It was a day of firsts for the Oregon cross country teams at the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn.
The inaugural meet of the season was a successful one for the ninth-ranked men and the No. 12 women, as both teams placed seventh out of 31 teams. Host Minnesota won the team title with 98 points, placing four runners in the top-30.
Senior transfer Hanna Smedstad, a two-time All-American, led the Duck contingent, placing sixth in a time of 21 minutes, 12 seconds in her first race in an Oregon uniform.
“Hanna was solid all the way and was top-10 the entire race,” women’s head coach Tom Heinonen said. “She got up as far as fifth and as far back as eighth in the last mile.”
The meet also marked a change to the new NCAA standard distance for the women’s team. The 6,000-meter course is a step up from the 5,000 meters the Ducks previously raced. The women showed their inexperience with the new distance.
“This was the first 6K for all our athletes,” Heinonen said. “They’ll have a better handle on it next time.”
Senior Katie Crabb began her final season of eligibility Saturday. The All-American was the second Duck to the finish line, placing 34th in 21:59. Sophomore Eri MacDonald led a pack of Oregon’s final three scorers, placing 57th (22:20) and leading senior Rhiannon Glenn (65th, 22:27) and freshman Laura Harmon (70th, 22:30).
“We beat a few teams that might help us for NCAA at-large consideration, but we have to be a lot better at Pre-Nationals,” Heinonen said. “I thought it was a good, solid first race, but I think we’re a lot better, and we’ll have our chance to show that in three weeks. The start was a little shocking — the field size was like an NCAA meet — so it was a good warm-up for the Pre-NCAA meet down the road.”
The meet was also the first race for senior Michael Kasahun and sophomore Jason Hartmann since stepping out of the shadow of graduated Steve Fein. Oregon’s top two returning runners lived up to expectations as Kasahun placed 13th in 24:48 over the 8,000 meter course (5.024 miles) and Hartmann 18th in 24:52.
A pack of freshmen accounted for four of Oregon’s ten entrants in Minnesota. It was the second meet of the season for Brett Holts, who led the Ducks at last week’s Bearcat Open. Holts was the fourth Duck to the line, finishing 58th in 25:21. Noel Paulson (75th, 25:29), Chris Clancy (131st, 26:00) and Aaron Emery (144th. 26:06) also ran.Keith Kelly’s first place finish led No. 14 Providence College to the team title with 104 points.The Ducks beat out four teams ranked in the top-25.
Veterans Adam Bergquist, Sam Hill and Lincoln Nehring also placed well for the Ducks.
Oregon will now have two weekends off before competing at the pre-NCAA Invitational in Ames, Iowa, on Oct. 14.