RESULTS

Six women broke the 20:00 barrier and the Saucony Flo50 No. 2 ranked Oregon Ducks brought home the team title with 36 points over No. 3 Stanford and No. 16 Washington. The special performance of the afternoon was Stanford’s Aisling Cuffe claiming the individual victory in 19:41.

Cuffe, who redshirted the entire 2014-2015 season, finished fourth at the 2013 NCAA Cross Country Championships and recorded one of the fastest collegiate 5K times in 2014, a blistering 15:11 at the Payton Jordan Invitational. Many wondered if she would return to Stanford for her final year of eligibility after resting an entire year, but rumors are just that - rumors. Cuffe stayed with the leaders through 3K of the race before making her way to the front of the pack and winning by 3 seconds over Oregon’s Alli Cash.

Related: Watch Aisling Cuffe Run 15:11 in the 5000m at the 2014 Payton Jordan Invite

Though the Ducks were victorious as a team, the Cardinal squad opted to rest All-American Elise Cranny and eventually finished third behind Washington with 60 points. Let’s my hypothetical here. Had Cranny run and finished runner-up to Cuffe, Stanford would have scored 45 points and Oregon still would have won with 41 points. Interesting take and a much closer team battle. The Pac-12 Conference has been warned.

Oregon’s depth was evident, though, as the Ducks went 2-4-6-11-13 led by NCAA 1500m qualifier Cash. Her runner-up performance of 19:44 is huge, and over 10 seconds ahead of No. 22 Waverly Neer (sixth in 19:56). Have we been ranking the wrong Duck the entire time? Either way, Oregon had especially impressive performances from Cash and fourth-place finisher Maggie Schmaedick. Neer (6th), Frida Berge (11th) and Molly Grabill (13th) rounded out the top five for the Ducks.

Related: Full Saucony Flo50 Rankings!

Washington nipped Stanford in the end with 59 points. Maddie Meyers led the way with her third-place finish, followed by freshman Charlotte Prouse in seventh.

Your top-10 finishers pic.twitter.com/IsCrIIzu38

— UW Track (@UWTrack) October 2, 2015

Edward Cheserek Wins, Stanford Runs Impressive Without Top Athletes

Edward Cheserek won the men’s race in 23:15, 5 seconds ahead of Stanford’s Joe Rosa. Cheserek played the race perfectly to his strengths, running smoothly with the front pack until around 6K. Cheserek sitting and kicking is nothing new; In his third year of NCAA action we’re all quite used to it by now. What was surprising was Oregon’s second and third runners: Freshman Matthew Maton (8th) and Tanner Anderson (12th). Oregon ran without their projected No. 2 Jake Leingang and NCAA 1500m third-place finisher Blake Haney and still won the team title with 52 points. Stanford (69) and BYU (70) rounded out the top three teams.

Men of Oregon win with 52 points. #GoDucks #UWInvite pic.twitter.com/zKf9djQkfh

— Robert Johnson (@Run4Ducks) October 2, 2015

We have to note that the Cardinal squad ran without top athletes Jim Rosa, Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher, and still put three athletes (Joe Rosa, Jack Keelan, Garrett Sweatt) between Cheserek and Maton. Is this Stanford team the real deal? We have to figure that Jim Rosa and McGorty would be right with Joe Rosa, and Fisher looked as good as ever at last week's Stanford Invitational. Is this Stanford team better than the 2014 squad that finished second to Colorado in 2014 by 33 points? We'll hopefully see a full strength Cardinal team at the Wisconsin Invite in two weeks.

Related: Watch Stanford Men React to Runner-up NCAA Finish at 2015 XC Nationals

The BYU men's team snuck right behind Stanford with 70 points, placing all top seven in the top 25. Aaron Fletcher finished sixth for the Cougars, while the rest of the team finished 9-10-22-23-24-25.