Continuing struggles by the Oregon women’s cross country team has put the Ducks in a difficult position: Facing the possibility of missing the NCAA meet for the first time since 1996.
A seventh-place finish at the Pacific-10 Conference championships is Oregon’s worst placing at the conference meet since it’s inception in 1975.
The Ducks began the season ranked No. 12, but after three disappointing performances at major meets, Oregon has dropped completely out of the top-25 polls, which has an effect on which teams are selected for the NCAA meet.
All is not lost, however. Last season, Oregon overcame a sixth-place finish at the Pac-10s to earn a NCAA bid, where they placed 19th out of 31 teams.
“Ironically, all we’ve got to do at regionals is edge Washington State and UCLA to get a spot at nationals,” head coach Tom Heinonen said. “If we don’t beat one of them and get fifth then we don’t get selected.”
Oregon trailed fifth-place Washington State by only 16 points. In the much larger regional meet, the Cougars could get spread out more than the Ducks.
Senior transfer Hanna Smedstad led the Ducks with a ninth-place finish in a personal best 20 minutes, 51 seconds over the 6,000-meter course.
“I felt good coming in,” Smedstad said. “But I think I could have placed higher, especially since I felt strong at the end.”
Senior Katie Crabb was back to her usual form after a disappointing performance two weeks ago at the Pre-NCAA meet. Crabb placed 20th in a personal best time of 21:25.
Freshman Laura Harmon cracked Oregon’s top-three for the first time this season, placing 35th in a personal best 22:17 in her conference debut.
“After the way I ran at the Pre-NCAA meet two weeks ago, I made sure I got after it earlier today,” Harmon said. “I didn’t feel great early so I didn’t start moving up until the second lap.”
Sophomore Eri MacDonald followed Harmon to the line for 36th-place in a time of 22:19. Sophomore Erinn Gulbrandsen rounded out the scorers with a personal best by 31 seconds, finishing 40th overall.
Senior Rhiannon Glenn and sophomore Carrie Zografos rounded out the Oregon contingent in 42nd and 44th, respectively (22:42 and 22:43). Less than two minutes separated Oregon’s top seven finishers.
“I think we’re a better team than this,” Heinonen said. “Our last chance to prove that will be at regionals. This was an opportunity for us to show better than we did at pre-nationals, but right now were not.
“Hanna felt good today and just needs to get up and stay in the front pack,” Heinonen added. “Eri and Laura moved up well through the middle but were far enough back early that there weren’t a lot of people to pass.”
Stanford won the meet with 51 points, while placing three runners in the top-six. Arizona’s Tara Chaplin won in a course record time of 20:10.
The Western regional meet will be run at Fresno’s Woodward Park Nov. 11.