The women’s 3,000m steeplechase is the only outdoor track event in which the Oregon runners with the top two times in school history, sophomore Claire Michel and sixth-year senior Dana Buchanan, are running.
Buchanan, coming off a medical redshirt for the 2008 outdoor season, is among the longest-tenured Ducks, in her sixth year of competitive collegiate track and her fourth at Oregon.
“I definitely feel like the mama duck on the team,” Buchanan said with a laugh. “But then, I’ve been feeling like that for the last two years.”
Buchanan transferred to Oregon from Hawaii after her sophomore year, when her distance running coach, Andy McGinnis, left the school for Canada. An 800m and 1,500m runner for the Warriors, Buchanan was converted into a 3,000m steeplechaser by associate athletic director and director of track and field Vin Lananna and assistant track coach Andy Powell.
In her first outdoor season as a Duck in 2006, Buchanan was a Pacific-10 Conference Championships scorer in the steeplechase, finishing fourth, and an indoor All-American as part of the Ducks’ distance medley relay team. Her second outdoor season, however, was thwarted by a stress fracture to the top of her left tibia, just below her knee. She was granted a medical redshirt.
Having exhausted her cross country and indoor track eligibility during fall 2006 and winter 2007, Buchanan was able to concentrate on training for what should have been her final season. However, another setback derailed her plans: a stress fracture in her hip, which required two pins to prevent the stress fracture from deepening.
“Last year, I got into really good shape in the fall, and just as I was getting ready to go to an indoor meet, this injury happened,” Buchanan said. “It was not a very good series of events.”
The injuries also hampered her development as a track athlete.
“Even when I first got injured, I was still just getting into the steeplechase,” she said. “I still haven’t run that many steeplechases.”
Unsure that her college career would be resurrected, Buchanan returned to her home in Beachburg, Ontario, Canada, to await word from the NCAA on a sixth year of outdoor eligibility. The word finally came, but it was too late for Buchanan, who holds a degree in General Science from the University, to register for a graduate program. She is currently in a post-baccalaureate program in biology while competing for the Ducks.
Buchanan worked her way into shape through unattached indoor races, cross country meets and road races to prepare her for the outdoor season. That work paid off in a personal-best 10:28.53 in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Stanford Invitational on March 27.
“Dana’s a terrific athlete,” associate director of track and field Dan Steele said. “She’s certainly proven herself at this point. I think that she’s going to have a good Pac-10 (Championships).”
Crowded field
Buchanan and Michel, whose school-record time is 10:23.14, have their work cut out for them at the Pac-10s. Their marks stand as the seventh- and sixth-best in the Pac-10, respectively. The quirkiness of the steeplechase, with its barriers and water jump, open up the competition more than any other running race.
“We’re looking to place as high as we can,” Michel said. “The thing with Pac-10s is, it has nothing to do with time, and everything to do with place. Anything can happen. You can have someone fall. It could come out very slow, and become a kicker’s race. It could come out very fast, and everyone can die.”
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