Cross Country first to cross finish line at Salem Invite
Kaitlin Poggi leads the way for the Beavers as OSU tops Boise State by 80 points in for victory
Issue date: 10/3/06 Section: Sports
SALEM - Oregon State rolled to victory in its division at the Chuck Bowles Invitational women's cross country meet Saturday morning. The Beavers outdistanced second-place Boise State by 80 points in the 5,000-meter race held at Bush Park and McCulloch Stadium.
OSU scored 40 points to the Broncos' 120 to top the 19-team Gold Division, which consisted of competitors representing NCAA Division-I schools, junior colleges and club teams and those running unattached. Other Division I schools represented in the race were Idaho, Portland State, San Francisco, California-Davis, San Diego State, Washington, Portland, Hawaii and St. Mary's (Calif.).
Kaitlin Poggi's fourth-place individual finish led the Beavers, who had all five of their scoring runners finish among the top 24 in the field of 180. It was Oregon State's second team championship in a meet since resuming cross country in the fall of 2004; the Beavers had won the Cascade Invitational in 2005.
"We had a great day," OSU head coach Kelly Sullivan said. "I liked the way we handled just about every aspect of the race. It got pretty warm by the time we raced at about 11:40 a.m., the trails were dusty and it was a big field."
Poggi finished in 17 minutes, 38.70 seconds, which was almost 30 seconds faster than her time in the same race a year ago. Neoma Palmer finished sixth in 17:41.15; next for OSU came freshmen Krista Stangel in 17:55.80 and Hayley Oveson in 18:10.45. Nicole Crawford rounded out Oregon State's scorers by finishing 24th in 18:19.35, and she was followed closely by teammate Jean-Marie Peterson in 25th place at 18:20.25.
"Right across the line, that was by far the best race Kaitlin has had," Sullivan said. "Neoma missed all of last season (redshirting), so this was her first cross country race in two years. The two freshmen (Stangel and Oveson) are the real deal, and both Nicole and Jean-Marie ran well.
"The girls are really excited ... it's interesting to watch, because I think they're a lot better than they realize because they're such a young group."
It was the first victory at the Chuck Bowles Invitational for Sullivan, who came to OSU after coaching at Willamette, which hosts the meet.
"I tried to win it for seven years at Willamette - we had some seconds and thirds,"Sullivan said.
"So to win it in our third year of the program at Oregon State is exciting."
OSU will race next on Oct. 14, when the Beavers will send runners to both the Cal Poly Invitational in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and the Cascade Invitational in Portland, Ore.
OSU scored 40 points to the Broncos' 120 to top the 19-team Gold Division, which consisted of competitors representing NCAA Division-I schools, junior colleges and club teams and those running unattached. Other Division I schools represented in the race were Idaho, Portland State, San Francisco, California-Davis, San Diego State, Washington, Portland, Hawaii and St. Mary's (Calif.).
Kaitlin Poggi's fourth-place individual finish led the Beavers, who had all five of their scoring runners finish among the top 24 in the field of 180. It was Oregon State's second team championship in a meet since resuming cross country in the fall of 2004; the Beavers had won the Cascade Invitational in 2005.
"We had a great day," OSU head coach Kelly Sullivan said. "I liked the way we handled just about every aspect of the race. It got pretty warm by the time we raced at about 11:40 a.m., the trails were dusty and it was a big field."
Poggi finished in 17 minutes, 38.70 seconds, which was almost 30 seconds faster than her time in the same race a year ago. Neoma Palmer finished sixth in 17:41.15; next for OSU came freshmen Krista Stangel in 17:55.80 and Hayley Oveson in 18:10.45. Nicole Crawford rounded out Oregon State's scorers by finishing 24th in 18:19.35, and she was followed closely by teammate Jean-Marie Peterson in 25th place at 18:20.25.
"Right across the line, that was by far the best race Kaitlin has had," Sullivan said. "Neoma missed all of last season (redshirting), so this was her first cross country race in two years. The two freshmen (Stangel and Oveson) are the real deal, and both Nicole and Jean-Marie ran well.
"The girls are really excited ... it's interesting to watch, because I think they're a lot better than they realize because they're such a young group."
It was the first victory at the Chuck Bowles Invitational for Sullivan, who came to OSU after coaching at Willamette, which hosts the meet.
"I tried to win it for seven years at Willamette - we had some seconds and thirds,"Sullivan said.
"So to win it in our third year of the program at Oregon State is exciting."
OSU will race next on Oct. 14, when the Beavers will send runners to both the Cal Poly Invitational in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and the Cascade Invitational in Portland, Ore.
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