The time has come to see what the Ducks are made of as they begin the crucial second half of the cross country season.
This weekend Oregon’s cross country team travels east to Terre Haute, Ind., to join 77 men’s teams and 80 women’s teams for the Pre-NCAA Invite at Indiana State University.
This meet will be one of the most important meets for the Ducks this season. The best teams in the nation will be showcasing their newly recruited talent and gauging the competition. The pre-NCAA meet also allows many of the under-the-radar teams to surprise a few people.
As the season continues to progress, so do the Ducks. They have maintained focus, and it is definitely paying off for the men and women of Oregon.
For the first time in five years, the women’s team has earned a national ranking, coming in at No. 30 under new head coach Vin Lananna. Lananna might be new to Oregon, but he is by no means a novice to the world of running.
Lananna worked as the director of athletics and physical education at Oberlin College in Ohio for two years. However, he is mostly known for serving 11 seasons as the director of track and field and cross country at Stanford University during which time his teams won five national championships and had 36 top-10 finishes.
“I’ve never focused too much on the rankings,” Lananna said. “They are a good tool for promoting the sport of cross country, but they really don’t have an impact on what we do on a daily basis.
“We will continue to emphasize both the Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional Championship as a focus of our season. There is tremendous parity in the conference and the region, so both teams will need perfect races in order to get to the NCAA Championship.”
To help the Ducks accomplish their goal of qualifying for the NCAA Championship, the men and women have focused on team strategies as well as their individual running performances. With more than 300 runners on the field per heat, striving to close the gap between Oregon’s first and seventh runner will not be an easy task.
“The men’s team will strive to maintain a close pack from our second through seventh runners,” Lananna explained. “Obviously, Galen Rupp is a solid front runner, but there are numerous combinations for which athletes on the men’s team could fill the other spots. They are all training very well right now.
“The women’s team has a solid pack through six runners, and we won’t plan to rely on just one person to compete well. It will be a true team effort,” Lananna said.
Traveling to Terre Haute will give the Ducks a taste of the level of competition they will be facing over the next month and a half. The men’s race features 18 of the top 25 teams in the country, and the women’s race will have 9 of the top 10 and 19 of the top 25. Because of it’s size, Saturday’s meet will be divided into two separate races for each the men and women. The men will run an 8K and the women will run a 6K.
Tentatively, the Ducks competing are Michael McGrath, Galen Rupp, Jon Thomas, Scott Wall, Patrick Werhane, Chris Winter and J.K. Withers. Women competitors likely will include Dana Buchanan, Katie Leary, Emily Mathis, Amber McGown, Zoe Nelson, Sarah Pearson and Sara Schaaf.
“We are concentrating on one meet at a time,” Lananna said. “We have some tough races in the next five weeks, and we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. The enthusiasm on this team is outstanding, and if the coaches and athletes can continue that positive attitude for the rest of the season, I’m confident that we will achieve success as individuals and as a team.”