It all comes down to one last race.
The No. 14 Oregon men’s cross country team has fought its way into the NCAA Championships in Greenville, S.C., and today the Ducks will run for the national crown.
This year’s invitation marks the Ducks’ 27th appearance in the NCAAs since 1963 and their second trip under third year head coach Martin Smith, who is looking forward to the challenge of the national competition.
“One of the most important things is that we’re not just excited to be there, but try to run well and finish as high as we’re capable of,” Smith said.
The last time the Ducks won the national championship was in 1977, but they have come close in other years, with 14 top-10 finishes since then, including three runner-up titles. In its last NCAA Championship meet in 1999, Oregon placed sixth.
Two-time All-American junior Jason Hartmann, who finished 35th last year (he received an individual invitation to the national race by finishing second at the Western Regionals) and 37th in 1999, is the only Duck harrier who has run in the Championship meet.
The other Oregon runners who will accompany Hartmann to the Furman University cross country course are senior Adam Bergquist, sophomores John Lucas and Brett Holts, redshirt freshmen Ryan Andrus and Eric Logsdon, and either sophomore Noel Paulson or true freshman Seth Pilkington.
Pilkington, who withdrew from the Furman Invitational and the Pacific-10 Championships, sat out of the Western Regionals to preserve his strength for the NCAAs. If he is capable of running, the young prospect, who finished second on the team in his collegiate debut, will race as one of the seven Oregon harriers.
Hartmann, who will try to keep pace with the top runners in the country at the head of the pack, is feeling confident for this race.
“I feel like I’m ready to go,” he said. “This meet is what I’ve been training for all summer long and this fall, and I’m healthy and strong.”
Bergquist may run his own race tactically, while the other Oregon runners will try to stay together in a pack.
With 255 runners competing, this is the biggest and best field the Ducks have faced this season, Smith said.
“It’ll be an awesome experience,” Bergquist said. “I’ve read the results the past four years, so it will be really fun to finally experience it for the first time.”