Ducks Defeat No. 2 Washington With Full Lineup In Illinois; Bob Liking Wins Fourth Big Ten Individual Title To Lead Badgers Past Newcomers From Washington, Oregon

By David Woods for DyeStat

Carol Chen photos

SAVOY, Ill. – For the first time in any sport, Oregon is a Big Ten champion.

The Ducks made conference history Friday, beating second-ranked Washington in women’s cross-country.

And it was not close.

Silan Ayyildiz, a 25-year-old Turk making her season debut, and Maddy Elmore went 1-2 for the 17th-ranked Ducks. They put all five scorers in the top 12 for a 33-60 victory over Washington.

“I think the weather was perfect for this race,” Ayyildiz said.

On a sunny and windless day with temperatures in the 50s, she set a championship record of 19:13.6 for 6,000 meters on a flat Illinois course. Top four were all under the previous record of 19:26.3 by Michigan State steeplechaser Leah O’Connor in 2014.

It was effectively a track meet.

“I basically have a team of track runners who run cross-country. I’ll be honest,” Oregon coach Shalane Flanagan said.

For instance, the Ducks feature Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska, the third-fastest collegian ever at 1,500 meters with a time of 3:59.95. She was 10th at the Paris Olympics in 4:00.12.

And she was their No. 5 runner. Their No. 7, Ali Ince, a freshman from Normal, Ill., racing in her home state, would have been top three for every other team except Washington.

It was an historic O-cassion for the expanded 18-team conference.

“It’s like a mini-national championship,” Flanagan said. “I told them, ‘If you come in and do something for the first time ever, it’s very rare in life when you’re like, ‘Oh, this is the first time ever, right?’

“Oregon has a rich history and tradition of track and field, distance running. So any time you can add to those accolades at Oregon, it’s very meaningful.”

Oregon trailed Washington 63-68 at 2,000 meters but was ahead 42-70 by 3,000. The Ducks kept lowering the boom, and lowering the score.

“Everyone was underestimating us,” Elmore said. “I told Shalane, ‘I can’t wait until we totally turn this upside down.’ And we did that today.”

Flanagan, twice an NCAA champion in cross country, said she “knew in my heart” Oregon is a top-three NCAA team. The nationals are Nov. 23 at Wisconsin.

“We just hadn’t put all the pieces together until today,” she said. “That was by intention. I have a variety of athletes with different backgrounds.”

No. 11 Wisconsin finished third with 133 points, one point ahead of No. 24 Penn State. No. 22 Minnesota was fifth with 146.

The Pac-12 migrants, Oregon and Washington, claimed eight of the top 12 individual spots.

Minnesota junior Ali Weimer was third in 19:25. She was 32nd in the Big Ten last year and 11th in pre-nationals last month.

“I knew that I was capable of doing big things today,” Weimer said. “But I kind of shocked myself, too, being able to get third against some of the best women in the nation.”

Michigan State’s Rachel Forsyth, a freshman from Ann Arbor, Mich., was fourth in 19:26.2. Representing Canada, the 18-year-old won a silver medal in the 1,500 at the under-20 World Championships.

Four straight for Liking, Seven straight for Badgers

Wisconsin’s men weren’t going to let Washington and Oregon come in and take over this conference. Certainly, Bob Liking wasn’t.

“I just had to make a hard move and hope I didn’t die,” he said.

The Wisconsin runner became the Big Ten’s fourth four-time champion, and second to win four consecutively. Moreover, he broke a 49-year-old championship record held by Craig Virgin, who was in attendance and wished him luck before the race.

“It was a nice gesture, one Illinois guy to another,” said Liking, of St Charles, Ill.

He covered 8,000 meters 22:47.3, building a seven-second lead during the sixth kilometer. He thus bettered the time of 23:04.5 set by Virgin – over a five-mile course (45 meters longer than 8K) – at Madison, Wis., in 1975.

Previous four-time champions were Olympians: Virgin, Illinois, 1973-74-75-76; Bob Kennedy, Indiana, 1988-89-90-92; Kevin Sullivan, Michigan, 1993-94-95-97.

“Those guys all had great careers,” Liking said. “Hopefully, I go on to do some good things, too.”

UCLA’s Michael Mireles finished second in 22:55.0.

“We really just wanted to show the Big Ten what we got,” said Mireles, who was second in the Pac-12 at 5,000 meters last May.

Next came milers Nathan Green, Washington, 22:56.9; Simeon Birnbaum, Oregon, 22:57.2; Elliott Cook, Oregon, 22:57.6.

Green has been an NCAA 1,500 meter champion, Birnbaum is the second-fastest 1,500 runner in prep history, and Cook was second in the NCAA 1,500 this year.

“There were some world-class milers in the field,” Liking said. “My worst nightmare was it coming down to a kick and not being able to do it.”

Instead, he gapped the field. With a kilometer left, Green was 10th, Birnbaum sixth and Cook 13th.

No. 9 Wisconsin won a seventh straight team title – and 40th out of 48 – with 46 points. The Badgers trailed Oregon 47-48 at 5K but prevailed with a 1-7-10-13-15 finish, placing  their Nos. 2-5 within eight seconds.

No. 18 Washington and No. 25 Oregon each scored 58, and Washington took second on a tiebreaker.

Wisconsin put two freshmen, Christian de Vaal of New Zealand (seventh) and Matan Ivri of Israel (10th), in the top 10.

“Right around 6K, we were going to have to make a decision,” Wisconsin coach Mick Byrne said. “Do we want to defend our title or hand it off to someone new? That’s when the guys ran what we call Badger tough.”

It was the 16th Big Ten cross country title for Byrne, breaking a tie with Wisconsin’s Martin Smith for most ever. Third on the list, with 11, is Oregon coach Jerry Schumacher, who won all of his at Wisconsin.

“We knew we had to take the legs out of some of those Oregon milers and Washington milers,” Byrne said. “The kids executed the plan to perfection.”

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.