After finishing first at the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 28, the men’s cross country team is making a move in the national poll.
The men started the season ranked ninth, and in the first season poll were bumped to tenth.
At the Griak meet, the men won the team title for the first time. The Ducks’ five scoring runners finished within 14 seconds of each other, led by sophomore Ryan Andrus, who finished eighth overall.
Oregon won the team title by nine points at the Griak, edging out Eastern Michigan and Weber State. The race featured 12 teams ranked in the top 40 at the time.
The team’s first-place finish at the Griak meet helped its ranking. In all three polls released since that meet, the men have been ranked fifth in the nation and second in the West region.
Stanford, with 10 of the 16 first-place votes, is the only West region team ranked ahead of Oregon. Arkansas, from the South Central region, is ranked second. Colorado and Northern Arizona, both from the Mountain region, are ranked third and fourth, respectively.

Skipping past Pre-Nationals
The men’s team is taking more time to train together and be ready for the championship races that lie ahead.
The men are passing up on the Pre-National meet Saturday, which would give them the opportunity to preview the LaVern Gibson XC course. The course, in Terre Haute, Ind., is the course where the NCAA Championships will be held in November.
Every year, several top-25 teams travel to the Pre-National meet to test out the course for that year. Stanford, the top-ranked men’s team, will be there this year, along with other nationally ranked teams.

Healing happens
Redshirt senior Carrie Zografos and junior Magdalena Sandoval are both healthy enough to run in the Pre-National meet. They sat out the Willamette invitational on Oct. 5 with injuries.
“A little regular training and a lot of alternative training,” is what Sandoval did during the past training period, according to head coach Tom Heinonen. Sandoval had an injured hamstring after the Griak meet.
Zografos had tight calves after the Griak meet. Heinonen said she did most of the regular training between Willamette and this week.

Running while injured
Nori Gordon, an Oregon freshman from South Eugene High School, is already sitting out after just joining the team.
Gordon ran unattached in the Willamette Invitational and finished 36th. The Ducks picked her up after the meet. During her physical, an old stress fracture she was running on was discovered. She is sitting out while the injury heals.

Going back North on Interstate 5
On Oct. 26, both the men and women will send squads to Corvallis for the Beaver Classic. The meet will be one of the six meets each team must run in to qualify as a
Division-I school.