FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 – COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT: Shawn Price
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Online version: https://bit.ly/3i2C2TP
SPRINGFIELD, Oregon – Arkansas’ Lauren Gregory bettered the collegiate field over 6,000m in the Bill Dellinger Invitational with a time of 20 minutes, 6.9 seconds on Thursday evening, leading the Razorbacks as they finished third in team finish behind Utah and Colorado State.
Izzy Thornton-Bott, an unattached runner, won the race in 20:04.6 as she passed Gregory in the final 100m of the race held at the Pine Ridge Golf Club. Portland’s Anna Pataki finished third in 20:07.7 and then three Utah runners followed in places 4-5-6.
“Lauren just looked fantastic,” stated Arkansas women’s head coach Lance Harter. “Where she is in her training, she’s going to be a very formidable foe.”
Among a field that included five nationally ranked programs, unranked Utah totaled 38 points for the team victory with No. 25 Colorado State runner-up at 93 while No. 4 Arkansas totaled 112 in third place among a field of 17 teams.
The rest of the top 10 schools included Portland (115), No. 23 Oregon State (170), No. 24 Oregon (175), No. 17 Boise State (210), UC Davis (216), Ohio State (238), and Washington State (279).
“The whole idea in coming to this meet was to get challenged up front as well as with the depth of the team,” noted Harter. “We definitely got that today. There were some people here today that were ready to race to the max.
“We got caught in a race that maybe we weren’t really prepared for. For the most part we competed well. We have a couple of people who are newcomers that are learning how to compete at this level. We’re asking them to be major players.”
The second and third finishers for the Razorbacks were Isabel Van Camp and Meghan Underwood, who both produced career best times for 6k. Van Camp clocked 20:24.6 to place 12th as Underwood ran 20:33.9 to finish 23rd. Previous best marks for each included a 20:32.8 for Van Camp and 20:38.5 for Underwood.
“I thought Isabel and Meghan just ran fantastic in this race,” said Harter. “Taylor Ewert also had a gutty performance on her behalf.”
Taylor Ewert and Carmie Prinsloo completed the scoring places for Arkansas. Ewert finished 34th with a 20:47.0 while Prinsloo placed 51st with a 21:05.0.
Julia Paternain, who led the field of 171 at 1k, placed 71st in 21:16.2 while Kennedy Thomson finished 75th in 21:18.7. Krissy Gear, who had an issue with back spasms, did not finish after racing through the 3k mark at 12:50.4 in 51st place.