Stanford men secure first back-to-back crowns since 2009-10, with Oregon women winning first championship since 2014 in conference finals debut for coach Helen Lehman-Winters

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

It was a familiar scene Friday at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships, even for conference newcomer Helen Lehman-Winters in her debut final coaching the Oregon women’s team.

With seniors Grant Fisher of Stanford and Dani Jones of Colorado both repeating as individual champions and the host Cardinal defending the men’s team title at Stanford Golf Course, Lehman-Winters picked up where she left off last year with San Francisco and the West Coast Conference crown by guiding Oregon to its first Pac-12 women’s championship since 2014.

Oregon had five scorers in the top 12, led by senior Jessica Hull taking second and San Francisco transfer Weronika Pyzik placing fourth, to halt the three-year reign of Colorado with a 32-48 victory.

It was the third women’s title in seven years and 10th overall for Oregon.

Jones and Hull battled stride for stride all the way to the finish line, with the Colorado standout covering the 6-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 24.5 seconds to become the first female athlete to repeat since Stanford’s Arianna Lambie won three in a row from 2005-07.

Hull, the defending NCAA Division 1 outdoor 1,500-meter champion, was right behind in 19:25.1. Stanford fifth-year senior Elise Cranny, the conference women’s scholar-athlete of the year, took third in 19:29.6 to help the Cardinal secure third as a team with 81 points, with junior teammate Fiona O’Keeffe placing fifth in 19:43.2, and Pyzik was fourth in 19:35.7.

Fisher became the first Stanford male athlete since Grant Robison in 2001-02 to repeat as champion, leading three Cardinal runners in the top four as part of six individuals finishing among the first 25 in a 44-62 victory over Washington.

Fisher and Jones became the first pair of individual champions in conference history to both win in consecutive years.

Stanford, which has 14 men’s team titles overall, secured back-to-back championships for the first time since 2009-10.

Fisher, the conference men’s scholar-athlete of the year, covered the 8-kilometer layout in 23:09.8, relying on a well-timed surge in the final 50 meters to prevail ahead of Washington sophomore Talon Hull (23:10.2).

Junior Alex Ostberg and sophomore Alek Parsons both crossed in 23:10.8 for Stanford, with junior Joe Klecker placing fifth in 23:11.8 for Colorado, which won six in a row from 2011-16 in between the pair of Cardinal repeats.

Colorado finished third with 82 points and Oregon took fourth with 93.