Magdalena Sandoval will be the only representative for the Oregon women’s cross country team in the 2003 NCAA Championships in Waterloo, Iowa, starting Monday.
Sandoval took ninth in last week’s 2003 NCAA Western Regional held in Portland. The senior also finished the Pacific-10 Conference fifth individually.
Sandoval, a senior, finished among the top four Oregon harriers.
She had a distinct game plan in mind during last week’s Western Regional.
“The last 2,000 kilometers I was battling, and trying not to go backwards and lose to many places,” Sandoval said. “The whole time I was thinking about my position individual-wise.”
Sandoval’s efforts paid off, especially in the mind of her running mentor.
“You have to hand it to Magdalena,” head coach Marnie Mason said. “She didn’t feel her best coming in, but she gave a gutty effort and was right in the hunt the whole way.”
The last lone Oregon representative at the NCAA Championships was Carrie Zografos, who finished 33rd overall after placing sixth in the Western Regionals and eighth in the Pac-10 one year ago.

Men Make Finals
The Oregon men’s team was awarded an at-large bid to the 2003 NCAA Championship after the team finished fifth at the NCAA Western Regional. While the fifth-place finish isn’t the reason Oregon is going to Waterloo, Iowa, it certainly helped bolster the team’s at-large points.
At-large points are what race officials look at when deciding which teams that didn’t finish in the regionals top-two spots are awarded with national invites.
Oregon received those points despite a team that has had individuals run well, but not the team as a whole.
The regional race “was kind of indicative of the season in that we all haven’t been on at the same time,” junior Ryan Andrus said.
Twenty-seventh ranked Arizona, No. 20 Washington and No. 36 Portland will join No. 12 Oregon as at-large teams selected from the West Regional. Top-ranked Stanford and No. 15 Cal Poly qualified automatically.

From the Northwest
It was two Oregon natives who helped Stanford win the Pac-10 title in Portland for the team’s second consecutive Pac-10 crown.
Ian Dobson finished the race first, followed by a second-place finish from teammate Grant Robison.
Robison attended McMinville High School and Dobson hails from Klamath Falls. Women’s head coach Marnie Mason and harrier Sara Schaaf attended Klamath Union.
Jacob Gomez and Lauren Jesperson are also natives of Kalamth Falls and are harriers for the No. 1 Stanford men and No. 2 Stanford women, respectively. Joaquin Chapa is from Portland and runs for the Cardinal.