Duck XC, July 23

One of the best rivalries in the NBA used to be the series between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Supersonics. The Oregon cross country teams will look to revive the “I-5 Rivalry” with half of their races in the State of Washington for the upcoming 2015 season, head coach Robert Johnson announced. For the second straight season, the Ducks will open the season with the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Sept. 11 at Pre’s Trail in Eugene’s Alton Baker Park. Gonzaga, Portland and Portland State will join the Ducks. The rest of the season, Oregon will either be in Washington or Louisville, Ky. The fall slate picks up again with the Oct. 2 Washington Invitational at Seattle’s Jefferson Park. That meet is followed by the Pre National Invitational in Louisville on Oct. 17. The Ducks return to the Evergreen State for the Pac-12 Championships on Oct. 30. The league meet is being hosted by Washington State at Colfax Country Club in Colfax, Wash., located 15 miles north of the WSU campus. Oregon heads back to Seattle two weeks later for the NCAA West Regional Nov. 13 at Jefferson Park. Louisville will host the 2015 NCAA Championships Nov. 21 at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park. That course is the same venue where the Women of Oregon won their last national title in 2012. The women return six of the seven runners who led the Ducks to a sixth place finish at the 2014 NCAA championships, including senior all-Americans Molly Grabil, Waverly Neer and Annie Leblanc, junior Maggie Schmaedick and sophomores Alli Cash and Frida Berge, another all-American on Oregon’s deep roster. The men will be led by two-time defending NCAA Champion Edward Cheserek, who became the first Oregon runner to win back-to-back NCAA titles since Steve Prefontaine in1970-71.