A funny thing happened on the way through the cross country season: The Oregon women no longer find themselves on top.
After receiving the No. 1 national ranking in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll in the preseason, the Ducks find themselves at No. 2 after the second week of the season, even after a decisive team victory at Saturday’s Bill Dellinger Invitational. Washington, coming off a dominating team victory in the Tiger Invitational (hosted by Auburn), usurped the top spot after being ranked no lower than second in the previous two weeks. The Husky women earned a first-place vote in both the preseason and week one polls before Tuesday, the date of the USTFCCCA poll’s release.
The usual disclaimer applies: National poll rankings in cross country are as relevant as those in college football, and possibly even less. Team rankings are, however, a good barometer of conference strength – and the Pacific-10 Conference looks stacked at this juncture.
The Huskies finished eighth at the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships and lost only one of their top seven heading into 2008. After placing four women in the top six to capture the team victory at the Sundodger Invitational (held in Seattle and hosted by the Huskies), Washington runners finished in seven of the top nine places, including the top three spots, at the Tiger Invitational Saturday. The individual winner and runner-up – Kendra Schaaf and Christine Babcock – are both freshman, and third-place finisher, Marie Lawrence, was the fourth Husky to cross the finish line at the 2007 NCAAs (85th overall). Optimistic projections will continue to add fuel to the fire that is the Huskies’ newfound number-one ranking, and other teams will be hard-pressed to remove them from that spot.
Early returns suggest that Washington and Oregon are the two most likely challengers to Stanford for the Pac-10 crown, and it is Stanford – in search of its 13th consecutive Pac-10 women’s cross country title – who must be defeated. Stanford began the year ranked fourth in the nation – behind the Huskies – and has slipped one spot in each of the past two weeks. To date, the Cardinal have a fourth-place finish under their belts at the University of San Francisco Invitational (senior Alicia Follmar won the individual title) and a team victory at the Doc Adams invitational, which featured a 1-2-3 finish from junior Kate Niehaus, redshirt junior Madeleine O’Meara and redshirt freshman Madeline Duhon. Gone are stalwarts Arianna Lambie (eighth at the 2007 NCAAs), Lauren Centrowitz and Teresa McWalters,Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ut Oregon head coach Vin Lananna’s old school has demonstrated the ability to reload, rather than rebuild.
Arizona State, the Pac-10’s fourth and final ranked team, has also slipped in the polls, from fifth to eighth. The Sun Devils finished third in the George Kyte Invitational on Sept. 6, finishing the race as a pack. Senior transfers Haley Paul and Sunni Olding took 16th and 17th places, while the final Sun Devil runner crossed the line in 22nd place. While junior Kari Hardt took the individual title at the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept.19, but host Minnesota – currently ranked fourth in the nation – won the meet despite all Sun Devil scorers recording top-20 finishes. At the 2007 NCAAs, Arizona State – which did not have a senior runner in its top seven – finished fourth and has the potential for another big year.
Four Pac-10 teams among the top 10 in the nation looks great for the conference, but there is more substance beyond the bigger names. California won the University of San Francisco Invitational (Stanford finished fourth in the meet) and Oregon State received 19 votes in the USTFCCCA poll, just outside the top 30 but also the first-ever votes received for the Beavers in women’s cross country. Oregon State garnered votes after its second-place finish to Washington in the Tiger Invitational; though their top runner, junior Hayley Oveson, finished 12th, the Beavers’ top five runners recorded top-30 finishes and outpaced Iowa, which was ranked 27th entering the weekend.
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