Tom Heinonen is back.
Heinonen, who retired as Oregon’s head track coach in June, is back at the helm, this time in charge of the Club Sports Running team.
The running club fielded complete men’s and women’s cross country teams on Oct. 18 for the first time ever. Both teams competed in the Lewis and Clark Pioneer Open at McIver Park in Estacada.
With nine runners competing, the women won the race and beat five NCAA Division III teams. Oregon runner Liz James finished in first place with a time of 22 minutes, 35 seconds. James finished the 6,000-meter race 10 seconds ahead of the next finisher. Christy Lacey-Krietz was the next Oregon runner to come in with a time of 22:54.6, placing her sixth in the race.
The men did not fare as well as the women, taking fifth and beating just one of the six teams competing. Brandon Michael was Oregon’s first runner to make it across the finish line with a time of 27:46.1, giving him 12th place. Kevin Sully was the next Oregon runner to complete the 8,000-meter course with a time of 28:19.1, which was good for 20th.
Richie Carpenter, Oregon’s Running Club coordinator, is encouraged by the results the team accrued in its first meet.
“Just a few years ago, Oregon’s running club was inactive,” Carpenter said. “Now we are out there competing as a university and coming home from races with great times, both individually and as a team.”
Carpenter credits Oregon’s improvement to Heinonen.
“Tom has worked with runners for years now and is a runner himself.” Carpenter said. “He has a ridiculous amount of knowledge about the sport, and he has been a great addition to our program.”
Heinonen also provides the team with workouts, diagnoses aches and pains and gives advice whenever needed.
“Tom is just what we needed to turn our program around,” Carpenter said.

On the rink
Club Ice Hockey also began its season last weekend, playing two games against Washington State in Spokane, Wash. Oregon’s first game was tougher than expected, and they lost 6-1 to the Cougars.
Oregon proved to be a competitive team in the next game, and ended the final period tied with Washington State. Oregon lost in the shootout but hopes to get its first win tonight against California State Sacramento at Lane County Ice Arena. The game begins at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free.

It’s no World Series, but …
After a long week of tryouts and an excellent turnout, Oregon’s Club Baseball team is already making plans to have a successful spring season.
“Fifty players battled for 15 spots, so it was very competitive,” coordinator Jonathan Loomis said. “The group of guys that came out were definitely talented.”
The team practices four days a week on both the Turf Field and in the Hayward Field House and is preparing for a Krispy Kreme fund-raiser in January. The team will be selling the doughnuts on campus.