BYU men, Oregon women win convincingly at Dellinger

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The Brigham Young men and Oregon women both turned in impressive performances Friday morning at the Bill Dellinger Invitational near Eugene.

Brigham Young dominated the men's race, taking the first four spots, along with seventh, to win the team title with 17 points. 

Clayton Young won the 8-kilometer race at Springfield Country Club in 23:42.4 and was closely followed by teammates Rory Linkletter (23:43.4), Connor McMillan (23:44) and freshman Casey Clinger (23:46.9). Young, McMillan and Clinger are all alums of American Fork High in Utah.

Linkletter, who was second in the NCAA 10,000 meters on the track, said the team's goal is to run as a pack like that all season. 

The Cougars put seven in the top 10. The top five were separated by a scant 7.1 seconds.

Stanford, which did not use NCAA 5,000-meter champion Grant Fisher, scored 73 points. Freshman Cooper Teare led Oregon, which put three in the top 12 and finished with 75 points. 

Colby Gilbert's fifth-place finish paced Washington to fourth place with 85 points. Gonzaga was fifth (147), ahead of Portland (186).

The NCAA reigning champion Oregon women put the first three across the finish line, led by a sensational run for sophomore Katie Rainsberger, who won the 6,000-meter race in 18:47.6. She ran away from the field early on and won by 18 seconds. 

Ducks teammates Lilli Burdon (19:05.8) and Jessica Hull (19:07.8) were second and third, respectively. 

"We focus on trying to better ourselves and move the needle every day," Oregon women's coach Maurica Powell said.

Oregon scored 33 points to win, putting all five scorers in the top 15.

Stanford was second with 66 points, led by the fifth place finish of Vanessa Fraser and seventh place by Fiona O'Keeffe. BYU was third (78) and Washington was fourth (95).