Only two Ducks will line up on the starting line at the men’s NCAA cross country race this year. For the first time in six years, Oregon will not be present for the national championships Nov. 20.
Despite a respectable fourth place finish at the Western Regional meet Saturday, the Ducks were snubbed by the selection committee and denied a berth at the national meet.
The snub breaks a long chain of NCAA berths in which Oregon teams qualified for 29 of the last 32 NCAA meets.
Head coach Martin Smith will send two individuals to the national meet — sophomore Jason Hartmann and senior Michael Kasahun, who placed second and fourth at the regional meet, respectively.
Qualifying standards for the national meet take into account a team’s national ranking, its record against other top-25 teams and its placing at the conference and regional meets.
Although Oregon was ranked 10th in the nation, it trailed Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo at the regional meet by eight points. Cal Poly beat only one NCAA qualifying team in the regular season and also failed to qualify for the NCAAs.
Instead, the rest of the Oregon team will stay at home while 12 other teams that Oregon soundly defeated in the regular season will run at nationals.

In the polls
As startling as the men’s team snub by the national committee was, the women’s acceptance in the national meet was just as surprising.
The Oregon women’s team was among the fourth group of teams accepted into the NCAAs. After mediocre performances all season, the Ducks broke out of their slump at the regional meet, placing fourth overall and beating out two other ranked teams.
“At nationals, we know we can be a top-20 team, but it won’t be easy,” head coach Tom Heinonen said. “If we race like we’re capable of, we can beat a lot of teams.”
The Ducks climbed back into the top-25 polls this week at No. 22, the final poll of the season.