By: Joey Callahan

Runners from 39 colleges and over 200 high schools visited Palo Alto, Calif. to take part in the 41st annual Stanford Invitational cross country on Saturday, but host Stanford and Pac-12 foe Washington State stole the show as the meet's highlights included an unusual tie for first between all-American Cardinal teammates Joe Rosa and Maksim Korolev in the men's 8,000 meter and an unlikely victory by the Cougar's Abby Regan in the women's 6,000 meter.

 

The top ranked runners in the men's field, Korolev (No. 2 on Flotrack's top 25 men's individual list) and Rosa (No. 5) went out fast, taking the lead before the end of the first 1,000 meters, and never looked back. The pair raced stride for stride the entire way – including during a brief wrong turn – en route to a 23:16 first place finish. New teammates since Korolev's transfer this summer from Harvard, they clasped hands for the final few meters and crossed the finish line in a dead heat. "Maks and I joke around a lot, like, 'I'm gonna beat you,' " Rosa said. "That was a way for us to show that we're a team and we're not going to beat each other up, we're going to work together."

 

Stanford Head Coach Chris Miltenberg was impressed with the performance.

 

Despite a one-two finish from Stanford, the Washington State team took home top honors, scoring 73 points, eking out a one-point victory ahead of UC Santa Barbara and two ahead of the Cardinal. Senior Drew Jordan, sophomore John Whelan and freshman Sam Levora led the way for the Cougars, finishing seventh, 13th and 14th respectively.

 

The last 1000 meters of the Women's 6K brought excitement and drama, as 17-year-old favorite, Nike's Alexa Efraimson sputtered after leading most of the race, giving way to Regan who finished strong. Efraimson, who raced for the first time since forgoing her final year of high school and college eligibility to turn pro, struggled with the transition to a longer race.

 

"I could definitely feel that last thousand meters difference between a 5K and a 6K," Efraimson said. "I just sold out and kind of stumbled at the end."

 

Regan seized the opportunity. "At the end I felt really strong and could kind of see the girl in front of me slowing down a little bit, so I went for it," she said.

 

Efraimson, however, remained upbeat, despite the difficult finish. "I wouldn't say it was disappointing. It was my first 6K," she said. "I gave it all I had and that's all I could ask for.

 

Regan was as surprised as anyone by her 20:31 first place finish. "I definitely didn't think I'd come in with a win in this race," the senior from Australia said. This was a PR for me.

 

"I was injured most of last cross country season," she said. "Training's been going well but I think I got 50th at regionals last year."

 

Even more impressive, her PR came under extenuating circumstances. "I was at Chicago airport 'til really late; missed a lot of flights so I only got in at 12 last night," she said. "[I had to] just go on feel completely seeing as I had a late night."

 

Where the Stanford team possessed the top individual finishers in the men's race and Washington State won the team crown, the opposite occurred in the women's contest. Stanford won convincingly with a score of 71, 23 points ahead of runner up UC Davis. Freshman Emma Fisher, senior Molly McNamara and junior Rebecca Mehra scored ninth, 10th and 12th respectively as the top three Cardinal finishers.

 

The No. 7 ranked women's team controlled the women's race without two of their top performers, Aisling Cuffe (No. 3 individual) Elise Cranny (No. 16 individual). Stanford's No. 2 ranked men's team also held a few conspicuous absences in today's competition, notably Sean McGorty, Mike Atchoo and Jim Rosa, who has been nursing an injury, according to his brother Joe.

 

"We held out a lot of guys," Miltenberg said. "We'll kind of go split squads between here and next week in Seattle."

 

Several high school athletes of note participated in the day's races as well. No. 6 ranked high school boy John Dressel of Mount Spokane High School in Washington won the boy's seeded 5,000 meter race, and No. 7 ranked high school girl Fiona O'Keeffe from Davis Senior High School in California won the girls 5,000 meter race.