Silan Ayyildiz & Maddy Elmore capture Oregon's first Big Ten title at XC Championships

The Oregon Ducks officially have a Big Ten title to their names. The men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Illinois to face their conference opponents in the championship races.

The women were poised for greatness, dominating their regular season and looking ready to do the same against the Big Ten field of fellow racers.

Immediately, Silan Ayyildiz and Maddy Elmore took off with the front runners and never looked back. For a majority of the 6-kilometer race tailed by Penn State's Florence Caron and Minnesota's Ali Weimar. However, as the meters trickled away, Ayyildiz and Elmore took off.

By the end of the race, spectators could barely see any other runners in the background as Ayyildiz crossed the finish line in first place, followed closely by Elmore, just 1.0 seconds behind.

The Ducks had done it. Not only had the two women secured the first and second-place finishes in the conference but Oregon, as a team, had won its first-ever Big Ten title.

Junior Mia Barnett also earned a top-ten finish, crossing the line in seventh overall with a time of 19:35.9. She was followed closely by Klaudia Kazimierska, in 11th, and Anika Thompson, in 12th. Senior Wilma Nielson crossed the finish line in 21st place followed by freshman Ali Ince in 25th.

Charlotte Sinke and Ella Nelson finished in 49th and 51st place, respectively, followed by freshman Ella Thorsett in 57th. Samantha McDonnell, a sophomore, earned an 84th-place finish, and the "slowest" Duck, Harper McClain, crossed the line at 133rd with a time of 21:25.8.

The Ducks finished first overall with a minimal 33 points. Up next, none other than the Washington Huskies who finished with 60 team points. The Wisconsin Badgers finished in third place with 133 total points.

For those wondering, cross country is a little like golf: a team and a runner want the fewest points possible. The better a runner places, the fewer points they earn.

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