Oregon's Tanner Anderson & Mick Stanovsek confirm transfer to UW; could All-Americans Katie Rainsberger & Lilli Burdon follow?

EUGENE—The Eugene Register-Guard is reporting that four of Oregon’s NCAA All-American distance runners from last season—Tanner Anderson (left/photo by Paul Merca), Mick Stanovsek, Katie Rainsberger, and Lilli Burdon have asked for and been granted their release from the school.

According to the Register-Guard’s Chris Hansen, Anderson and Stanovsek confirmed to the paper that they both are transferring to the University of Washington to work with longtime Oregon men’s distance coach Andy Powell, who is now the head coach of the Huskies.

I can confirm that Oregon middle distance runner @Mick_Stana is transferring to Washington. He might not be the only one reuniting with former Oregon assistants Andy and Maurica Powell in Seattle

— Chris Hansen (@chansen_RG) August 8, 2018

Hansen tried to reach both Rainsberger and Burdon for comment but was unsuccessful. That said, multiple sources told the Register-Guard in the story that Rainsberger and Burdon are also headed to the University of Washington, where they will be under the tutelage of Husky program director Maurica Powell, who coached both at Oregon.

Anderson is a product of Spokane’s North Central HS, and finished second last spring in the 10000m at the Pac-12s at Stanford.  Last fall, he finished 41st at the NCAA cross country championships.

Stanovsek qualified for the NCAA championships in the 1500m last spring, while Burdon and Rainsberger both finished in the top 25 last fall at the NCAA cross country championships.

Burdon helped the Ducks win the national title indoors in the distance medley relay, and was third in the 5000 at the outdoor championships.

Rainsberger, one of the country's most decorated high school distance runners in recent memory, was fourth at the NCAA meet as a freshman to lead the Ducks to the national championship. She went on to an All-American season on the track in 2017, finishing third in the 3,000 at the NCAA indoor championships, and fourth in the 1,500 at the NCAA outdoors that season.

Rainsberger's mother, Lisa (Weidenbach) Rainsberger, lived for a number of years in the Seattle area when she was a standout professional runner, winning two Chicago Marathons, and was the last American to win the Boston Marathon until this past spring, when Des Linden turned the trick.

The Ducks’ 2018 roster is available here, while the Register-Guard story is available here.

When asked about Hansen’s story, a University of Washington sports information spokesperson declined comment on the matter.

Pending Rainsberger and Burdon being officially on the roster, the duo would join senior Emily Hamlin, sophomore Allie Schadler, along with Kiera Marshall and Nikki Zielinski, all of whom ran at last year’s NCAA championships in Louisville, and Kaitlyn Neal, who ran at nationals in 2016, but got injured in a fall at the 2017 NCAA regionals.

Anderson and Stanovsek join a team that has five runners returning from the squad that finished 22nd in Louisville—Andy Snyder, Mahmoud Moussa, Talon Hull, Tibebu Proctor, and Gavin Parpart.

Washington’s 2018 roster is available here.

The Huskies open up the 2018 season with their lone home meet, the Sundodger Invitational on September 8th at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.

NOTE:  The Eugene Register-Guard contributed to this report.