Oregon Cross Country 2009

2009 OREGON CROSS COUNTRY

1

2009 OREGON CROSS COUNTRY Table of Contents Introduction: Trophy Town, USA ................ 1 2009 Schedule .................................................. 1 Women’s Outlook ............................................ 2 Women’s Roster................................................ 3 Men’s Outlook ................................................... 4 Men’s Roster ...................................................... 5 2008 Season Review ....................................... 6 History of Oregon Cross Country.............12 Credits: The Oregon Cross Country media guide was designed and written and edited by Greg Walker. Additional writing and editing by Michael Reilly and Geoff Thurner. Primary photography courtesy of Eric Evans and Geoff Thurner.

Additional photography courtesy of John Becker, George Beltran, R.M. Collins III, Dave Coskey, Steve Dykes, John Gillespie, John Giustina, Don Gosney, Stan Green, Kurt Jensen, Jeff Johnson, Norm Maves, Warren Morgan, Kevin Morris, Oregona, Oscar Palmquist, Bill Ross, Geoff Thurner, Betty Udesen, Bob Welch, Randy Wood, Herb Yamanaka, David Zahn and UO Archives.

Copyright: Any commercial use of information or photographs herewith is prohibited without prior written consent of the University of Oregon Athletic Dept. Copyright 2008. ATH-F11625.

The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmativeaction institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request. Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested in advance. TTY: (541) 346-5418.

Contact Information Cross Country/Track and Field Office Telephone (541) 346-2260 Fax (541) 346-5243 Address 2727 Leo Harris Pkwy Eugene, OR 97401 Website www.GoDucks.com Vin Lananna, Associate Athletic Director Telephone (541) 346-2260 E-mail oregontf@uoregon.edu Andy Powell, Assistant Coach Telephone (541) 346-5473 E-mail acpowell@uoregon.edu Maurica Powell, Assistant Coach Telephone (541) 346-6185 E-mail oregonxc@uoregon.edu Greg Walker, Associate Director, Media Services Telephone (541) 346-2252 Fax (541) 346-5449 E-mail gswalker@uoregon.edu

2009 Schedule 9.4 Pre’s Trail Pre-View Eugene, Ore. 10.3 Bill Dellinger Invitational Springfield, Ore. 10.16 Mike Hodges Invitational Clackamas, Ore. 10.17 Pre-NCAA Championships Terre Haute, Ind. 10.24 Beaver Classic Corvallis, Ore. 10.30 Pacific-10 Championships Long Beach, Calif.

11.14 NCAA West Regional Springfield, Ore. 11.23 NCAA Championships Terre Haute, Ind.

Trophy Town, USA

W

ith five first or second place NCAA trophies earned during the course of the 2008-09 cross country and track seasons, another Golden Era for Track Town, USA is undeniably underway, due in no small part to the vision and leadership of Vin Lananna, Oregon’s nationally renowned associate athletic director.

Lananna’s architectural work has produced powerhouse cross country and track and field teams once again in Track Town, USA, and cemented the region’s reputation as the home of the nation’s elite runners.

Concurrently, the magnanimous haul of two NCAA titles, plus three more second-place finishes in the span of eight months has earned a new moniker for the Eugene-Springfield community: Trophy Town, USA. The quest for the trophies begins anew this fall. The Men of Oregon find themselves positioned as the two-time NCAA and three-time Pac-10 champions, while the women have claimed the silver trophy at each of the last two NCAA and conference races.

The men will be led by Luke Puskedra, who was the top freshman at the 2008 NCAA Championships, as well as fellow All-Americans A.J. Acosta, Matthew Centrowitz, Kenny Klotz, Daniel Mercado, Diego Mercado and Andrew Wheating.

Puskedra, Centrowitz, Diego Mercado, Klotz and Wheating were all members of Oregon’s 2008 NCAA Championship squad, while Klotz, Acosta and both Mercado brothers were all part of the Ducks’ 2007 national championship.

The women return their top two runners in Nicole Blood and Alex Kosinski. One of the most honored women in school history, Blood is a seven-time All-American with two career top-10 finishes at the NCAA cross country championships, while Kosinski is a three-time All-American who won the 2008 NCAA West Regional crown. They will be joined by NCAA veterans Zoe Buckman and Bria Wetsch, as well as heralded newcomer Jordan Hasay.

With a schedule that features home meets such as the Bill Dellinger Invitational and the NCAA West Regional, the 2009 Ducks will look to take their places alongside legends of Oregon like Prefontaine, Rupp, Bowerman, Hayward, Salazar, Hand, Graves, McChesney, Cruz, Myers, Chapa, Hill and Knight, among countless others.

Oregon’s legacy of cross country running now features eight NCAA championships, 32 conference titles and an amazing 102 All-America awards, numbers which will surely continue to grow in Track Town - or is that Trophy Town - USA.

