Sixty-five miles north of Eugene on Interstate-5, there is a 5,000-meter race waiting. On Saturday, it will be run by the feet of cross country athletes from across the United States and Canada.
The Oregon women’s cross country squad will be heading to Salem for the Willamette Invitational Saturday. With injuries bothering three runners, this meet will be more about giving the rest of the squad “a chance to go back and race again,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said.
“This will be a nice test for our team, regardless of who we have,” Heinonen added.
Out with injuries for Saturday are Magdalena Sandoval and Alicia Snyder-Carlson. Sandoval has a sore hamstring and Snyder-Carlson has two sore achilles tendons. Both are expected to miss Saturday’s race so they have time to recover for the Pre-National meet on Oct. 19. The third injured runner, Carrie Zografos, has tight calves. Zografos is questionable for the race, but Heinonen does not want to push the runners.
“There are bigger fish to fry,” said Heinonen, referring to the health of the women for the Pre-National in Indiana.
The Pre-National this year is being held at the same course as the NCAA Championships at the end of the season.
The Willamette Invitational will feature plenty of strong competition for those Ducks who do race. Auburn, a front-runner for one of the automatic berths from the Southeast region, is a new team to the Willamette meet.
“Beating Auburn might help us get to nationals,” Heinonen said.
Other top teams running in the meet this year are Idaho, Portland and Hawaii, the winner of last year’s meet.
The women harriers, who last weekend finished eighth in the Roy Griak Invitational, are running a shorter course Saturday. The course at Roy Griak is 6,000 meters, while the Willamette course is only a 5k. The women are running in a race featuring Division I schools, as well as club teams and unattached runners.
The Oregon men are not competing at Willamette this year; instead, they are taking an extra week to prepare for the Pre-National. The women’s 5k starts at 12 p.m. Saturday in Salem’s Bush Pasture Park.