Colorado, Stanford run away with NCAA Regional team titles

The Pac-12 took home its fair share of hardware at the NCAA West and Mountain Regional meets today. Both the Stanford men and women’s teams came out on top of the West Region in Sacramento, California, while the Colorado women won the NCAA Mountain Region in Logan, Utah. Washington’s Amy-Eloise Neale and Oregon’s Edward Cheserek also claimed individual regional titles (Cheserek’s third).

On the women’s side, Neale may have won the meet, but Stanford’s pack running prevailed to secure just 71 points and the team win. The Card were led by Vanessa Fraser in seventh, and took places 13, 14, 17 and 20 close behind her.

The Huskies weren’t far behind in team scoring and finished second in the region with 88 points, thanks in large part to Pac-12 champion Amy-Eloise Neale’s regional victory by nearly 15 seconds. Oregon was led by junior Alli Cash to finish fourth as a team, and UCLA, Arizona State and Cal finished sixth, eighth and ninth as teams, respectively.

Wrapping up Pac-12 women’s teams in the Western Region were Arizona in 11th place, Oregon State in 12th place, and Washington State in 18th place.

USC ran two women, Sophia Racette and Amber Gore, who finished 91st and 119th overall.

Up in the Mountain Region, the Colorado women put all five scorers in the top-ten to secure a team win with a cool 36 points. Makena Morley led the herd tied four fourth place overall, followed closely by teammates Kaitlyn Benner, Erin Clark, Mackenzie Caldwell and Tabor Scholl, who finished sixth, seventh, eighth and tenth, respectively.

[Related: NCAA Cross Country Mountain Regional results (LiveRunningResults.com)]

The Utes finished fourth in the region, tallying 136 points, and saw three runners finish all-region.

It was deja vu for the Card, whose men followed in their women’s team’s footsteps to take the team title with 75 points. Sean McGorty, Jack Keelan and Grant Fisher grabbed spots nine through 11 for the Card, with Steven Fahy and Garrett Sweatt wrapping up scoring positions in 22nd and 23rd places, respectively.

UCLA was next in the Pac-12 for team finishes with a strong team showing at West Regionals. The Bruins were led by senior Ferdinand Edman in fifth place overall to finish third as a team.

Oregon legend Edward Cheserek did it again and secured his third regional title, just two weeks after becoming the only man to ever win four Pac-12 titles. Right on his tail was Oregon sophomore Matthew Maton, who finished second in the region. As a team, the Ducks finished fourth.

[Related: NCAA Cross Country West Regional results (RTSPT.com)]

Washington State was just behind the Ducks as a team and finished in fifth place with 143 points, Cal finished sixth with 188 points, Washington finished 10th with 262 points, and Arizona State finished 13th with 367 points.

Up in the mountains, the Colorado men were unable to knock of regional champs Northern Arizona University, but finished second with an impressive 76 points. The Buffs were led by Joe Klecker, who finished third overall, and John Dressel, who finished fifth.

What’s next? The Big Show, AKA the NCAA Cross Country Championships, November 19 in Terre Haute, Indiana. The top two teams in each region earn automatic bids, and the remaining 13 bids are at-large. That means the Colorado men and women, Stanford men and women, and Washington women are all automatically headed to Terre Haute, while the remaining teams in the conference wait to see if they make the cut for an at-large bid.