2

2009 OREGON CROSS COUNTRY

Women’s Outlook P

osting individual top-15 finishes at the NCAA Championships the past two seasons, there is no lack of talent nor leadership at the top of the women’s cross country roster in senior Nicole Blood and junior Alexandra Kosinski. The duo led Oregon to second place finishes at the 2008 NCAA, West Regional and Pac-10 championships as well as the team title at the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

Blood is one of the most decorated female student-athletes in Oregon history with seven All-America honors, as well as a pair of Academic All-America awards. The Saratoga Springs, N.Y., native was the Ducks’ No. 2 runner at all three championship meets, and earned her second cross country All-America award by virtue of her 10thplace finish at the 2009 NCAA meet.

She also finished second in the 5,000 meters at the 2009 NCAA Track & Field Championships and seventh at that distance at the USA Track & Field national meet to cap a remarkable junior campaign.

Kosinski, who won both the 2008 NCAA West Regional and the Bill Dellinger Invitational individual titles, was Oregon’s top runner at the NCAA Championships, where she placed eighth. The El Dorado Hills, Calif., native was the first Duck runner to claim the West Regional trophy in 14 years.

Blood and Kosinski will be joined by a pair of NCAA veterans in Zoe Buckman and Bria Wetsch. Buckman, a junior from Canberra, Australia, is a two-time track AllAmerican and was the 2009 Pac-10 champion at 800 meters.

Wetsch, a senior from Chaska, Minn., has scored at the Pac-10, NCAA West Regional and NCAA Championships meets during her Oregon career and has more championship experience than anyone on the squad aside from Blood.

The Ducks also feature a number of other competitors with championship level experience, including seniors Brooke Giuffre and Lauren Zaludek, junior Betsy Bies and sophomores Bronwyn Crossman and Claire Michel.

Bies (Yankton, S.D.) lists a pair of Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional races in her first two years in Eugene, while Giuffre (Carlsbad, Calif.) ran at the 2007 NCAA Championships and was a member of Oregon’s Pac-10 squad the last two years.

Michel (Clackamas, Ore.), the school record holder in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and a 2009 NCAA finalist in that event, redshirted the 2008 cross country season, but was a Pac-10 participant in 2007, while Crossman (Bellingham, Wash.) was the Ducks’ lone freshman runner at the Pac-10 meet a season ago.

The 2009 Ducks will also be bolstered by a bevy of talented freshmen, including national prep runner of the year Jordan Hasay of San Luis Obispo, Calif.

She will be joined by Taylor Wallace (Klamath Falls, Ore.), Melanie Thompson (High Bridge, N.J.), Chloe Steinbeck (Beaverton, Ore.), Sarah Penney (Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Anne Kesselring (Nuremberg, Germany), Alexanda Jones (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and Rebecca Friday (Bellingham, Wash.) in one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.

Hasay was the 2009 Foot Locker National Champion, while Thompson and Wallace joined her as finalists in that race. Kesselring has run 2:04 at 800 meters and 4:19 at 1,500 meters in her native Germany.

Oregon was named the 2008-09 Track & Field/Cross Country program of the year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association after placing second at both the 2008 NCAA cross country and 2009 outdoor track championships, and tying for ninth at the indoor meet. With Blood and Kosinski leading a host of veteran and talented newcomers, the hunt for another trophy will be on again this fall.

3

Nicole Blood

Alex Kosinski

Bria Wetsch

2009 OREGON CROSS COUNTRY

2008 NCAA Runners-up

Women’s Cross Country 2009 ROSTER Name

Year

Hometown

High School / College

Elizabeth Bies

Jr.

Yankton, S.D.

Yankton High School

Nicole Blood

Sr.

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Royal High School - Simi Valley, Calif.

Zoe Buckman

Jr.

Canberra, Australia

Canberra School For Girls

Bronwyn Crossman

So.

Bellingham, Wash.

Squalicum High School

Rebecca Friday

Fr.

Bellingham, Wash.

Bellingham High School

Brooke Giuffre

Sr.

Carlsbad, Calif.

LaCosta Canyon / Brown

Jordan Hasay

Fr.

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Mission College Prep

Alexandra Jones

Fr.

Lake Oswego, Ore.

St. Mary’s Academy

Anne Kesselring

Fr.

Nuremberg, Germany

Sigmund-Schuckert Gymnasium

Alexandra Kosinski

Jr.

El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Oak Ridge High School

Claire Michel

RS-So.

Clackamas, Ore.

Clackamas High School

Rebekah Noble

RS-Sr.

Spokane, Wash.

Rogers High School

Sarah Penney

Fr.

Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Xavier College Prep

Keara Sammons

RS-Jr.

Centennial, Colo.

Smoky Hill High School

Chloe Steinbeck

Fr.

Beaverton, Ore.

Southridge High School

Melanie Thompson

Fr.

High Bridge, N.J.

Voorhees High School

Taylor Wallace

Fr.

Klamath Falls, Ore.

Henley High School

Bria Wetsch

Sr.

Chaska, Minn.

Holy Family Catholic High School

Lauren Zaludek

Sr.

Elmira, Ore.

Elmira High School

4

2009 OREGON CROSS COUNTRY

Men’s Outlook T

he 2009 season figures to be the most challenging yet for the men’s cross country team and Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna, the 2008 national coach of the year.

