Women Third, Men Fourth at NCAA West

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Paced by a trio of all-region performances, the Oregon women's cross country team ran to a third-place finish Friday morning at the NCAA West Region Championships. The UO men, their first 10K of the year, finished fourth overall behind a pair of top-five individual efforts by Cooper Teare and Aaron Bienenfeld.
 
Both teams will now await the at-large selections to the NCAA Championships. The entire field will be announced Saturday on NCAA.com at 2 p.m. (PT).
 
As they did at the Pac-12 Championships, Alessia Zarbo and Aneta Konieczek were the first two across the line for the Women of Oregon. The UO pair finished fourth and sixth, respectively, and were joined by Emilie Girard in 23rd place for all-region accolades. For the fifth time in as many team races this year, Zarbo has been the Ducks' top finisher.
 
The Ducks' top five also included freshman Harper McClain and transfer Malia Pivec in 31st and 36th place, respectively. Caramia Mestler was 40th overall, good for a career-best finish at regionals, and Nicole Louw—52nd place—rounded out the Ducks' lineup in her NCAA West Region debut.
 
3. Women of Oregon – 100 points | Full results
              4. Alessia Zarbo – 20:04.0 (4)
              6. Aneta Konieczek – 20:08.8 (6)
              23. Emilie Girard – 20:32.2 (23)
31. Harper McClain – 20:38.4 (31)
              36. Malia Pivec – 20:46.6 (36)
              40. Caramia Mestler – 20:48.2 (40)
52. Nicole Louw – 20:58.9 (52)
 
The UO men posted a mirror image of their top five from the Pac-12 Championships with Teare and Bienenfeld atop the lineup. Teare ran to a bronze finish and has now improved his regional placing in each outing at the meet; 23rd in 2017, 18th in 2018 and ninth in 2019. Bienenfeld, 16th at last spring's NCAA Championships, crossed the line in fourth place Friday.
 
Both Teare and Bienenfeld have finished in the top five of the four races they've competed this year.
 
The Men of Oregon got top-30 showings from senior Jack Yearian and freshman Caleb Brown as the team's third and fourth runners. In 35th place overall, Quincy Norman improved his position by nine spots over the final kilometer in the race.
 
The top seven also included Reed Brown in 37th place, a new career-high finish at regionals, and Elliott Cook in 45th place overall.
 
4. Men of Oregon – 100 points | Full results
              3. Cooper Teare – 29:29.7 (3)
              4. Aaron Bienenfeld – 29:33.3 (4)
              28. Jack Yearian – 30:22.2 (28)
              30. Caleb Brown – 30:24.4 (30)
              35. Quincy Norman – 30:33.7 (35)
              37. Reed Brown – 30:35.9 (37)
              45. Elliott Cook – 30:45.5 (45)
 
All-region honors went to runners who finished in the top 25 in Friday's races.
 
Up Next: The season concludes with the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 20, in Tallahassee, Fla. The national meet will be televised on ESPNU and available through the ESPN app.
 
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