Men of Oregon Third, Women Fourth at Pac-12s

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – The Oregon cross country teams combined for five all-conference honors Friday morning at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships, contested at Chambers Creek Regional Park. In the team standings, the Men of Oregon were third place—their highest since 2019—while the UO women finished fourth in a back and forth with Colorado for the top three.
 
Up from 41^st place last season, Elliott Cook ran to a fifth-place individual finish to pace a 5-6-7 showing for the Oregon men. Cook navigated the 8K course in 23:00.3, crossing the line ahead of UO teammates Josh Edwards (23:02.5) and Quincy Norman (23:03.3). Norman and Edwards were 21st and 31st a year ago, respectively.
 
Friday’s race marked the first time since 2008 the Men of Oregon placed three inside the top seven of the conference meet, good for placement on the All-Pac-12 First Team.
 
The top-five lineup also included Abdinasir Hussein (20th, 23:31.5) and Aiden Smith (22nd, 23:33.2) as the fourth and fifth UO runners across the line. The Ducks placed two more runners inside the top 30 with Giuliano Scasso and Connor Burns in 25^th and 29^th places, respectively.
 
In the second race of the day, Eugene native Maddy Elmore led the Women of Oregon with a fourth-place individual performance. Last season in her conference-meet debut, Elmore was 38th overall and was sixth in the Ducks’ lineup. She posted a time of 19:23.8 over 6,000 meters. Izzy Thornton-Bott ran 19:41.0 and was 11th in Friday’s race, good for second-team conference honors.
 
The UO women finished just one point behind third-place Colorado in the team race, 87 to 88.
 
Anika Thompson was the third Oregon runner across the line, like she was at the Dellinger Invitational (Sept. 22). She finished in a time of 19:59.5 to improve upon her DNF finish at the conference meet in 2021, her only previous Pac-12 Championships experience. Freshman Katie Clute (20:04) finished 24th overall while Klauida Kazimierska and Ella Nelson were 27th and 28th, respectively.
 
Prior to Friday’s conference meet, Thornton-Bott was announced as the 2023 Pac-12 Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She comes the fourth UO woman to earn the honor, and first since Jordan Hasay in 2012. Thornton-Bott and men’s recipient Ky Robinson of Stanford were recognized following the meet during the awards ceremony.
 
Notable: Nine (five men, four women) of the 19 UO entries made debuts at the Pac-12 Championships: Benjamin Balazs, Connor…