (fourth in 2017, third in 2018), Steven Fahy (third in 2017) and Thomas Ratcliffe (eighth in 2016).

Colorado, which won the six previous titles (2011-16), is led by seniors John Dressel and Joe Klecker. 

Colorado and Stanford are tied at No. 3 in the latest national rankings. 

Washington is No. 7, UCLA is No. 10 and Oregon comes in ranked 16th. 

The women's field is just as illustrious, with three teams ranked in the top five: No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Colorado.

The Cardinal lineup features Fiona O'Keeffe, Ella Donaghu and Jessica Lawson and the team is looking to build on a second-place finish at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational. 

Washington won at Pre-Nationals and comes in with a lineup led by Katie Rainsberger and freshman Melany Smart of Australia.

Colorado graduated two-time winner Dani Jones but will have veteran performers Sage Hurta and Tabor Scholl, members of the 2018 national championship team, to lead the way.

The Ducks won the 2018 title after Colorado had won the previous three.

"The Pac-12 obviously has a lot of elite track athletes," Quintana said. "I think that this course will suit them and also test them."

The meet comes within a couple weeks of the 50th anniversary of the famous 1969 men's Pac-8 Championship where Washington State's Gerry Lindgren and Oregon's Steve Prefontaine finished in a near-dead heat at the Stanford Golf Course.

The men's 8,000-meter race begins at 11:10 a.m. The women's 6,000-meter races is set to start at 12:10 p.m.