Team of the year – men’s cross country
Winning Oregon’s first team national championship in 20 years is a sure-fire way of getting named the Emerald’s 2007-08 team of the year. The men’s cross country team went through the season undefeated and was ranked number one most of the season.
The Ducks, led by juniors Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott, repeated as Pac-10 and West Region champions. They dominated the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., from start to finish, scoring 85 points to defeat Iona (103) and Oklahoma State (180).
All five scorers – Rupp, Kiptoo-Biwott, Diego Mercado, Kenny Klotz and Daniel Mercado – earned All-American honors, the most in the program’s history.
The championship was the University’s first since the women’s cross country team won in 1987.
Most improved male – Andrew Wheating
Andrew Wheating started running just two years ago. Last year, his first at Oregon, he recorded personal bests of 1:50.17 in the 800m and 3:45.17 in the 1,500m and managed to eke out a seventh-place finish in the 800m at the Pac-10 Championships. Not bad by any means, but not jaw-dropping. No, he saved that for this year.
Starting with the Oregon Relays April 26, Wheating put together a four-week stretch that surprised the Track Town faithful. At the Relays, he became the 30th Duck to break four minutes in the mile, moving to 11th all-time at Oregon with a time of 3:58.16.
The next week, at the Cardinal Invitational, he moved into the top-10 at Oregon in the 800m, beating a strong field to win in 1:47.82.
Returning to Eugene to run the 1,500m at the Oregon Twilight, Wheating ran the fastest time by a Duck in 24 years (3:38.60), winning yet again.
His fourth and final personal best (so far) was at the Pac-10 Championships where he defeated World Championships qualifier Duane Solomon in the fifth-best time in school history, 1:46.83.
He also won the West Region 800m title, and will put his undefeated season on the line this week at the NCAA Championships.
Top female newcomer – Alex Kosinski
One of the top high school distance runners in the country last year, Kosinski backed up the hype with a strong freshman year. She earned All-American honors in cross country while helping the Duck women to their best season in 19 years. Named Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year after her third-place finish at the conference championships, Kosinski was also the top freshman at the NCAA Championships, by virtue of her 13th-place finish.
She qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the mile, winning the MPSF Championships in the second-best time in school history, 4:39.54.
Kosinski, a Pac-10 finalist in the 1,500m, added a berth in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last week when she was added by the NCAA as an at-large entry.
Coach of the year – Vin Lananna
Despite strong competition from Jim Moore for leading the volleyball team to the Sweet Sixteen, the Emerald’s Coach of the Year is cross country and track and field head coach Vin Lananna.
Lananna, the NCAA men’s cross country coach of the year, led the Oregon men to conference championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, and regional and national titles in cross country.
His women’s teams were almost as successful. The cross country team had its best season in 19 years, as it finished second to Stanford at the Pac-10, West Region and NCAA Championships. The indoor and outdoor track and field teams each finished third.
The cross country national title was Lananna’s sixth overall and the national coach of the year award was his fifth.
Women’s MVP – Gorana Maricic
Few outside of Oregon volleyball coach Jim Moore knew how good Maricic was when the season started, but by seasons end it was clear the 6-foot-3 outside hitter was one of the top performers in the Pac-10 Conference. The soft-spoken Maricic, who seldom liked to draw attention to herself, grabbed the spotlight with her powerful swing and large impact on Oregon’s matches.
She topped Oregon with 616 kills – more than 200 past the next closest teammate in Sonja Newcombe, who had 397. Maricic led the Pac-10 – the country’s top volleyball conference – with 6.07 points and 5.5 kills per game. For her efforts, Maricic become the second player in Oregon history to earn All-American honors with Sue Harbour being the other in 1984. Maricic was also named to the All-Pac-10 Team.
Maricic set multiple Oregon single-season records. She accumulated 679.5 total points, 5.5 kills per game and 6.07 points per game.
