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NCAA XC Recap: Rainsberger Makes UW Debut, Princeton Tempos

NCAA XC Recap: Rainsberger Makes UW Debut, Princeton Tempos

Here's what you missed in NCAA cross country over the weekend.

Sep 10, 2018 by Lincoln Shryack
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At this early point in the 2018 NCAA cross country season, most coaches and athletes are less concerned with results and more focused on busting the rust of a long summer without racing. We saw some of that this weekend as several prominent teams and individuals made their season debuts by running glorified workouts while wearing their team colors.

Even so, every step of the season can reveal tidbits about what’s to come in November. That’s especially true now that the regular season—when points can be accrued towards NCAA qualification—officially began on September 7, meaning teams can already start building their NCAA resumes.

Here’s what you may have missed over the weekend in NCAA XC:

Rainsberger debuts for Washington, Allie O wins at Sundodger

Recent Washington transfer and former Oregon All-American Katie Rainsberger made her Husky debut at the Sundodger Invitational on Saturday in Seattle, finishing 10th overall and first among her UW teammates.



The result is less important than the mere fact that Rainsberger is healthy and now has her first race at her new school under her belt; under the direction of coach Maurica Powell, the Huskies used the meet as a workout with pre-determined paces. Rainsberger, who missed large parts of the 2018 track season with injuries, finished nearly a minute behind the race winner Allie Ostrander of Boise State.

Speaking of Ostrander, the two-time NCAA steeple champ led a Boise State top-four sweep in the race, as the No. 5-ranked Broncos ran the majority of their top runners. Ostrander covered the 6k course in 20:21, five seconds clear of teammate Clare O’Brien in second.

Still missing for Boise State was junior Brenna Peloquin, a two-time NCAA XC top 10 finisher who hasn’t raced since the 2017 indoor season.

Boise State men sweep 1-7 at Sundodger

The story of the men’s 2018 Sundodger Invite was much the same as the women’s race, as the No. 11 Boise State men ran all of their big guns and dominated accordingly.



2016 All-American and senior Yusuke Uchikoshi led the Bronco charge in 24:17, with six of his teammates finishing within 11 seconds of him. Notably, sophomore Elijah Armstrong was third in 24:23.8 in his first cross country race in nearly three years. Armstrong was away from the program for two years while on his LDS mission in London, England.

Cooper Teare, Reed Brown run unattached at Oregon Preview

James West and Jackson Mestler went 1-2 for the Ducks at last Thursday’s Oregon Preview, but the biggest nugget to come out of the meet was that both Cooper Teare and Reed Brown ran unattached. 

Teare finished fifth in the 7k race in 21:59.9, and Brown took 11th in 22:14.8.



While the season is obviously still in its beginning stages, it’s curious that Oregon chose to hold the jerseys of their projected top two runners. Redshirting both would make the Ducks much less competitive in new associate head coach Ben Thomas’ first season in Eugene, as Teare and Brown were Oregon’s No. 2 and No. 3 finishers at NCAAs last fall as freshmen.

Of course, Oregon might just be taking a precautionary route with this move and intend to race both athletes this season. We’ll have to wait and see.

Syracuse men dominate, Princeton gives out free points at Spiked Shoe 

A big portion of No. 12 Syracuse’s varsity men made their season debuts on Friday at the Spiked Shoe Invitational in State College, Pennsylvania, and the Orange easily won 21-57 over second place Penn State. ‘Cuse ran all of their top runners minus Aidan Tooker, putting four in the top five in a good start for new head coach Brien Bell.

Bell, a longtime assistant at Syracuse under the now-departed Chris Fox, technically still has the interim label attached to his title, but it’s expected that he’ll have that removed soon.

Penn State senior Colin Abert won the 8.4k race easily in 25:24, with the pack-running Orange sweeping places 2-5 with Iliass Aouani (25:40), Kevin James (25:43), Noah Affolder (25:50), and Joe Dragon (25:50), respectively.

An interesting twist to come from the meet was the performance of the Princeton men. Despite the fact that Spiked Shoe counted for NCAA qualification, the Tigers ran a team tempo run with their “A” team—all seven men crossed the line consecutively in 44th-50th place—to finish well back in eighth at the meet.



While coach Jason Vigilante could give two hoots about where his team places in an early September meet, Princeton’s status as a likely NCAA automatic bid team out of the Mid-Atlantic region means that, in all likelihood, the teams that placed ahead of the Tigers on Friday—Syracuse, Penn State, St. Joseph’s (PA), Navy, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, and American—were each gifted with a free point that could come in handy come November.

For teams like Penn State, Navy, and Georgetown—who figure to be bubble squads in the Mid-Atlantic—it’s a point that could mean the difference between NCAA qualification and staying home for nationals. Stay tuned.  

Frosh Julia Paternain impresses for Penn State women

Led by freshman Julia Paternain and All-American Elizabeth Chikotas’ sweep of first and second, the Nittany Lion women won their side of the Spiked Shoe Invite 32-55 over Syracuse.

She’s only run two races, but the Brit Paternain has already made quite an impression in State College. On August 31, she won her opener in a 4k race over teammate and track All-American Danae Rivers, and then on Friday she beat Chikotas, who was 15th at NCAA XC back in 2016.



Paternain finished the 6K course in 20:49, with Chikotas a few ticks back in 20:55.

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