In the sport of cross country, it’s hard to predict when or where an athlete will run his or her final race. But for four Oregon seniors, the final race is today.
Now it is certain; Hanna Smedstad, Katie Crabb, Rhiannon Glenn and Michael Kasahun will close out their cross country careers at Oregon today at the NCAA Championships in Ames, Iowa. The men’s race begins at 11 a.m., followed by the women’s race at 11:45.
The four seniors weren’t quite sure of their fate ten days ago. The Oregon women’s cross country team was a dark horse in earning an NCAA-meet berth coming into the Western Regional meet in Fresno, Calif., and Smedstad, Crabb and Glenn faced an unknown fate.
The day after the Regional meet, the Oregon men’s team was left out of the NCAA field. That left senior Kasahun with an unknown fate as well.
Fortunately, Kasahun and the women’s team performed well enough at Regionals to earn NCAA berths. The unranked women’s team placed fourth in the team standings to qualify. Although the men were snubbed by the NCAA selection committee, Kasahun and sophomore Jason Hartmann received individual bids.
The Ducks are familiar with the national course, having ran at the Iowa State Memorial Classic on Oct. 14. Both the 6,000-meter women’s course and 10,000-meter men’s course are the same as the national course.
At the Iowa State meet, the Oregon women finished in a disappointing 21st, but have made significant improvements since then. On the men’s side, Hartmann placed 30th, followed closely by Kasahun at 36th place.