COLFAX, Wash. – There's a reason why they call him King Cheserek.

On Friday, Oregon cross country star Edward Cheserek broke away from the pack to win his third straight Pac-12 Men's Cross Country Championship at Colfax Golf Club in Colfax, Washington. The junior becomes the third three-time Pac-12 champ in conference history and the first to win three consecutive individual titles.

In the team competition, No. 1 Colorado continued its run of dominance in the Conference of Champions. All five of the Buffs who scored finished in the top 15, as Colorado claimed its fifth team championship in five years since joining the Pac-12.

Cheserek (23:06.30) waded in the middle of the pack for the first 5,000 meters of the 8k race before making his move on the final lap. As he worked his way down the home stretch, Cheserek was all alone while fans cheered him on to another title.

The soft-spoken, two-time reigning NCAA champion said he still has some work to do heading into regionals and nationals.

"I think I'm getting there," Cheserek said. "I still have a long way to go, but I'm getting there."

Cheserek is vying to join other Pac-12 legends like Oregon's Steve Prefontaine (1970-71, 1973) and Washington State's duo of Gerry Lindgren (1966-67, 1969) and Henry Rono (1976-77, 1979) as three-time NCAA champs.

Pierce Murphy (23:15.10) was the top finisher for Colorado, placing fourth, and said he was happy with his team's pack mentality. 

[Related: 2015 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships men's race results]

"We work out together, we do all our runs together, we train together," Murphy said. "I feel like when it comes to racing, we're always used to being next to each other. Just ends up like that."

The Buffs recorded a team score of 46 to edge out second-place and No. 23 Stanford (57), while No. 3 Oregon finished third (83). Colorado doubled down later in the day, as the women's team also claimed the Pac-12 Cross Country Championship.

"We entered with a business-as-usual mentality," Colorado coach Mark Wetmore said, adding that a third-straight NCAA title is a reasonable expectation for his men's team. "We're coming together."

Rounding out the top three in the individual competition was Stanford's Sean McGorty (23:13.70) and Washington's Izaic Yorks (23:15.00), who used a nice kick at the end to surpass Murphy at the finish line.

McGorty said he was happy to see Stanford's full team running together for the first time all year, and that the Cardinal are in prime shape to make noise in the coming weeks.

"The Pac-12 Conference is – by far, I think – the deepest conference," McGorty said. "This is a good place to sort of check where you are and know what you need to work on. We get three weeks to tune up some things and have some fun at nationals."