While the Ducks feature a roster that boasts no less than seven All-Americans, the two-time defending NCAA champions and three-time defending Pac-10 champions enter 2009 without the services of national runner of the year and 2008 NCAA individual cross country champion Galen Rupp. The Ducks have also graduated AllAmericans Shadrack Biwott and Scott Wall, as well as key contributors Curtis Suver and Chris Winter.

Fortunately the list of candidates to fill their shoes is impressive. Sophomore Luke Puskedra, the 2008 national freshman of the year, and fellow All-Americans A.J. Acosta, Matthew Centrowitz, Kenny Klotz, Daniel Mercado, Diego Mercado and Andrew Wheating give Oregon a solid core of veterans with NCAA experience.

Puskedra, from Ogden, Utah, was the top freshman at the 2008 NCAA Championships where he ran fifth. He was also the Pac-10 newcomer of the year following his runnerup finish at the league meet and added a sixth-place showing at the NCAA West Regional and a second-place finish at the Bill Dellinger Invitational to his impressive first season in Eugene.

Klotz, a senior from Portland, Ore., and Diego Mercado, a senior from West Covina, Calif., lead the team in experience and have run in three straight NCAA championship races. Two years ago, both posted top-40 finishes at the national meet, with Mercado placing 30th and Klotz 37th.

Centrowitz, a junior from Arnold, Md., came on towards the end of the 2008 season with team top five finishes at the Pac-10 and NCAA championships, and then parlayed that training to become the top-ranked runner in the nation at 1,500 meters last spring.

Danny Mercado, a junior from West Covina, Calif., was a cross country All-American in 2007. Acosta, a junior from Oceanside, Calif., battled injuries for much of 2008 but was the 2007 Pac-10 newcomer of the year, while Wheating, the 2009 NCAA outdoor champion at 800 meters and a 2008 Olympian at that distance, posted a ninth-place finish at the 2008 Pac-10 meet prior to making his NCAA cross country championships debut.

Oregon should also receive a solid boost from its newcomers. Freshmen Ben Dejarnette (Mechanicsville, Va.), Mac Fleet (San Diego, Calif.), Elijah Greer (Lake Oswego, Ore.), Mitchell Hunt (Fremont, Neb.) and Elliott Jantzer (Medford, Ore.) comprise one of the top recruiting classes in the country. They will be joined by redshirt freshman Bryce Burgess (Portland, Ore.).

The 2008-09 year was a remarkable one for Oregon’s running teams. The Ducks earned their second straight NCAA Cross Country title, their first ever NCAA Indoor Track & Field championship and came up only two points short of the triple crown at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field meet, tying for second. It was a year unlike any other in Oregon history and the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association recognized the school’s achievements in honoring the University as its national program of the year.

Though the Ducks have big shoes to fill as they chase their unprecedented third straight NCAA title and look to make it four straight Pac-10 crowns for the first time in 30 years, the seven All-Americans and talented newcomers should make 2009 another compelling season racing for the trophies.

Luke Puskedra

Kenny Klotz

Danny Mercado

5

2009 OREGON CROSS COUNTRY

2008 NCAA Champions

Men’s Cross Country 2009 ROSTER Name A.J. Acosta Walker Augustyniak David Bondi Bryce Bugess Cameron Carter Spencer Carter Matthew Centrowitz Matthew Cravens Ben Dejarnette Eric Dettman Matt Dettman Mac Fleet Elijah Greer Mitchell Hunt Elliott Jantzer Kenny Klotz Chris Kwiatkowski Kevin McNally Jordan McNamara Daniel Mercado Diego Mercado Luke Puskedra Ken Scoggin Isaac Stoutenburgh Jonathan Thomas Andrew Wheating

Year RS-Jr. RS-Fr. RS-Jr. RS-Fr. RS-Jr. RS-So. Jr. RS-Jr. Fr. RS-Jr. RS-Jr. Fr. Fr. Fr. Fr. Sr. RS-So. RS-Jr. RS-Sr. RS-Jr. Sr. So. RS-Jr. RS-Jr. RS-Sr. RS-Jr.

Hometown Oceanside, Calif.

Eugene, Ore. Anchorage, Alaska Portland, Ore. Greeley, Colo.

Greeley, Colo Arnold, Md. Portland, Ore. Mechanicsville, Va. Elmhurst, Ill. Elmhurst, Ill. San Diego, Calif.

Lake Oswego, Ore. Fremont, Neb. Medford, Ore. Portland, Ore. Bellingham, Wash.

Albuquerque, N.M. Auburn, Wash.

West Covina, Calif.

West Covina, Calif.

Salt Lake City, Utah Cottage Grove, Ore. Central Point, Ore. Des Moines, Iowa Norwich, Vt.

6

High School / College El Camino High School South Eugene High School South High School Franklin High School West High School West High School / Arizona Broadneck High School Franklin High School Atlee High School York High School York High School University City High School Lake Oswego High School Fremont High School Phoenix High School Central Catholic High School Bellingham High School Eldorado High School Auburn-Riverside High School / Lane CC West Covina High School West Covina High School Judge Memorial Catholic High School Cottage Grove High School Crater High School Roosevelt High School Kimball Union Academy