Hasay is 2nd at NCAA cross country meet

Oregon junior Jordan Hasay was outkicked by Villanova senior Sheila Reid over the final 50 meters Monday as Hasay finished second to Reid in the women’s 6K race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.

Reid won her second consecutive cross country title and became only the third women’s runner to win multiple NCAA cross country crowns. She finished in 19 minutes, 41.2 seconds with Hasay, the former Mission Prep star, clocked in 19:41.8.

Cal Poly had its first two NCAA qualifiers since the Mustangs moved to the Division I level. Senior Leanne Fogg placed 105th in 21:04, and Meghan Breadmore was 146th in 21:22.1.

It was a rough meet for the Cal Poly men, who received an at-large berth to the meet after a strong third-place showing at the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 12. The Mustangs finished 28th in the 31-team field with 680 points.

Senior Daniel Gonia was Cal Poly’s top finisher over the 10K course, placing 100th in 30:47.6. He was followed by teammates David Cardona (121st, 30:57.9), Chris Frias (199th, 31:47.2), Michael Johnson (207th, 31:52.1), Ryan Cosens (216th, 32:02.3), Brandon Schirck (219th, 32:04.7) and Sean Davidson (229th, 32:12.5).

The Mustangs were making their seventh team appearance in the NCAA meet.

In the women’s race, after SMU’s Silje Fjortoft set the early pace by leading at the halfway point, the lead pack was down to eight, including Reid, Hasay and Emily Infeld of Georgetown, the runner-up last year, with a kilometer left and the pack stayed the same until the final 400 meters when Hasay and Reid separated themselves with about 200 meters remaining. Hasay took about a two-stride lead over Reid, who also won the 1,500 and 5,000 NCAA track titles in June, but Reid came back to edge Hasay. Hasay was third at last year’s NCAA meet and 18th two years ago as a freshman.

“I gave it all I had,” Hasay told goducks.com. “I told myself the only person I would be O.K. losing to was Sheila, and I almost got her, but she had another gear. She’s such a great competitor. Obviously I would have been happier with the win, but it’s hard to be too disappointed with second place.”

Added Reid in a post-race TV interview: “(There were) a lot more girls coming down that homestretch. It was the hardest race I have ever run. It was tough.”

Georgetown won the women’s team race 162-170 over Washington. Villanova was third with 181 points, Florida State was fourth with 189, and Oregon was fifth with 281 points, one point less than sixth-place Vanderbilt and nine points less than seventh-place Iowa State. It was Oregon’s best finish since placing second in 2008. It was also the Ducks’ 16th top-10 finish all-time in 22 NCAA Championship appearances. Oregon finished 12th at the 2010 NCAA meet.

“Jordan looked great today,” Oregon head coach Vin Lananna said. “And our two-three-four runners did a wonderful job the whole race. I think (fifth place) is probably as high as the women could have finished today, so I’m overall pretty pleased.”

Wisconsin won the men’s team title with 97 points to 139 for runner-up Oklahoma State. Colorado was third with 144 points, and BYU was fourth with 203, edging fifth-place Stanford (207).

Arizona freshman Lawi Lalang was the men’s individual winner in 28:44.1, finishing 14.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Chris Derrick of Stanford.