Skieresz does it again

Arizona Daily Wildcat Courtesy of the Stanford Daily UA junior Amy Skieresz stands alone atop the podium after her first place finish in Saturday's Pacific 10 Conference cross country championships.

UA junior Amy Skieresz took home the title Saturday for the third straight year and won her 12th consecutive race with a time of 16 minutes, 40 seconds.

Oregon's Marie Davis and Stanford's Julia Stamps finished tied for second more than 30 seconds back, with a time of 17:13. Stanford, the favorite, won the men's and women's team titles.

The rest of the Wildcat women struggled, however, as the team finished fifth, with senior Virginia Camacho the next best at 23rd (18:06).

Arizona's score of 148 was well behind Stanford's 36. The two through four spots were claimed by Oregon (72), Washington (72) and UCLA (127).

Other finishers for the Wildcats were senior Tone Bratteng (30th, 18:34), freshman Erin Doherty (44th, 19:09), sophomore Kristen Parrish (50th, 19:28), freshman Katrin Engelen (57th, 19:59) and sophomore Maia Wright (60th, 20:41).

The UA men's team also finished fifth with a score of 113, also well behind Stanford (33).

The second through fourth place finishers were nearly identical to the women's field. The order of finish was Oregon (86), Washington State (88) and UCLA (103).

UA junior Abdi Abdirahman was the top individual for the Wildcats, finishing seventh with a time of 24:37. Winning the men's race was Bernard Lagat of Washington (23:59) who topped last year's champion, Mebrahtom Keflezighi of UCLA, who came in second (24:07).

The rest of the Wildcat men finished back in the pack, with junior Jeff McLarty (18th, 25:14) next for UA after Abdirahman, followed by senior Margarito Casillas (20th, 25:22), freshman David Lopez (24th, 25:41), sophomore Jeremy Lyon (44th, 26:55), freshman Tom Prindiville (47th, 27:15) and senior Jon Lansa (48th, 27:19).

The Wildcats get two weeks off before hosting the District VIII Championships in Tucson on Nov. 15. The meet will feature the best teams from the Pac-10 and other western schools.