Things couldn’t have gone much better for Stanford cross country this past weekend: the women captured their 12th straight Pac-10 title while the men finished in second place at the Pac-10 Championships held in Corvallis, Ore.

EnlargeEnlarge
Seniors Arianna Lambie and Teresa McWalters finished No. 1 and No. 2 at the recent Pac-10 Championships held in Corvallis, Ore. The Cardinal are currently ranked No. 1 in the nation. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8105
Courtesy of Spencer Allen

Seniors Arianna Lambie and Teresa McWalters finished No. 1 and No. 2 at the recent Pac-10 Championships held in Corvallis, Ore. The Cardinal are currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.

The women’s star performance was turned in by senior Arianna Lambie, who won the event’s individual championship for the third straight year with a time of 19:40.7. Lambie is one of just two runners in Pac-10 history to accomplish such a feat.

“It’s quite an honor to be only one of two women to do that,” Lambie said. “But it was even more fun to be running with my teammate [Teresa McWalters] — we actually tied for the one and they had to give it to one of us. It was pretty cool.”

As Lambie mentioned, the No. 1 Stanford women were also bolstered by the performance of senior Teresa McWalters, who officially finished a half-second behind Lambie. Senior Lauren Centrowitz added to the effort, finishing 10th overall with her mark of 20:27.1.

“It was a pretty inspiring performance across the board,” McWalters said.

“I was really proud of them,” Lambie said of her teammates. “We knew could do it. We’d been getting excited all week. When the time came, they just stepped up.”

Although the men did not have as impressive a weekend as the women, they were happy with their performance, as the team came in second place to the nation’s best in Oregon.

Senior Russell Brown finished in third place overall, clocking in with a time of 23:08.7. Junior Hari Mix was second for the Cardinal with his 23:11.6 mark, while senior Neftalem Araia finished sixth overall for the event at 23:12.1.

Ultimately, though, the No. 15 men were simply outmatched against the No. 1 Oregon squad that took first place. Stanford finished with 55 points while Oregon won the event with a low 39.

With another Pac-10 title under their belts, the women are just two more competitions away from capturing their third straight national title. The NCAA West Regional Championships will be held Eugene, Ore., in two weeks; a week after, the national championships in Terre Haute, Ind., take place. Things are looking better than ever as the team heads down the home stretch.

“I think the momentum’s all positive coming off of the Pac-10 Championships,” Lambie said. “Training’s going well. We’ve been at these championships and done well before. We feel like we can do whatever challenge faces us.”

“We’ve been doing this for a while now,” McWalters added. “We’re just about keeping our cool. Even though we’ve done it [won national titles] twice before, it doesn’t get any less sweet.”

Despite their well-founded confidence, the women are aware of the effort it will take to bring home a third straight national championship.

“It’s something that few people have the opportunity to go after, and I’d like to make the most of it, do everything I can to get it,” Lambie said. “That’s all we’re doing. We’re working really hard to represent Stanford well because Stanford does have such a legacy. We feel the responsibility.”

“It’s hard to hide when you are two-time defending champions,” McWalters said.

“Going into these next two races, it’s going to be about maintaining our composure. We have a very seasoned team. Most of us have been there before. We know what to expect...We know we have to fight very hard for the title, but we know it’s in our grasp.”