Several Big West programs also scheduled to compete against nationally ranked entries as host Ducks look to defend team titles at annual event at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Three nationally ranked women’s teams and two nationally ranked men’s programs are set to do battle Friday at the 16th Bill Dellinger Cross Country Invitational at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield, Ore., highlighting anticipated early season races in the Pacific Northwest to kick off the 2023 fall season.

The No. 6 BYU women will make the trip from Provo, Utah, for the first time since 2019 to take on No. 7 and host Oregon and No. 17 Oregon State in a top-20 showdown.

WATCH LIVE WEBCAST SEPT. 22 OF BILL DELLINGER CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL ON RUNNERSPACE

All-Americans Aubrey Frentheway and Lexy Halladay-Lowry lead the BYU charge following a home sweep in the Cougars’ season opener Sept. 8 at the Autumn Classic in Provo.

Frentheway, who was 32nd at the NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships in November in Stillwater, Okla., finished third overall at the Autumn Classic in 17:33.6 for the 5-kilometer race, with Halladay-Lowry, 34th at nationals, was fourth in 17:34.7.

Jenna Hutchins led BYU at the Autumn Classic where she led the Cougars with a first-place effort of 17:26.2. 

Carmen Alder, Alissa Fielding and Anastaysia Davis, members of BYU’s eighth-place national lineup in 2022, are also slated to compete at Dellinger, along with North Carolina transfer Carlee Hansen and Chico State transfer Destiny Everett.

The Oregon women are looking to make it back-to-back team title wins and will feature a trio of 1,500-meter All-Americans from last spring in Izzy Thornton-Bott, Klaudia Kazimierska and Maddy Elmore making their fall debuts following the Ducks’ second-place team finish Sept. 1 at the Linfield Harrier Classic.

Thornton-Bott was the Ducks’ lone All-American last fall in Stillwater, finishing 36th to lead Oregon to finish 14th in the team standings.

Melissa Berry is another member from the national team that’ll race Friday.

Katie Clute, a freshman from Olmsted Township in Ohio, will be set to race for Oregon after winning her season opener at Linfield in the women’s 4-kilometer race in 13:26.6. Allura Markow from Dana Hills in California is another freshman who opened up at Linfield that is set to compete at Dellinger.

Racing unattached from Oregon will be freshmen Kate Peters from Lake Oswego outside of Portland and Ella Thorsett from Summit in Bend, as well as UCLA transfers Samantha McDonnell and Mia Barnett.

Following a historic season, Oregon State will look to capitalize on its 24th-place finish at NCAAs with 3,000-meter steeplechase All-American Kaylee Mitchell and cross country national competitors Emily Van Valkenburg and Kate Laurent all back to compete this fall. Van Valkenburg and Mitchell will be making their season debuts.

Laurent, along with Syracuse transfer Sage Brooks and San Francisco transfer Abigail Pradere, led the Beavers to victory in Linfield and will be featured Friday in Oregon State’s lineup.

Returning individual champion Sierra Atkins of UC Davis looks to defend her 6-kilometer title following her 19:53.4 effort last fall, prevailing against Portland’s Laura Pellicoro.

Linda Perez and Collette Lowengrub of UC Riverside are making the trip to the Northwest following first- and second-place finishes in the 5-kilometer race at the Big West Preview, with Perez winning in 17:35.5 and Lowengrub taking runner-up at 17:38.2.

The men’s 8-kilometer field features a pair of instate schools squaring off, with No. 9 Portland and No. 15 Oregon.

The Pilots enter the competition coming off a win Sept. 1 at Linfield in which they defeated the Ducks by a 23-41 margin, with six individuals finishing in the top 10, led by Eliason Kabasenche.

Portland is scheduled to race Dalton Kaines, Paul Law, Nate Lantz, Isacc McGill and Aidan Fitzgerald, all of whom finished in the top 10 at Linfield for the Pilots.

Elliot Cook led the Oregon men at Linfield, winning the 6-kilometer race in 18:17.3 over Kabasenche by two seconds, with teammate Kutoven Stevens finishing fourth.

That tandem, as well as returning national competitors Abdinasir Hussein, Alex Slenning and Quincy Norman, will look to lead the Ducks to a fourth consecutive team title. Oregon won last year’s meet scoring 39 points to the Pilots’ 62. 

Oregon’s historically talented freshman class will all race unattached, including Simeon Birnbaum from Rapid City Stevens in South Dakota, Connor Burns of Southern Boone in Missouri, Tayson Echohawk from Orem in Utah, Will Heslam of nearby Roosevelt in Portland and Daniel Watcke from Hinsdale Central in Illinois.

Idaho school record holder in the indoor and outdoor 800, indoor mile and outdoor 1,500 Lorenz Herrmann will lead the Vandals in their first Dellinger appearance since 2021, when they finished 12th. 

Cal Poly’s Spencer Pickren and William Fallini-Haas head into Dellinger following the momentum of a 1-2 finish at the Big West Preview. Pickren led the Mustangs in a 6-kilometer effort of 18:01.7 for the individual title. Fallini-Haas followed in 18:02.5.

Freshman Chris Caudillo of Clovis High in California, who ran unattached at the Big West Preview and placed third, is expected to debut in a Cal Poly uniform.