The Oregon men’s cross country team will run as a complete unit for the first time, looking to return to last year’s NCAA champion form. The Oregon women will be facing some of the nation’s best competition in an effort to retain momentum from their surprising second-place finish at the 2007 NCAA Championships.
“If we have our best day we fully expect to win,” senior Scott Wall said. “We know that we have what it takes to win every meet that we’re in.”
Springfield Country Club plays host to the Pacific-10 Conference championships today; the women’s six-kilometer race will begin at 2:25 p.m. and the men’s eight-kilometer race will begin at 3:25 p.m. Running in front of a home crowd, on the afternoon of Halloween, figures to inspire the Ducks even more.
“I think it’s gonna be an awesome, awesome meet,” junior Nicole Blood said. “We’ve got some great competition and I think it’s gonna draw a large crowd.”
Each team is allowed a maximum of 10 runners in the field, with the top five counting as scorers and the next two runners as tie-breakers. The Ducks are fully healthy on the women’s side, while A.J. Acosta (foot) will sit out for the men.
The back stories, subplots and runners to watch for:
QUIET RIOT
It’s understandable if some people overlook sophomore Zoe Buckman’s contributions to the Oregon women’s team; the sophomore is quiet and doesn’t attract attention to herself. She is, however, a very strong runner who has turned in an excellent 2008 season thus far. Buckman, a native of Canberra, Australia, finished 17th at last year’s Pac-10 championships (fourth on the Ducks), 21st at the NCAA West Regional (fourth), and 39th at the NCAAs (third). At this year’s Bill Dellinger Invitational, Buckman finished 16th, a 29-spot improvement from last year, and finished second to teammate Lindsey Scherf at the Mike Hodges Invitational. Look for Buckman to run strong in Springfield, as she may factor in deciding the team title.
WHO IS THIS GUY?
He finished eighth at the Dellinger and may be a major contributor at the Pac-10s, but Curtis Suver could never have suited up for the Oregon Ducks. Suver began his collegiate running career at Jamestown College in North Dakota before transferring after one year to Eastern Washington. He finished in eighth place for the Eagles at the 2006 Big Sky Conference championships, but redshirted the 2007 season. A graduate student in psychology, he opted to transfer to Oregon to use his final year of eligibility. Suver missed half of training camp due to complications with his transfer, but he has won over teammates with his work ethic and attitude.
“He was a really pleasant surprise this year,” Wall said of Suver. “He fit in really well with the team from the beginning. He’s brought in a good attitude (and a) good work ethic.”
RECAPTURING HIS TITLE
Remember who captured the Pac-10 men’s individual title in 2007? It was Oregon redshirt senior and All-American Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott. At the Dellinger, Kiptoo-Biwott finished in fifth place, part of a front pack that included All-Americans David Kinsella of Portland (the individual champion) and Augustus Maiyo of Alabama (the fourth-place finisher). Kiptoo-Biwott told reporters Monday that he is physically ready for the Pac-10s.
“I’m glad I’m healthy and training is going well,” Kiptoo-Biwott said. “If everybody runs well and has a good attitude going into the race, that’s the key.”
CARDINAL RULES
Though Oregon and Washington are the favorites for the women’s Pac-10 title, Stanford has the potential to disrupt despite losing All-Americans such as Arianna Lambie and Teresa McWalters. The Cardinal women have won the Pac-10 team title each of the past 12 years, and 14 of the past 15 years. This streak includes nine wins in 10 years under current Oregon head coach Vin Lananna. The lone break in those 10 years was in 1995, the last team title for the Oregon women.
DON’T LOOK NOW, BUT…
UCLA’s men finished fourth at the 2007 Pac-10s and began the year unranked. Presently, the Bruins are the 13th-ranked team in the nation and a legitimate threat to Oregon and Stanford, the traditional men’s powers. The Ducks got an early look at the Bruins at the Dellinger, where UCLA finished fourth as a team behind Oregon, Portland and Alabama. Seniors Drew Shackleton and Laef Barnes have led by example, finishing first or second among the Bruins in every race they’ve competed in, and a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Oct. 18 could build the confidence needed to challenge for the team title.
Behind UCLA, Cal and Washington each hold the No. 24 ranking, according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. The Bears returned four of the top five runners from a team that finished 16th at the NCAAs last year, and the Huskies ran five juniors and two seniors in an 11th-place finish at the Pre-Nationals.
HOW TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE
Senior Galen Rupp will compete for the first time this cross country season, after taking time off to recuperate from his participation in the Beijing Olympics and his 13th-place finish in the 10,000m final. The Portland native had reversed his decision and considered competing in the Mike Hodges Invitational on Oct. 18, but he elected not to run.
Sophomore Andrew Wheating, who competed in the Beijing Olympics at 800m, is among 12 candidates for the 10 spots. Wheating ran at the Mike Hodges, tying for first place with teammate Matthew Centrowitz, who ran unattached.
BLOOD ON THE TRAILS
The overall strength shown by the Oregon women’s team has led the spotlight away from the individuals. Springfield Country Club, however, is a great venue to showcase junior Nicole Blood’s talents, as she’s never finished lower than fourth overall at a meet there. Blood was Oregon’s top finisher at the 2007 NCAA West Regional and 2007 NCAAs; she and teammate Alex Kosinski are the top two returning runners from last year’s Pac-10s. Blood should be entrenched in the lead pack for the duration of the women’s race.
NEW KIDS ON THE TEE BOX
Here are four freshmen who will have a big impact on today’s races: Luke Puskedra (Oregon; third-place finisher at the Dellinger), Chris Derrick (Stanford; fourth place at the NCAA Pre-Nationals), Christine Babcock and Kendra Schaaf (Washington; Schaaf has two individual titles for the Huskies, and Babcock has finished in UW’s top two in both of her races in 2008).
DON’T FORGET ABOUT US (Arizona State women)
Only in a race with the top two teams in the nation and a team going for its 13th conference championship in a row would the Arizona State women find themselves out of the spotlight. The No. 15 Sun Devils finished fourth at the 2007 NCAAs, with no seniors among their top seven runners. Senior Jenna Kingma and junior Ali Kielty finished fifth and seventh overall, respectively, for the Sun Devils at the 2007 Pac-10s; by any indication, a repeat of that performance is possible.
RUNNIN’ FOR THAT NO. 1 SPOT
Rare is the opportunity for fans to see the top two teams in the nation for men and women come together in the same place, but cross country fans got all the luck this year. The Oregon men have remained at No. 1 since the preseason, while the Stanford men jumped from No. 10 to No. 2 after winning their heat in the Pre-Nationals.
A shift occurred at the top of the women’s rankings after the Auburn Invitational on Oct. 4, where Washington placed seven runners among the top nine to walk away with a team title and overtake the Ducks as the No. 1 team in the nation. Oregon had held onto the No. 1 ranking since the preseason.
HOME COURSE ADVANTAGE
A large and potentially noisy crowd is likely to be on hand for the Pac-10s. Which raises the question: Does the crowd factor translate to cross country? The runners themselves seem to think so.
“Without the crowds, I don’t think we can achieve much,” Kiptoo-Biwott said. “Sometimes you feel like, ‘I’m getting tired,’ but when you hear people getting into it, we get an extra gear.”
“That’s huge,” Blood said of the hometown crowd. “You know we’ll have a big crowd here in Eugene.”
[email protected]