Cross country

As school starts this fall, some students run for classes while others sprint to get a place in line for football tickets. The Oregon cross country harriers, however, run for other things: themselves, their coaches and a piece of the national spotlight.
The men’s and women’s focus, though, is to stay healthy, train consistently and race well. And if they do all three — in particular, the last– both teams should improve.
The men, who finished 13th in the 2001 NCAA Championships, are ranked No. 9 in the national preseason poll and look to continue their steady ascension up the NCAA ranks. Fourth-year coach Martin Smith says the climb in rankings is “reflective of (the team) continuing to improve,” and added that it is also influenced by the team’s “development through outdoor track.”
Their top runner, senior Jason Hartmann, also runs the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters for the track team. Hartmann, a two-time All-American, missed adding a third honor by 10 seconds in last year’s NCAA championships. He led the men’s squad in nine of his 10 races during his sophomore and junior years and could become the eighth Duck to win three or more All-American honors.
Hartmann will have plenty of support from juniors Brett Holts and John Lucas and sophomores Eric Logsdon and Ryan Andrus. Both Lucas and Holts had top-25 finishes in 2000 and 2001. Logsdon scored in three of his final four races in 2001, while Andrus was the team’s third-place finisher in three of last season’s races.
Experience will be key this year, not only for the men but also the women; both teams return six of last year’s top seven runners.
Entering his 28th season as women’s head coach, Tom Heinonen is looking forward to
this season.
“The goal certainly is to be far better than last year,” he said, adding that the team is determined to do well this year.
In 2001, the women harriers ended the season unranked and missed the NCAA Championships for only the third time under coach Heinonen.
“We have virtually everyone back,” he said.
Last year’s top three are returning and have trained hard this summer, according to Heinonen. Redshirt senior Carrie Zografos and juniors Laura Harmon and Magdalena Sandoval spent last spring honing their skills as distance runners for the track team.
All in all, Heinonen said the women had their “best summer
of training.”
So when it comes time for the NCAA Championships at the end of November, the harriers hope to be running for the finish line while Oregon fans scramble to check their results.