As Colorado’s Dathan Ritzenhein was on his way to a record-breaking performance Saturday at the Pepsi Team Invitational, Erik Heinonen was stuck in relative anonymity.
The redshirt freshman was near the back of the pack for most of the 3,000-meter race, fighting to stay out of last place at Hayward Field. Predominantly clad in Colorado’s signature black uniform, he stood out against Oregon’s yellow, Washington’s purple and Minnesota’s cream-colored uniforms, but not enough to get serious recognition.
A year ago, Heinonen would have been in that yellow. He would have been one of Oregon head coach Martin Smith’s athletes, a piece of a team that would end up winning the Pacific-10 Conference Championship.
But he wasn’t. Instead injuries that kept him from competing as an Oregon entry the entire season.
See, Heinonen isn’t your typical runner. He isn’t a typical college athlete. Or at least he wasn’t in Eugene.
Heinonen has running in his blood. He’s the son of Tom Heinonen, the former women’s coach at Oregon who retired after last season. The elder Heinonen had been at the helm for 27 years, leading the track program to one national championship. He also spearheaded the women’s cross country team, where he was even more successful, taking home two top finishes.
So it comes as no surprise that Saturday was a big day for the younger Heinonen. He came back to Hayward for the first time after transferring to Colorado.
“There’s so many people here and I was so nervous about the race,” Erik Heinonen said.
The race on Saturday was in fact Heinonen’s first as a collegiate athlete at Hayward. Had it come for Oregon, it might have been a sign of things to come.
Of the top four finishers in the 3,000, only one was an Oregon runner. Colorado’s Ritzenhein easily took the event and was followed by Minnesota’s duo of Andrew Carlson and Will McComb.
Both Golden Gophers finished more than eight seconds before Oregon’s Brett Holts, who took fourth with a time of 8 minutes, 26.27 seconds. Heinonen was almost one second behind.
The 3,000 was the longest race of the day, but it did not hide, in any way, shape or form, Oregon’s dearth of immediate talent in distance running. The thing is, that’s been the program’s staple in the past, from Steve Prefontaine to Bill McChesney Jr., Alberto Salazar to Karl Keska.
In the 1,500 you’d have to look as far as fifth to find Oregon’s top runner, Eric Logsdon.
In the 800 — which is pushing it for serious distance running — Mike McGrath took second.
Heinonen would’ve been that perfect fit for the Ducks. He’s proven in the past that he can handle the distances,
becoming one of the top runners in the Northwest while in high school.
While at South Eugene High School, Heinonen took fourth in the 3,000 at the 2001 Oregon 4A State Track Championships, finishing third the previous two years. In the 1,500, he finished fifth in 2001 and sixth in 1999.
Not all of those are stellar numbers, but figures that accentuate the notion that he would have been a nice piece of the puzzle in Oregon’s attempts to win a Pacific-10 Championship.
But he won’t be. After sitting out last season, he ultimately decided to transfer. He said it just didn’t feel right in Eugene.
“I never really found my groove,” Heinonen said. “Coach Smith is an incredible mentor, an incredible coach. But for some reason it just didn’t click.”

For now, Heinonen will run for the Buffaloes, hoping to recapture the magic on the track that he enjoyed in high school.
Ironically, he could be seeing more of the same starting Friday at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut Creek, Calif., where a number of Ducks are expected to compete. From there, he’s set to compete at the Christiansen Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo., on April 24.
That’s followed by the Big 12 Conference Championships in Norman, Okla., during the final weekend of April.
“It’s just good to be training hard again,” Heinonen said. “I haven’t done that since I was in high school, two years almost. It’s nice to feel like I’m working again and the racing is going to be what it is. I’m going to keep on putting in the miles and the sessions.”
On one beautiful Saturday, all of the hard work meant a return home.
What could have been.