EUGENE, Ore. – Holding a pair of top-15 national rankings, the Oregon cross country team opens the postseason on Friday with the 2022 Pac-12 Championships in Riverside, California. The conference meet will be televised on the Pac-12 Network beginning at 8:30 a.m. (PT).
The women’s 6K is set for 8:40 a.m. followed by the men’s 8,000 meters at 9:40 a.m.
How to follow
2022 Pac-12 Championship
UC Riverside Ag Ops Course (Riverside, California)
TV: Pac-12 Network | Watch Online | Live results
All-conference standings are determined by individual finish at the Pac-12 Championships. Places one through seven will collect first team honors with places eight through 14 winning places on the second team.
For the men of Oregon, Aaron Bienenfeld is the top returning performer from last year’s meet. He was fifth overall and second in the UO lineup behind Cooper Teare. On the women’s side, Harper McClain is the Duck with the top-20 finishth general country; third in the UO lineup from a season ago. Colorado won the team titles last year in Salt Lake City.
Last time out
At the Nuttycombe Invitational (Oct. 14) in Madison, Wis., the UO women ran 11th-the effort for the country and the UO men were 12th overall, just two points out of a top-10. Combined, the Ducks had head-to-head wins over 13 teams ranked ahead of them in the Oct. 4 poll. Bienenfeld and Izzy Thornton-Bott led Oregon, each finishing with 24th individually in loaded fields.
In order
Including the Ducks, the men’s competition will feature four top-20 teams from the latest USTFCCCA national rankings. The UO men are checked in at No. 15, a season high. The Oregon women are ranked 12thth this week, are one of six top-30 teams that will compete on Friday.
Teams ranked in the Pac-12
Men: 1. Stanford; 10. Colorado; 15. Oregon; 20 Washington
Women: 9. Stanford; 10. Utah; 11. Colorado; 12. Oregon; 19. Washington; 30. State of Oregon
UO and the Pac-12 Championship
Collectively, the Ducks have won 26 conference titles—16 men’s, 10 women’s—in program history. The Oregon men are looking for their first league title since 2008. The team has five runner-up finishes during that time, most recently in 2019. The most recent of the women’s titles came in 2018.
Titles by year
Men (16): 1969-70, ’73, ’76-79, ’82, ’88-90, ’92, ’95, 2006-08
Women (10): 1986-88, ’90-92, ’95, 2012, ’14, ’18
Individually, the Ducks have collected 24 conference titles—16 men, eight women—spread among 16 runners. Edward Cheserek is the most recent UO player to win a league title, a four-time Pac-12 champion from 2013-16. The UO women last won an individual crown in 2010 with Jordan Hasay.
The Pac-12 meet is returning to Southern California for the first time since UCLA in 2012. USC is the host team for this year’s championships.
The next one
The postseason continues with the NCAA West Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 11, in Tacoma, Wash. The top two teams in each event earn automatic berths to the NCAA Championships (Nov. 19) in Stillwater, Okla. Click HERE for the complete Ducks Schedule.
For more news and information about Oregon cross country and track and field, follow @OregonTF on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
