Davis, Wirz return to lead experienced group
The Oregon men hope to
challenge for an NCAA title
in Dellinger’s final season
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
On the brink of entering the
1998-99 season, the Oregon men’s
and women’s cross country teams
have two things in common: both
finished last season strong, and
both want to finish this season
even stronger.
Although both the men and the
women lost runners who were
major contributors to their team’s
eighth-place finish at last season’s
NCAA Championships, the
coaches said that each team has
enough returning veterans to keep
the teams strong.
The men’s team has six return
ing seniors, all with NCAA expe
rience. Two of those seniors,
Matthew Davis and Oliver Wirz,
make up Oregon’s first returning
All-American duo since Rudy
Chapa and Alberto Salazar in
1979.
"This team has more seniors
with championship experience
than any I can think of,” men’s
coach Bill Dellinger said. “Having
those types of guys back makes it
easier for everybody — they know
what to expect from me and vice
versa.
“With all the talent added to
gether, the only factor will be
keeping them healthy.”
Dellinger, who will be entering
his 32nd and final season of
coaching, said he does not feel
any added pressure because this
will be his last. Instead, he said he
just “looks forward to seeing them
have a good season.”
However, one thing is clear.
Both Dellinger and his team are
focused on preparing for this sea
son’s NCAA Championship, and
both hope to improve on last sea
son’s eighth-place finish.
With all of the experience re
turning, Dellinger said this team
has the potential to finish in the
top three.
“We want to go as far as we
can,” Dellinger said. “We all want
to win a national title. Stanford
and Arkansas are going to be
tough. This team has its work cut
out for them, but if everyone re
turns, it should
be good.”
But if this team
is going to sur
pass what it did
last season,
Dellinger said, it
must train harder.
“We all know what’s coming
up," he said. “Now we need to
prepare ourselves to do it. The
guys need competition, and they
need the season in front of them.
Right now they are in shape, but
we’re not ready for the NCAAs at
this point.”
While the key runners on the
men’s side are intact and appear
ready to go, health has been a
problem for the women’s team.
Freshman Erica Braswell, the
Alabama 1,600-meter and 3,200
meter champion last spring, has a
stress fracture and is questionable
for the first races of the season.
Returning sophomore Pam Fields
is also injured.
“We have to replace [Milena]
Glusac and [Karen] Knudson,”
women’s coach Tom Heinonen
said. “Our top recruit Braswell
has a stress fracture, so she’ll be
%um*
EMERALD
Ross Damotm (foreground) and Andrew Bliss unllprovide the men's team with depth this season.
off to a slow start. We’ll have to
sort things out.”
But the women can look for
ward to five returning NCAA vet
erans, one of them being two-time
All-American Marie Davis. Davis
led Oregon in six of seven harrier
races last fall. Heinonen hopes ju
niors Heather McMahon and Liz
Howell, both with NCAA experi
ence, also step up big this season.
“Going into the season, we look
similar to last year,” Heinonen
said. “But we ended up getting
eighth, so that’s a solid starting
point. We’ve got four or five people
we’re counting on to come back
healthy and fit. Then we’ve got a
group of 20 others from whom sev
eral will need to step it up a level.
“Everybody who’s healthy feels
that she can he a stronger, more fit
runner. If each person was better,
we’d have a better team without a
doubt. How well we overcome
missing runners and injuries re
mains to be seen.”
Heinonen said while the senior
leadership will be critical in guid
ing the women through a success
ful season, another strength of the
team is its overall size. The team
consists of 28 runners.
“There will be lots of healthy
competition for the seven spots
on the traveling squad,” he said.
But the starting five will likely
consist of veterans Annie Ebiner,
Kylee Wells, McMahon, Howell
and Davis.
"Our goal is to finish well,”
Heinonen said. “It’s not how well
we start, but how well we finish.
We want to run our best races at
the three championship meets at
the end of the season, including
the Pac-10 meet which will be
held in Eugene.”
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