Toughest female player – Katie Swoboda
Libero Katie Swoboda is the player most on the floor for the volleyball team. The 5-foot-5 Swoboda consistently sacrificed her body as she sought to keep the ball alive and give Oregon more opportunities. She deflected attention from any individual injuries and focused her attention on the team. Swoboda battled through the occasional back pain and in the past has dealt with concussions, torn cartilage and goose eggs on her elbows.
She broke the school record for digs this season, formerly held by Teri Kramer with 1,481, and now has 1,599 with her senior season ahead of her. This season alone, Swoboda had a team-high 586 digs.
Men’s MVP – Dennis Dixon
While the story of Dennis Dixon’s career might be a tragedy worthy of the literature department, one of epic highs and lows, he was by far the most high-profile athlete of this year in Duck sports.
Dixon led the Duck football team to an all-time regular-season high No. 2 ranking before a knee injury derailed his Heisman hopes and dashed Oregon’s BCS Championship dreams.
Still, Dixon managed Herculean numbers in his 10 games, posting 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions while completing more than 67 percent of his passes for 2,136 yards and rushing for another 741 yards and nine touchdowns on 105 carries. That’s good for an average of 271.9 yards of total offense and almost three scores per game.
And yet, Dixon’s greatest achievement might have been all he accomplished on the football field while earning an NCAA Top VIII honor for being one of the top eight student athletes of 2007 – a prize awarded for athletic achievement as well as academics and personal character.
Best individual performance – Jonathan Stewart, Sun Bowl
Jonathan Stewart had a number of fine performances as a Duck, including a 251-yard, two-touchdown performance at Washington, but none was more impressive than in the Sun Bowl.
Stewart eclipsed his performance at Washington, rushing for 253 yards, a Sun Bowl record, and one touchdown in helping the Ducks’ 56-21 romp the South Florida Bulls. It was the ninth highest rushing total in bowl history and propelled Stewart to the upper echelon of NFL draft status.
It was even more impressive considering that the Bulls defense, which was considered one of the best run-stopping units in the country, knew the Ducks were going to run, with freshman Justin Roper at quarterback, but Stewart ran the ball all day while the ill effects of his turf toe injury lingered.
Best game – Oregon 24, USC 17
The No. 5 Oregon defense came up big every time it needed to in the Ducks’ 24-17 victory over No. 9 USC, forcing three turnovers and stealing the spotlight from the vaunted Duck offense in front of an Autzen Stadium-record crowd of 59,277.
The victory, while short-lived, changed the Pac-10 Conference’s image by showing that it wasn’t only a league that was dominated by a single team – other schools proved themselves legitimate contenders as conference champs.
Senior free safety Matt Harper highlighted the game’s drama by intercepting two key passes. Harper’s second interception came with 11 seconds left in the game and USC driving down the field to try for a game-tying score. USC had driven 85 yards in five plays to pull to within one score and, after an Oregon punt, moved 50 yards in less than three minutes to set up the s
econd and 10 on the Ducks’ 33-yard line. That’s when Harper made his move, and one of the biggest plays in recent memory for Oregon football, stepping in front of Trojan tight end Fred Davis at the Oregon 16-yard line to make the interception and essentially end the game.
The win resulted in a matchup of No. 5 Oregon versus No. 4 Arizona State the following week, which the Ducks won to reach an all-time regular-season high No. 2 BCS ranking.
Unsung hero – Joey Benedetti
Senior Oregon golfer Joey Benedetti came out of almost nowhere to shoot three consecutive 3-under-par rounds and won the NCAA West Regional by four strokes. He helped propel the No. 16 seed Ducks to a second-place finish and a berth in the NCAA Championships. It was Benedetti’s first career win, and the first NCAA Regional individual medal in the history of the Oregon golf program.
“He just did phenomenal. I’m so pumped for him,” Oregon coach Casey Martin said of Benedetti. “He”s really worked hard and these last few months of his career he’s really turned it on.”
But Benedetti and the Ducks’ success went by without much fan fare, partly because golf takes second seat to track and field while Benedetti’s victory at regionals was almost completely unexpected from a guy that was essentially an unknown, despite being the best player on a Pac-10 team.
