Women’s cross country freshman Sara Schaaf, who has had pain in her upper leg throughout the year, may not run at the Western Regionals this weekend. There is a possibility that Schaaf has a stress fracture on her femur, which would prevent her from running.
“We don’t want to jump to conclusions that it might be (a stress fracture), but it’s been hurting, so hopefully in the next couple days we’ll find out,” Schaaf said. “If it is something not too serious, I may be able to run.”

Another freshman falls
On the men’s side, another true freshman, Seth Pilkington, will not run in this weekend’s regional championships in Tucson, Ariz. Pilkington collapsed in the pre-nationals on Oct. 13 and head coach Martin Smith opted to hold him out of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships on Oct. 27.
The idea, however, is to preserve Pilkington’s strength for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17. Both races are 10Ks and there may be a question about whether Pilkington would be ready for the nationals if he ran in the regionals.

Back on track
After a fall midway through the Pac-10 Championships that cost him valuable time, All-American Jason Hartmann should be fully recovered by Saturday’s regional race. Hartmann — who finished sixth in the Pac-10 — had no serious injuries, just some bruises and soreness that lingered.

Preppin’ it up
In a state known for it’s running, the top race for the Class 4A high school cross country runners was held at Lane Community College. The 5,000-kilometer cross country championships was won by Lauren Jesperson with a time of 15:29, just ahead of teammate Jacob Gomez.
Both runners hail from Klamath Union High School, the same school where Schaaf spent her prep years. Schaaf trained with Jesperson and Gomez during both the cross country and track seasons, so she became good friends with them.
“Our great coach … was like our good friend,” Schaaf said. “So even during school during breaks and stuff we would all go down to her room and just hang out as a team and a group.”

Other notables
The cross country team from South Eugene High School placed first in the girls’ race at the state championships. Oregon harrier Eric Heinonen, whose father, Tom, is the head coach of the Oregon women’s cross country team, is a graduate of South Eugene and a former runner on the Axeman cross country team.
Heinonen, a freshman, is redshirting this season to save a year of eligibility.