The Oregon Running Club concludes its cross country season this Saturday at the USATF club nationals at Portland Meadows. Oregon will be the only university club team at the meet, as the field will predominantly be made up of ex-collegiate and even Olympic athletes on elite-level club teams.
Running Club coach Tom Heinonen eagerly awaits the chance for his harriers to run against some of the nation’s best.
“I am thrilled,” Heinonen said. “It’s a big challenge but a big opportunity.”
Heinonen, in his second season leading the Running Club after coaching the Oregon women’s cross country and track and field teams for the previous 28 years, realizes his young squad might be a bit overwhelmed by the sheer mass of the meet, but believes the benefits of running in such a meet are valuable.
“I want them to get the experience of running in a meet of this magnitude,” Heinonen said.
The women’s 6K will have 24 teams and more than 220 athletes while the men’s 10K expects more than 40 teams and approximately 340 athletes.
“One, I want us to participate,” Heinonen said. “Two, I want us to do as well as we can. We’re trying to keep things low-key and have fun with it.”
The layout of the course also has Heinonen looking forward to Saturday’s meet.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said the two-time NCAA Cross Country Coach of the Year. “It’s a truly unique experience.”
The national meet will be run on the nine-hole golf course inside Portland Meadows race track. Both the men and women will run two laps on the European-style trail. Spectators will be able to see the race unfold from the grandstands, along with the help of two 23-foot
Jumbotron television screens.
According to Heinonen, this is the first time this style of race has been run in the U.S.
“It’s really thrilling,” Heinonen said.
Leading the Club women are Sopagna Eap and Tiffany Beechy. The men are headed by Carlos Trujillo, Mike Long and Brandon Michael.
Eap won the Pre’s Trail Cross Country Open hosted by the Running Club in November and has consistently posted the best times of any
female runners.
Trujillo and Long have alternated throughout the season as the lead male harrier, with Michael usually a close third.
“We want to have a really good race and finish the season,” said Meriel Hartling, Running Club coordinator. “We’re really proud to be the only club team. It’s the process we’re aiming at.
“We’re going to go out and run and enjoy the setting.”

Beau Eastes is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald