An already deep Oregon cross country roster got a depth change in the month of September.
Carrie Zografos, a junior transfer from Colorado, joined the team last Saturday at the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. The Portland native and Central Catholic High graduate was Oregon’s seventh runner in Minnesota, placing 119th in a time of 23:09.
On Sept. 9, Zografos competed unattached at the Pier Park Invitational in Portland. Her time of 19 minutes, 41 seconds over the 5,000 meter course placed her sixth among Oregon entrants. The race was Zografos’ first since competing as a freshman at Colorado.
Additions to the men’s team include a walk-on and a redshirt freshman who have already made an impact. John Lucas, a redshirt freshman from Eagle Point, was the Ducks’ fifth runner at the Roy Griak Invitational, helping the Ducks secure a seventh-place finish. Lucas placed 67th out of 219 participants.
Freshman Mike Pluth, a Eugene native, has also joined the team. On Sept. 16, Pluth helped the Oregon “B” squad to the team title at the Bearcat Open at Salem’s Bush Pasture Park. Pluth was the Ducks’ fifth runner, placing 30th in a time of 23:16 over the 4-mile course.
Snubbed
Despite respectable showings at the Roy Griak Invitational, both cross country squads dropped in the national polls released last Monday.
The men, who began the season ranked ninth, fell to the 16th spot. The women dropped all the way from the 12th spot to No. 24.
Considering that the women were without sophomore Tara Struyk, the top returning runner from 1999, and freshman Annette Moseyat Minnesota, the Ducks placed well.
The next edition of the polls will be released on Monday.
New PR’s
Senior Michael Kasahun got his 2000 cross country season off on the right foot with a breakthrough race at the Roy Griak Invitational. The transfer from Fresno City College set a new 8,000 meter personal best Saturday, running in a time of 24:48.
Running as the top Duck for the first time, Kasahun eclipsed his old personal best by 13 seconds. He also ran a minute faster than he did last year on the same course.
Sophomore Jason Hartmann, Oregon’s second runner, also ran a personal best. Hartmann ran 24:52 over the 5-mile course.
Rocky switch to 6k
The Oregon women’s first 6,000 meter race, the new NCAA standard distance for women’s races, was a semi-sucessful one.
Although the Ducks placed seventh overall at the Roy Griak Invitational, head coach Tom Heinonen said that some of his runners went out too fast for the 3.72-mile race.
“Katie [Crabb] and Eri [MacDonald] got out really fast and paid for it later on,” Heinonen said. “But I think they’ll learn from this race. Katie was still 12th with a mile to go, but ended up 34th. Eri went out hard, faded in the middle and then came on strongly towards the end. Rhiannon [Glenn] was pretty solid and had a nice finish. Laura [Harmon] said she had too much left in her first college and 6K race.”
The remainder of Oregon’s races will be 6,000 meter races.
Coming up
The Ducks will have a two-week break in action before their next meet, the Pre-NCAA meet in Ames, Iowa. The meet is at the same course that will be used for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 20. Iowa State will host the meet, using its home course of 10,000 and 6,000 meters.
