Oregon State Cross Country to Kick Off Season at Pre's Trail Pre-View Share

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Junior Abby Chesimet is one of 10 runners competing attached in Friday's double duals.

Sept. 2, 2009



Corvallis, Ore. – The Oregon State women’s cross country team opens up the 2009 season at the Pre’s Trail Pre-View on Friday, Sept. 4, hosted by the University of Oregon. The women’s race begins at 6:00 p.m. at Alton Baker Park. The Beavers will match up against Portland State and Oregon in double dual scores.



The course for the women is 4,800-meters consisting of two loops over a mainly bark dust trail, except for the opening segment over gravel. The participants will cross a wood bridge twice.



Competing for Oregon State on Friday will be senior Jenny O’Connor (Newfane, N.Y.), juniors Abby Chesimet (Astoria, Ore.), Jennifer Macias (Hermiston, Ore.), Kambria Schumacher (Sweet Home, Ore.) and Hannah Soza-Hodgkinson (Forest Ranch, Calif.), redshirt sophomores Laura Carlyle (Kelowna, British Columbia) and Olivia Poblacion (Portland, Ore.) sophomore Cassandra Schumacher (Sweet Home, Ore.) and redshirt freshmen Natosha Buruse (Ridgefield, Wash.) and Lorine Cruz (Grants Pass, Ore.).









“We will have been together for nine days prior to competing in this double dual, so it’s always interesting to start the year with these ‘test efforts’ to see what happens,” head coach Kelly Sullivan said. “We use this type of opener to dust off the rust of not competing for awhile, see where runners are individually and use it to help us see where to go with each of them individually. For the new women, freshman and transfers, it is always a little more nerve racking as it is their first ‘college’ type effort. And for us coaches it is a good chance to see how they will react to this.”



Also racing unattached will be freshmen Jenny Elder (Scappoose, Ore.), Erin Jones (Hood River, Ore.), Regina Lopez (Los Angeles, Calif.), Sabrina Lopez (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Sandra Martinez (Yakima, Wash.).



One development going into the season is the announcement of redshirting three of the top returnees. Senior Hayley Oveson (La Grande, Ore.) and juniors Marsha Lampi (Portland, Ore.) and Casey Masterson (Eugene, Ore.) will utilize their redshirt season during the 2009 cross country season.



“In a way we are going to bite the bullet by redshirting three of our top returnees this fall, but we are sure this is the best for them and for the future of the program,” Sullivan said. “While you can never fully replace proven runners like these three, we have women to step in their place to allow others to take steps forward as they know we need them to. So it will be exciting to see who they will be and in the end it will pay off.”



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Courtesy OSU