This season’s Oregon cross country team is showing the running world that a flock of Ducks is a dangerous thing – cross its path and you will get run over.
Over the weekend the Ducks traveled to Salem to compete in the Willamette University 31st annual Charles Bowles Invitational. The men’s and women’s teams both finished the race with impressive times, which ensured Oregon top-four finishes.
Zoe Nelson and Katie Leary helped the Ducks earn a second-place finish behind No. 30 Washington. Nelson took fourth place in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17 minutes, 14 seconds; a mere 12 seconds behind first place finisher Dee Olson from Idaho.
Nelson, a true freshman, clocked in at 5:26 for her first mile and managed an 11:07 split. This was Nelson’s second straight race where she finished first for Oregon.
“Collegiate racing still feels a little new, but I’m starting to get a little more comfortable,” Nelson said. “The level of talent was higher this time, and there were a lot more people to run with today, so I wasn’t really worried about the pace or splits. I didn’t have much of a strategy, more just run my own race and try to finish top five.
“I felt pretty good throughout, although I was a little concerned at the end because I don’t have the best foot speed and didn’t want anyone to pass me. I did my best to pick up the last 300 meters on the track, and I finished okay,” Nelson said.
Leary, a redshirt freshman, was the top second runner from any team finishing sixth with a time of 17:17.
“This was a nice confidence booster,” Leary said of her personal record. “I haven’t PRed since my senior season, so this was exciting. I’m still getting back into racing mode and getting my skills back, but I felt strong the whole way. It was nice to have Zoe up front so I could work off her.”
Leary and Nelson were not the only standouts for the women on Saturday; the entire team had an impressive performance. The top five Ducks had a 34-second gap between the first and fifth runner, averaging paces between 5:33 and 5:44 per mile. Sarah Pearson, Amber McGown, Dana Buchanan, Sara Schaaf, Emily Mathis, Heather Fitz-Gustafson, Meriel Hartling and Liisa Heinonen finished strong as a team.
“The women ran tough today and to come within a couple of points against a very good Washington team proves that they ran well,” Vin Lananna, Oregon director of cross country and track and field, said. “Individually, I was happy with everyone, and Katie Leary in particular showed well today.”
The men’s team finished the day with a fourth-place finish behind first place Portland State, second place Washington and third place Air Force.
Notable for the men’s team was the performance of freshman Galen Rupp, finishing sixth with an 8,000-meter time of 23:58. Saturday marked Rupp’s collegiate cross country debut. He averaged a 4:49 pace on the fast Bush Park course.
“I felt pretty good considering it’s my first race of the season,” Rupp said. “This was a good opportunity for the team to begin to gauge where we’re at and against some good teams. Personally, I know I have a ways to go. The pace felt pretty comfortable early, and I tried to hang with guys on the team the first few miles and just run the race. Mark (Mandi of Washington, who won first place) deserves credit. He surged a lot in the middle and at the end and deserved the win.”
Rupp wasn’t bothered by the wet course.
“Considering the rain the course got yesterday, the conditions were pretty good,” Rupp said. “It was mix of grass, trails and concrete, I wore some small spikes that helped a little although it was a little soft in spots.”
Just shy of their team goal, the Ducks top seven had a 58-second gap between them, but the front five had a mere 36-second gap. The men averaged 4:49 and 4:56 per mile.
Carlos Trujillo, J.K. Withers, Patrick Werhane, Chris Winter, Scott Wall, Zach Done, Esteban Trujillo and Vertin Alvarez helped boost the Ducks to the top five finish.
“The men have been training really hard the past month and basically placed where I expected them to,” Lananna said. “I’m glad we had a meet with this level of competition early so we could identify what we need to work on. Galen had a good opener and has had a hard training cycle. We flagged him to back off the last mile to be a little cautious since it’s his first race.”