Ducks Face Early Home Test at Dellinger

Senior Amanda Gehrich and junior Cooper Teare will be among the UO cross country runners making their season debuts Saturday, when the Ducks host the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

Just don't call it a rust-buster. The field in town for Saturday's races commands more respect than that.

Six top-25 teams on the men's side and five on the women's side will be among the competing teams Saturday on the course at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield. The eight-kilometer men's race begins at 10:30 a.m., and the 6k women's race is at 11:30 a.m.

The No. 9 Oregon women face a field that includes No. 6 Brigham Young, No. 13 Boise State, No. 15 Furman and No. 28 UCLA, along with Air Force, Oregon State and Texas.

"I don't doubt that we're gonna perform well," Gehrich said. "Usually when there's good competition, we bring out our best. And it's nice to have a really competitive field, because we're gonna run really fast. And I'm excited for that."

Teare and the No. 11 UO men will race No. 2 Brigham Young, No. 7 Portland, No. 24 UCLA, No. 27 Air Force and No. 29 Villanova, along with Boise State, Texas and Furman.

Oregon's season opener was back on Sept. 6, when the Ducks swept the team and individual titles at the Ash Creek Invitational in Monmouth. Since then, the Ducks spent two weeks training at altitude in Central Oregon.

"I'm coming into the year pretty prepared, and having this early test is going to be good," Teare said. "It'll help us out, at places like Pre-Nats and Pac-12. We have really good teams from all around the country so we get to see where other teams are at, and it's a good spot to see where we're at."

Both Teare and Gehrich bring confident mindsets into the season debuts Saturday, although for different reasons.

Teare is feeling rested and ready after an extended break, which was free of the national team competitions that previously filled his schedule during the summer months.

"Honestly I'm really excited, because I've never really had this level of fitness coming into a cross country season in college," Teare said. "Having the opportunity to have a really good summer is going to benefit from me."

Teare last raced for the Ducks at the NCAA Outdoor championships, placing 22^nd in the 5,000 meters. He took a couple weeks off to recover from the track season and took a methodical approach to building up his fitness for this fall.

That's as opposed to some summers in recent years that saw Teare racing on the track well into July, taking a brief break in August and then diving headlong into high-mileage cross country workouts.

"I think I'm taking cross country a little more seriously," Teare said. "It's not that I didn't take it seriously the last few years, but I feel like I'm really prepared this year. So I'm excited to get out there and see what I can do."

Gehrich also has a new attitude about cross country this season, after going up in distance on the track last season.

Previously a 1,500-meter runner, Gehrich moved up to the 3,000-meter steeplechase last spring. The move was a success: She finished one spot short of qualify for the NCAA Outdoor championships.

"I've never seen myself as a super strong cross runner," said Gehrich, who ran at nationals for the Ducks in cross country last fall, finishing 108th. "But I feel like, especially after that outdoor season, going into this year I'm a lot more confident in my abilities. So I'm just really excited to see what I can do, and what my teammates can do."

It's clear both Gehrich and Teare are champing at the bit to hit the course Saturday. And they'll need to be ready to run fast, against the loaded fields in town for the Dellinger.