Best moment – Oregon runs a fake Statue of Liberty play against Michigan
Up by 11 points and having run the original Statue of Liberty play earlier in the game, quarterback Dennis Dixon faked the exchange to running back Jonathan Stewart and glided into the endzone from nine yards out without a defender near him. The play foreshadowed the efficiency of coordinator Chip Kelly’s offense with Dixon at the helm and the type of frustrations they would cause for future opponents. The Ducks made a statement to a national audience that their offense knew no limits to creativity and explosiveness and glamorized Oregon football to a new generation of football recruits. For Duck fans, it just made them giddy to have a coordinator who knew how to make the most of his team’s abilities.
Most heartbreaking moment – Dixon crumbles on the turf at Arizona
Just as Dixon was solidifying the No. 1 spot atop the Heisman rankings and Oregon was No. 2 in the nation, Dixon planted his leg awkwardly and all of the Ducks’ hopes and dreams fell to the ground with him. Dixon had tried to play with a partially torn ACL, but one false step ended his season and the Ducks’ chances at winning the national championship. After the game, the Ducks slumped off teary-eyed while Arizona fans stormed the field throwing barrages of obscene verbal assaults at Oregon players who realized they had to finish their season playing for a less lofty goal without their Heisman-hopeful quarterback. Dixon, though, swallowed his emotions after he re-emerged from the locker room and tried to keep his teammates spirits up while acting as a team cheerleader on the sideline.
Top male newcomer – Chip Kelly
He’s not a student and he never played at Oregon, but no one made a bigger impact this year than football offensive coordinator Chip Kelly who rebuilt Dixon into an accurate passer and effective runner and retooled the Ducks’ offensive to become the nation’s most feared unit. After former coordinator Gary Crowton took a pay raise for the same position at LSU, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti searched the nation to find a coordinator who specialized in the spread offense and found a gem in Kelly who coordinated I-AA New Hampshire’s offense for most of the decade. After switching to Oregon, he led the Ducks to their highest-scoring season ever (38.2 points per game).
Biggest disappointment – Men’s basketball
Few really expected the Ducks to return to the Elite Eight after losing Aaron Brooks, but people expected more from a team that returned four starters from its deep NCAA tournament run. The up-and-down season wore on Oregon fans, who saw the Ducks’ ability to compete with the Pac-10s best teams but continued to flounder when the game was on the line in the final few minutes. If it were nearly any other year, the season would be considered a mild success, but the expectation weighted on the shoulders of Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor and Maarty Leunen demanded more. While there were numerous reasons for the underwhelming season: no real point guard, spotty defense and a lack of senior leadership/aggressiveness, the real reason was no one could offset Brooks’ departure.
Most improved female – Jen May
No one ever doubted the talent of senior lacrosse midfielder Jen May. In her first three seasons, she won three straight team MVP awards, as well as three all-conference honors. In that respect, this season was no different: May earned each distinction for a fourth straight season. What makes May the most improved player of 2007-08 was that this season, the team followed the example of its third-team all-American captain to its best season in history, rising as high as No. 12 in the rankings and racking up a program-record 13 wins. While she was busy leading the team in three different categories this season, she was Oregon’s female winner of the Pacific-10 Conference’s Medal for academics, athletics and leadership – all while she completed her master’s degree in education. All-time, May is the Ducks leader in five statistical categories; points (188), goals (128), draw controls (209), ground balls (162) and caused turnovers (142). And to think, she almost went to college in her home state of Maryland.
Toughest male – Maarty Leunen
With apologies to Dixon and Stewart, who played with serious injuries during the football season but have garnered enough accolades, Leunen seemed to have some fresh bruise, scratch or wound inflicted on his body every week during the basketball season as a result of playing against opponents who were consistently larger than him. Leunen also played more minutes than any of his teammates and had to work the hardest to out-rebound the Pac-10s toughest centers and forwards.
While he never suffered serious injuries, Leunen was always dinged up in some regard and it began to wear on him as the season progressed. To his credit, he never complained it about it once and continued to do his job effectively despite never receiving a lot of help on the boards.