​SPRINGFIELD – Simeon Birnbaum and Diana Cherotich took very different race strategies into the Oct. 9 Bill Dellinger Invitational cross country meet.Both came away with the same result.Birnbaum and Cherotich led the Oregon men and women to team titles with dominant individual victories Friday at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield during the 20th edition of the Ducks’ home meet.Birnbaum gave a hard effort en route to his win in 23 minutes, 5.5 seconds in the 8,000-meter race, which featured 10 teams and 90 finishers.“I’m feeling strong,” said the 2025 cross-country all-American and reigning NCAA outdoor 1,500 champion. “I’ve had a really good training block. I’ve been training kind of like a true cross-country runner now, like I feel very strong aerobically. … I just came in today ready to run really hard. I wanted to hurt today. I wanted to get a good effort in. I feel like I accomplished that.”Cherotich wanted the win as well, though her goal was to keep it easy through the first 4K before amping up her pace for a strong finish. Mission accomplished as the sophomore from Kenya won her 6K race in 19:13.4, topping a field of 100 runners from 12 teams.“I feel like I’m good because we didn’t run crazy,” Cherotich said. “I feel like my body is not tired.”Connor Burns, who ran alongside Birnbaum through the first 6K, was second in 23:32.7. Fifth-year Princeton transfer Connor McCormick was eighth in 24:05.4, two-time all-American Aiden Smith was 10th in 24:15.4, and Jayden Warner, a freshman from Warrenton, was 13th in 24:18.5 as the Ducks scored 28 team points for their 13th Dellinger meet title. Weber State was second with 42.A pair of Ducks also finished in the top 15 running unattached. Michigan transfer Caleb Jarema was fifth in 23:57.0 and James Harding was 12th in 24:18.2.But it was Birnbaum who stole the show, picking up where he left off from his breakout 2026 track and field season.“He had an absolutely great summer and the fall’s gone really well, so I think he’s made a big step in his cross-country running,” Oregon men’s coach Jerry Schumacher said. “And he’s a returning all-American so it’s not like he was a bad cross-country runner last season, but he’s definitely improved.”The women won their 12th Dellinger title with 25 points, well ahead of second place Victoria (British Columbia), which scored 95.Juliet Cherotich, who won the Mike Johnson Classic Sept. 26 in Monmouth, came in second in 19:42.30. Sofia Thogersen, a sophomore newcomer from Denmark, was sixth in 20:34.7, senior Ella Thorsett was seventh in 20:46.0, and Stanford transfer Ava Parekh was ninth in 20:49.5.“Collectively, I thought they executed great,” Oregon women’s coach Shalane Flanagan said. “They were a little bit more conservative today, which I was fine with, in terms of pacing early. But at one point I was like, OK, let’s start really running.”No one answered the call more than Cherotich, a 2025 all-Ameri