A solid foundation has been laid for the future of Oregon’s cross country team as it reaches the peak of the season – the West Regional NCAA Championship.
The regional meet holds more significance than just a simple ranking. It will determine who gets the golden ticket to the NCAA National Championships and whose season ends this weekend. The meet takes place in Palo Alto, Calif., in Stanford territory.
Although the Cardinal might be the defending champion and currently ranked first in the region, the Ducks have made a solid effort to narrow the gap.
The women of Oregon are ranked third in the region and No. 21 in the nation. The ladies are led by redshirt freshman Katie Leary and true freshman Zoe Nelson. Leary took 13th in the Pacific-10 Conference Championship meet and Nelson took 16th. Leary and Nelson have led the women throughout the entire season with strong top finishes in almost every race. However, the rest of the women are only a few seconds behind them. In the Pac-10, the women running in the first through fifth positions for Oregon had an impressive 24-second gap between them.
“It’s exciting how much things have evolved,” Leary said. “Coming into the season I didn’t have any expectations, but it’s exciting the way things have gone. I think our success stems from the energy from the team and the coaches.”
At the varsity level it is assumed that winning is a main focus, and while winning is an added bonus it is not the focus of the Oregon cross country team.
“I take each race one step at a time,” Leary explained. “The coaches put things in perspective and take every race as is. They motivate to do the training, but there’s no pressure to score or anything like that. We focus on just going out and doing what we have trained all season to do.”
While winning may not be Leary’s top priority, in this weekend’s meet she could earn herself an invitation to the NCAA Championships. The top two team finishers and the top four individual finishers not on a qualifying team automatically earn a bid to the NCAA Championships. The women will be racing on a 6,000-meter course and the men will race on a 10,000-meter course on the Stanford Golf Course, a fairly flat course with sporadic hills.
“I haven’t raced on a Stanford course since high school and it was only a 5K, so I’m looking forward to this course,” Leary said. “Every single course is different in cross country and that’s what is so great about this sport. There are always new challenges every race.”
The Oregon men have maintained consistency throughout the entire season. They placed sixth in the Pac-10 meet in the tightest eight-team league race in recent history. The West Regional meet will include six of the top-30 ranked teams in the nation, giving the Oregon men a chance to show the top teams what they’re made of. Top scorers on the men’s side so far in the postseason have been junior Patrick Werhane, sophomore Chris Winter, freshman Jon Thomas, redshirt sophomore Michael McGrath, sophomore Carlos Trujillo, sophomore J.K. Withers and freshman Scott Wall. Freshman Galen Rupp has also had a promising season.
Other teams competing against Oregon in Saturday’s Regional meet include Division I teams from Arizona, California, Idaho and Washington. Those who qualify for the NCAA Championships will head to Indiana State University’s in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 21.