Dunbar placing 5th
The University of Oregon competed in Louisville on Saturday in the Pre-NCAA National meet, which offered contestants a chance to race on the course, where the championships will be held later this fall. With a mild temperature and an absence of hills the course offered the harriers little challenge – save the competition. Colorado assumed the team lead early and never relinquished it, as they rolled to victory with a low of 72 points. BYU earned second with 127 and the men of Oregon had a solid day finishing third with 152 points.
The individual race essentially boiled down to a two-man duel between UTEP’s Anthony Rotich & Paul Chelimo of UNC – Greensboro. They rolled through 4K in 11:25, while a pack of around a half-dozen pursued them from a safer distance. That group included Terefe Ejigu of Eastern Michigan, Jake Hurysz of Colorado, William Mulhern of Virginia Tech and David Rooney of McNeese State. Safely tucked with in that group were Trevor Dunbar & Parker Stinson of the Ducks, who ran conservatively together.
Parker Stinson finishes
The leaders went through the 7K in 20:20 but Rotich soon pulled away from his rival, who had raced on this course in the Greater Louisville meet earlier this fall, and finished with a time of 23:01. His time was well off the record set that day of 22:33 but it was a quality mark, which can be seen, when you consider that only three runners have ever gone under 23 minutes here. Chelimo followed in second in 23:14, while Ejigu closed well to finish a second later. Hurysz finished fourth in 23:19 and then Dunbar began the Oregon scoring with his fifth place effort in 23:20. Dunbar edged Mulhern & Rooney, who also were credited with versions of 23:20 and Jared Ward of BYU took eighth with 23:22.
Parker Stinson placed ninth for Oregon with 23:24 and Jacob Zivec crossed the finish five seconds later. Blake Theroux of Colorado & his team mate Hugh Dowdy gave the Buffs a lead they would not relinquish, as they rounded out the top dozen finishers. Oregon ‘s Ben DiJarnette placed 28th in 23:52 and Cole Watson was the fourth Duck finisher with his 49th place effort in a time of 24:02. Watson for his part was quite happy with his effort, especially after some last year. Other Duck finishers were former Cleveland runner Daniel Winn (61 – 24:06), Matt Melancon (former Sheldon runner in 65 – 24:12) & Ryan Pickering (114 – 24:35).
Contributing to the BYU cause was former Gig Harbor runner Conner Peloquin, who placed 37th in a time of 23:56 despite coming off a week of cold symptoms. Health was a concern for BYU and they left Taylor Farnsworth behind to get stronger. Boise State finished 13th in the field and features two noteworthy former preps from the northwest: Barak Watson of Idaho (43 – 23:59) and Drew O’Donoghu-McDonald, once of Seattle Prep (58 – 24:06).
