If the way the men’s cross country team finished the first race of the season is any indication of what is to come, the team and Duck fans can certainly feel confident about their chances going into the 2008 season. The Ducks swept the top six spots and finished with all eight runners in the top 10 at the Pre’s Trail Run, a dual meet with Portland State, on Sept. 4.
Senior Chris Winter was the official winner at 22:29:44, though he crossed the finish line of the nearly 7,000-meter race with three other Ducks flanking him shoulder-to-shoulder. The Ducks won the dual meet by a score of 15-48.
“It was just good to get out and run, especially after sitting out last fall,” Winter said.
The Ducks were impressive as a team, despite senior Galen Rupp and redshirt sophomore Andrew Wheating sitting the race out. Those two Olympians will help lead a team that returns its top seven runners from last year’s championship team.
“Since we return seven guys from last year, it’s fair to say that we have high expectations for this year,” said head coach Vin Lananna, NCAA Coach of the Year.
Last year’s success and the buzz around this year’s team have caught the attention of the Eugene community, as was evident at the Pre’s Trail Run, where several hundred people gathered to watch the Ducks and meet Wheating and Rupp. As numerous kids mobbed the Duck runners for autographs, it was clear that the attention on the cross country team hadn’t been like that for some time.
“The support we get here is great,” Rupp said. “No other school can claim they have this kind of support; I mean, this is pretty awesome.”
Rupp has said that he doesn’t expect to open his season until the Pacific-10 Conference Championships in November, but his presence reminds Duck fans just how deep the team will be this year.
“They really don’t even need me right now,” Rupp said. “It’s great to get the younger guys involved right now; we have just such a great team.”
Wheating’s success in the 800 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials and at the Olympics in Beijing has given him the opportunity to contribute to the cross country squad, not just the track and field team.
“I just want to have fun this year,” Wheating said. “I think this serves as great base training for track, but it will be fun and we’ll go at it one race at a time and see what happens.”
No doubt, this is a team poised to make another run at Pac-10 and national titles, and with all the returning experience, there is little question that the Ducks will be another force on the national scale. The Ducks are coming off of their first national championship in 30 years with a deep pool of talent. Don’t tell that to sophomore All-American Daniel Mercado, though.
“The past is the past,” Mercado said. “We can’t rely on the fact that we won last year. This is a new season and it is hard to repeat.”
After completing their preseason training camp in Sunriver, the men will head to the Stanford Invitational and then return home for the Bill Dellinger Invitational. To complete their home schedule, the defending national champions will host the Dellinger Invitational on Oct. 4 and the Pac-10 Championships on Nov. 1 at Springfield Country Club.