The women’s cross country team is on the road again.
This weekend, eight runners, mostly younger members of the squad, will be visiting Corvallis for the Oregon State Beaver Classic.
The mostly freshman squad will run the 4,000-meter women’s race at 10 a.m. Saturday in Corvallis’ Avery Park.
“This is the final opportunity for team members to run their way on to the (Pacific-10 Conference Championship) team,” head coach Tom Heinonen said.
Freshmen Nicole Feest, Eleanor Gordon, Chelsea Manesh, Krissy Sonniksen and Sabrina Turner will all run for a place in the championship race.
Also running for a place in the Nov. 2 meet are sophomore Beth Jackson, redshirt sophomore Taylor Bryant and redshirt freshman Haripurkh Khalsa.
The race is shorter than what the runners usually run. Most Division-I women’s races, including those the Ducks have run this season, are 6,000 meters long.
“It’ll be a speed workout for Nicole Feest and the others who have a chance to run at the Pac-10,” Heinonen said.
Feest has scored for the Ducks in two of her three meets this season, finishing fifth and third in those two races.
In last year’s Beaver Classic, there were 52 runners in the women’s race. Willamette University, Chemeketa Community College, Lane Community College, the University of Portland and the Oregon State club team all entered squads in the race.
Saturday, the women competed at the Pre-National meet at the LaVern Gibson XC Course in Terre Haute, Ind., and finished 18th as a team. Redshirt senior Carrie Zografos led the runners, finishing 53rd overall. Junior Laura Harmon finished second for the Ducks, taking 63rd place in the meet.
The women placed eighth at the Sept. 28 Roy Griak Invitational and third at the Oct. 5 Willamette Invitational. The men’s cross country squad has not raced since the Griak meet.
The harrier men are again taking this weekend off before heading to the Pac-10 Championships Nov. 2 in Pasadena, Calif. The Ducks were ranked fifth in the national poll for the fourth straight week and have beaten four teams ranked in the top-10 this season.