Oregon women?s cross country head coach Tom Heinonen prepares to take his 22nd-ranked Ducks to the Pre-NCAA meet. It boasts the largest field of runners ever assembled for a meet and will provide a great test for Oregon as it embarks on the
A 6,000-meter course sounds like a long way, but when you pack 450 runners from 64 teams onto it, things can get a little crowded.
The numerous runners will be on hand Saturday for the pre-NCAA meet at the Iowa State cross-country course in Ames, Iowa.
“The meet will hold the greatest number of runners in a single race ever,” said Tom Heinonen, Oregon women’s coach. “If any course can handle 450-some runners, [the ISU course] can.”
Seventy-two of the 316 Division 1 schools that sponsor cross country will attend the meet, which is a preview of the NCAA Championship meet on November 25.To put the size of the meet into perspective, the Roy Griak Invitational, one of the larger meets in the country, only fielded 240 runners.
PR watch
Oregon’s trip to the Willamette Open last weekend was a successful one for new personal bests. Four Duck women recorded new marks in the 5,000-meter race at Salem’s Bush Pasture Park.
Senior Katie Crabb broke the 18-minute barrier for only the second time in her career, running in 17 minutes, 30 seconds over the 3.1 mile course — good enough for third place overall.
Freshman Laura Harmon also broke the 18-minute mark, running a time of 17:58. Her time is one minute and 51 seconds faster than her time at the Pier Point Invitational in Portland on September 9.
Sophomore Carrie Zografos also bettered her 5K time at Salem. The transfer from Colorado saw a 51 second drop in her time of 18:32.
But the biggest personal best came from freshman Annette Mosey. After putting in a disappointing effort at Pier Point (21st in 21:05), Mosey ran in 18:50 for 34th place at Willamette.
On the men’s side, freshman Chris Clancy lowered his 8,000-meter personal best from 26:00 to 25:06.
In the pollsAfter an unexpected drop in the coaches poll two weeks ago, the Oregon women rose two spots in the latest edition of the rankings. Following their dominating win at the Willamette Open, the Ducks find themselves at the No. 22 spot.
“The rankings are a fair indicator of what’s what,” Heinonen said. “But they don’t have a direct bearing on who gets picked for an at-large bid.”
The Duck men dropped two spots to 18th after holding its top seven runners out of Willamette.
Looking ahead
Despite competing in only three meets this season, the Oregon cross country teams will enter their home stretch next weekend. After the pre-NCAA meet this weekend, the Ducks will travel to the Pacific-10 Conference championships in Seattle, Wash., on Oct. 28, followed by the NCAA Western Regionals in Fresno, Calif., two weeks later. The season ends with the NCAA Championships on Nov. 20.
