Cross Country Preview: Men of Oregon

Assessing where things stand for the Oregon cross country team entering the 2017 season, which now kicks off September 29 with the Bill Dellinger Invitational at Springfield Golf Club after the cancellation of the Oregon XC Preview due to the poor air quality throughout the Willamette Valley earlier this month.

MEN OF OREGON

Who's Back: Gone is 17-time NCAA champion and four-time Pac-12 cross country champion Edward Cheserek, the face of this team for the last four seasons. The Men of Oregon will use a good mix of returners and newcomers to fill the void left by Cheserek, led by seniors Sam Prakel and Travis Neuman. Prakel was the Ducks' fourth finisher last season at the NCAA Championships and is coming off a solid outdoor season on the track, and Neuman looks for a strong finish to his UO career after coming in as the Ducks' fifth finisher last fall.

Junior Matthew Maton (pictured below) was the Ducks' top finisher behind Cheserek last year at the NCAA Championships, finishing 29th overall after taking second at the NCAA West Regionals, and is looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2016 outdoor season. Fellow junior Tanner Anderson is coming off a tremendous outdoor track season in which he qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 10,000 meters, and he finished third for the Ducks and 68th overall at last year's NCAA Championships. Redshirt senior Bryan Fernandez and redshirt junior Blake Haney, who did not run cross country last season, round out the group of returning upper-classmen.

13610

Five Ducks return with three seasons of cross country eligibility remaining. Redshirt sophomore Mick Stanovsek was fourth in the 800 meters at the Pac-12 Championships last outdoor season and returns for his second cross country season, and sophomore Levi Thomet ran for the Ducks last year in the NCAA Championships as a freshman. Austin Tamagno also returns for his sophomore seasons, and Jackson Mestler and Jack Yearian will be redshirt freshmen for the cross country season.

Who's New: Four newcomers have joined the Men of Oregon for the 2017 season, two returners and two transfers. Connor Clark comes to the Ducks from Dartmouth with just one year of cross country eligibility remaining, and redshirt junior James West joins Oregon as a transfer out of Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. West ran for British Athletics in the 1,500 meters at the 2017 European U23 Championships and was the 2015 U20 National Indoor Champion, while Clark was honored by Dartmouth with the Paul S. Harmon '13 Trophy last season for showing great improvement through his college career.

Reed Brown and Cooper Teare will be the two true freshmen on the roster for the Ducks, with both coming off tremendous high school careers. Brown was the Texas 6A state champion in the 3,200 meters, breaking a 32-year-old state record with a time of 8:50.43, and was the 2016 Texas Boys All-Area Track and Field Athlete of the Year and 2015 Texas Gatorade Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Teare was the 2016 California state champion in the 3,200 meters at 8:51.85 as well as a 2015 state cross country champion, and he was fourth in the 2016 U.S. U.S. Olympic Trials Nike Elite Camp High School Exhibition Mile at Hayward Field with a PR time of 4:06.79.

Outlook: Despite the departure of Cheserek, arguably the greatest collegiate cross country runner in NCAA history, the Men of Oregon should once again field a solid team and will compete both on the Pac-12 and national stages. With a strong returning group and an accomplished mix of newcomers, the eight-ranked Ducks will also have some depth to work with throughout the season. Fans will get two chances to see the Men of Oregon run live at Springfield Golf Course this fall, first at the Bill Dellinger Invitational and then at the Pac-12 Championships on October 27, where the Ducks will compete against the toughest distance runners in the country.