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Cross Country Ready to Compete at Dellinger Invite Friday
Oct. 1, 2009
Dellinger Invite: San Francisco men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the fourth annual Bill Dellinger Invitational at Springfield Country Club in Eugene, OR on Friday. The event, held by the University of Oregon, plays host to eight of the country's top teams. The women's 5k begins at 3:30 PM, with the men's 8k starting at 4:15 PM.
The Dellinger Invitational has become one of the nation's premier destination cross country events, and the 2009 meet is no exception. This year features the most geographically diverse collection of teams yet, with Villanova travelling from the East Coast (Philadelphia) and Hawaii (Honolulu) crossing the Pacific Ocean. The Dellinger also has two teams from Texas (Baylor and Texas-El Paso), California (Cal Poly and San Francisco) and Utah (Brigham Young and Weber State), plus one each from Alabama (Crimson Tide) and Colorado (Colorado State). That list doesn't include the three in-state institutions, Oregon, Portland and Oregon State.
The Dellinger field is also well represented among the national polls. On the men's side, top-ranked Oregon leads the field, with No. 8 Portland, No. 9 Alabama, No. 12 Brigham Young and No. 18 Cal Poly making it five of 10 teams in the poll. The rest of the field includes Colorado State, San Francisco, Villanova, UTEP and Weber State.
The women's race features No. 2 Oregon, No. 5 Villanova and No. 14 Baylor as its ranked teams. The remainder of the field includes Colorado State, Hawaii, Oregon State, Portland, San Francisco, UTEP and Weber State.
The Course: The Springfield Country Club will be the site of the Bill Dellinger Invitational. Athletes will race entirely on grass and mostly on fairways on the back nine holes along the Mohawk River. The course consists of three relatively flat loops--an outer loop, and inner loop, and a finish loop. The outer loop is approximately 2,320 meters in length, the inner loop is approximately 2,150 meters in length, and the finishing loop is approximately 1,350 meters in length. Fans are reminded they are NOT allowed to walk on greens or tee boxes, and are asked to stay off fairways as much as possible. PDFs of the course maps are included in this release.
Women's 5k: USF will be represented by the Dons top runners so far this season, with junior Nicole Bowler and sophomore Hillary Kigar leading the way. Five freshman will also travel to Oregon, including Eva Krchova, Hayley Niles, Chloe Trelevan, Heather Zytkewicz, and Sophie Curl.
Men's 8k: Again, the Dons top runners will be competing at the event, led by senior Alex Nelson and sophomore Ganbileg Bor. Also running for USF will be juniors Joshua Horeled, Ravi Amarawansa, sophomores Will Marquardt, Thomas Estrada, and freshman Adrian Rafiee.
Doc Adams Open: The remainder of the USF squads will stay in the Bay Area, competing at the 2009 UC Davis Doc Adams Open at Putah Creek Reserve. The women's 6k starts at 9:00 AM, with the Men's 8k following at 9:45 AM.
If you plan to go: From I-80 East or West, take Pedrick Road exit and proceed north; continue on Pedrick Rd/Road 98 approx 2 miles; after crossing Putah Creek on a small bridge, team parking will be your second gravel entrance, through the UC Davis landfill.
