Four Oregon Ducks earn All-American honors after Cross Country Championship

The NCAA cross country season is officially over and the Oregon Ducks performed incredibly well for their first season in the Big Ten. Not only did the Duck women win the conference title at the Big Ten Championship but they also earned a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championship and the team as a whole brought home four All-American honors.

The only runner from Oregon's men cross country team to earn All-American honors was Aiden Smith, a sophomore from right up the road in Portland.

Smith finished at No. 29 overall in the NCAA Championships, leading the Ducks to a 14th-place finish overall. At the NCAA regional meet, Smith finished fifth overall, leading the Ducks to their No. 15 bid at the national race.

The Oregon women dominated this season. The Ducks won the Big Ten Championships by a resounding count, finished first overall at the NCAA West Regionals, and landed in fifth at the national championship.

Throughout the season, the team was led by Maddy Elmore, Anika Thompson, and Şilan Ayyildiz, the trio that earned All-American honors for the Oregon women's team.

Ayyildiz crossed the finish line 13th overall at the NCAA Championship and was an instrumental part of why the Ducks collected a fifth-place finish overall at the race. She finished second at the NCAA West Regional race, just 2.2 seconds behind Stanford's Amy Bunnage.

Oregon's indoor track and field season begins on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, MA. The outdoor season kicks off on Saturday, March 16 at the OSU PNW Invite in Corvallis, OR.

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