Ducks Sweep Team Titles at Dellinger

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The Men and Women of Oregon posted a pair of team wins Friday at the 2022 Bill Dellinger Invitational, successfully defending their home course at the Pine Ridge Golf Club. Individually, returning All-American Aaron Bienenfeld won the men’s 8K title and, on the women’s side, sophomore Harper McClain was the team’s top performer in fourth place.
 
The Dellinger Invitational was the start of a busy day in the community for the Ducks which will cap off with the Hayward Field Welcome Party. Gates at the southeast corner (across from the fire station on Agate Street) will open at 6:30 p.m. The night will include a welcome from head coach Jerry Schumacher and a movie—McFarland, USA—on the experience board.
 
Bienenfeld, second at last year’s Dellinger, chased down early leader Brian Barsaiya of Washington State for the top spot. He crossed in 23:41.7 for this first cross country win in an Oregon kit, four seconds clear of Matt Strangio (23:45.4) and Barsaiya (23:46).
 
The UO men put their first seven inside top 21 including additional top-10 performances from Cameron Stein (23:54.0) in seventh place and Abdinasir Hussein (23:56.6) in 10^th overall. The Ducks’ top five also featured Quincy Norman and James Gormley, both finishing inside the top 15 of Friday’s home opener.
 
Sophomores Elliott Cook and Caleb Brown were sixth and seventh in the Ducks’ scoring line up, crossing in 20^th and 21^st place, respectively, and separated by just two-tenths of a second.
 
In the team race, the Men of Oregon finished with 39 points to overcome runner-up Portland (62 points) and conference foe UCLA (63).
 
For the UO women, McClain ran up front with the lead group for a majority of the race and down the final chute, just nipped Alaina Stone Boggs of Washington State, 20:07.2 to 20:07.3 for fourth. McClain was 28^th at last year’s Dellinger as a freshman, and with Friday’s result, took more than 30 seconds off her time from a year ago.
 
The Women of Oregon, ranked 16^th in the nation entering Friday’s race, also benefitted from the trio of Emilie Girard, Malia Pivec and Izzy Thornton-Bott who occupied places nine through 11, respectively, all returners from last season. Girard, an all-region performer in 2021, finished in a time of 20:16.8 for the Ducks.
 
Eugene native Maddy Elmore rounded out the top five in 16^th place overall, followed closely by Klaudia Kazimierska and Melissa…