Men's Cross Country Makes School History

ROCKLIN, Calif. – Chris Ramirez ran one of the fast 8,000-meter cross country races in Oregon Tech history, Danielle DeCastro ran well and Oregon Tech had a pair of fourth-place finishes Saturday at the Warrior Invitational cross country meet.

"This was the men's day," coach Jack Kegg said. "They race the fastest team time in school history by almost two minutes, a combined 129 minutes, two seconds in the 2013 Willamette Invitational."

Ramirez, a junior from Henley High School, was 12th overall at the Spring View Park venue and was timed in 25 minutes, six seconds, the fourth fastest in OIT history.

"He was almost a minute faster than he was last year," Kegg said of Ramirez, who was timed in 26:02 in the meet hosted by William Jessup University.

His efforts helped the OIT men finish fifth in the team race, and trailed only The College of Idaho, Southern Oregon and The Master's. Among the teams the men bettered Saturday was nationally-ranked Eastern Oregon.
Tim McPherson was No. 19 for OIT, and Mark French, in his best race since his return from an injury which kept him sidelined a year ago, came in at No. 29. Jonas Hartlineand Nick McMillen were close behind.

Tech had its top six runners in the top 36 of a race in which there were 135 runners to finish the 8K course.

Like the men, Cascade Collegiate Conference teams dominated the race, and finished with a 1-2-3-4 finish led by CI, which had all five of its scoring runners finish ahead of the No. 4 runner from SOU, Eastern and OIT.

In the women's 5K event, Danielle DeCastro, who is prepping for the NAIA indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, won the race in 17:23.6. Competing unattached, she had hoped to close in on 17 minutes in the race.

Among the scoring runners, OIT's Delani Dietrich was third in 18:00.9, which also is the fifth fastest in Tech history. Dietrich also was the first collegiate runner to complete the women's race.

Hannah Mason and Mallory Ward both finished in the top 23 for the women in a race in which 112 runners completed the course.

All of the Cascade Collegiate Conference teams now are idle until Friday, Nov. 8, when they compete in the league championships in Cottage Grove.