If the men’s cross country team wants to achieve its goal of going to the NCAA Championships, it will need to run well on Saturday at the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. Along with Pacific-10 Conference rivals Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State and UCLA, teams from around the nation will be in attendance.
The men, who are entering the weekend ranked No. 16 in the nation, will face other top-25 teams, including No. 5 Providence, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 10 Georgetown and No. 13 Portland. The harriers will be specifically targeting No. 12 Arizona and No. 22 Arizona State.
On the women’s side, the Ducks will run against No. 9 Providence, No. 15 Missouri and No. 14 Colorado State, among others. Pac-10 teams ranked in the top-25 are No. 8 Arizona, No. 11 Arizona State and No. 17 Washington.
In order for a team to make it to the NCAA Championships, it must either receive one of 13 at-large bids or run to a top-two finish at the regionals on Nov. 10. Because of a very strong western region, the Duck’s best bet is to compete well during the regular season and beat other potential championship participants in order to turn the heads of the at-large selection voters.
Many of the Ducks have yet to run in a race this year because in the men’s first meet they only sent out the “B” unit. Thanks to runner-up John Lucas and winner Noel Paulson, the Ducks beat Portland’s “B” squad and Portland State. Adam Bergquist, Oliver Redig and Kyle Robinson also finished in the top-10 for the Ducks.
Ryan Andrus, Brett Holts, Eric Logsdon, Seth Pilkington and All-American Jason Hartmann will all be running in their first races of the season for the men’s top squad.
Because of a calf injury that forced her to miss last Saturday’s Sundodger Invitational, sophomore Tara Struyk will also be running in her first race of the year for the women.
In the Sundodger, the Ducks finished fifth out of nine teams and had a seventh place finish from Carrie Zografos, who may lead the Ducks all season. Other finishers for Oregon included Laura Harmon (19th), Erinn Gulbrandsen (33rd) and Magdalena Sandoval (35th).
While it may not be an ideal situation for either team, racing against some of the nation’s best will provide a solid challenge to start the season. The race features 14 top-25 teams in the 36-team men’s field and 11 top-25 teams in the 36-team women’s field. Each team can send 10 runners, so it will be a packed race course. The harriers are looking forward to it, though.
“You just need to stay smart and relaxed,” Zografos said.
Many of the Oregon runners have had experience running in large meets like the Roy Griak and know exactly what to expect.
Zografos said she expects the runners to come off the starting line fast and have a physical battle until the field spreads out.
Don’t expect the harriers to come home from Minnesota with two wins, but with any luck, they will compete well against tough competition and get one step closer to receiving an at-large bid.