Although the Ducks men’s cross country squad has dropped to No. 18 in the nation, their ultimate goal is to crack the top 10.
After a weekend off from racing, Oregon will head to Greenville, S.C., for the Furman Invitational on Saturday, which is considered by many one of the top meets before the NCAA Championships.
The men’s last race was in Minnesota at the Roy Griak Invitational where they ran to an 11th place finish. Individually, All-American Jason Hartmann placed 12th overall with a time of 24:31.7 in the 8K race. Hartmann called the Griak a “stepping stone for Pre-Nationals (Furman Invitational) and Regionals.”
Fresh legs get one race
under their belt
Despite running for the Wisconsin Badgers cross country team, redshirt freshman Ryan Andrus, before the meet in Minnesota, hadn’t run a collegiate race in three years.
“It was basically starting from scratch,” the 22-year-old Andrus said. “I saw where I’m at and where I need to improve for the next races. So it was a great learning experience, but obviously, I didn’t finish as high as I would have liked.”
The Roy Griak was also true freshman Seth Pilkington’s first collegiate race. A highly sought-after recruit from Roy, Utah, Pilkington appreciated the help he received during the race from other Oregon runners. Andrus and John Lucas stayed somewhat close to Pilkington during the meet, and the young freshman said that it helped during the tough times in the race to have a familiar face nearby.
Coach Smith’s runners
“The reason I am here at Oregon now is to be coached by Martin Smith,” Andrus said. “He’s the best in the business.”
Andrus, who took a two-year hiatus from competitive running for a religious mission in Mexico, followed Smith here from the University of Wisconsin.
Pilkington also came to Eugene thanks to Smith’s coaching style.
“I felt like Coach Smith was the right coach for me, and I have a lot of confidence he can take me to the next level,” the true freshman said. “He seems like a strength-oriented coach, and that’s my background also.”
Under Smith, the team is melding well together. Andrus described the teams as being “very like-minded” and said that they bring their cohesiveness onto the track as well.
On the women’s side
Head coach Tom Heinonen’s squad will also travel to the Furman Invitational where many of the top teams in the country will be, including the No. 16 Washington Huskies and senior Sabrina Monro.
Monro, in her first season at Washington since transferring from Montana, is three-for-three this season. She has won all of the races in which she has entered by an average of 32 seconds.