Etrain Team Power Rankings: #9 Oregon Ducks

By: Garrett Zatlin

Reminder of the list so far...

#25 Eastern Michigan Eagles

#24 Penn State Nittany Lions

#23 Minnesota Gophers

#22 Cornell Bears
#21 Furman Paladins
#20 Florida State Seminoles

#19 Colorado State Rams

#18 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes

#17 NC State Wolfpack

#16 Penn Quakers

#15 Virginia Tech Hokies

#14 UCLA Bruins

#13 BYU Cougars

#12 Louisville Cardinals

#11 Michigan Wolverines

#10 Virginia Cavaliers

#09 Oregon Ducks

#08 Oklahoma State Cowboys

#07 Iona Gaels

#06 Mississippi Rebels

#05 Villanova Wildcats

#04 Wisconsin Badgers

#03 Syracuse Orange 

#02 Stanford Cardinals
#01 Colorado Buffalos

9. Oregon Ducks

Flotrack’s #9: Oregon Ducks

Coach: Andy Powell

Notable Departures: Eric Jenkins, Will Geohegan, Tanguy Pepiot, Daniel Winn, Cole Watson
Notable Additions: Matthew Maton, Tanner Anderson

Projected Scoring Five: Edward Cheserek (JR) [ET#1], Jake Leingang (JR) [ET#47], Jeremy Elkaim (SR), Matthew Melancon (SR), Tanner Anderson (FR)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally! A team Flotrack and I can completely agree on! Oregon comes in at #9 for both rankings, which is the first same-team pick so far between Etrain and Flotrack. But back to Oregon…The Ducks lost a massive pool of talent to graduation and it will be tough for them to deal without those guys no doubt. But I mean c'mon... it’s Oregon. They’re gonna be good. Real good.

Oregon started their 2014 season off at a little known meet called Bill Dellinger which was essentially a dual meet with Michigan State. Oregon cruised past the Spartans and won the meet with a smooth 20 points. Just another walk in the park for the Ducks. The first real test of the season would come at Beantown where top ranked Syracuse and Providence would look to take down the Ducks and claim an early season victory. Oregon, on the other hand, had different plans. Ches and Jenkins went 1-2 (as expected) while Daniel Winn and Sam Prakel surprised many with their 5^th and 6^th place finishes. Melancon would round out the scorers finishing in 10^th place. Oregon had just crushed Syracuse (who was at full strength) like it was nothing. The Ducks put up an outstanding 24 points and defeated the Orange by 28 points. For the fans and other teams, Oregon had just sent a message. For the Ducks, they were just taking care of business. Oregon would continue their rampage of the NCAA at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invite where the B-team annihilated D2 studs Chico State. As expected, Oregon was becoming scary good and the focus they had was intimidating. With Pre-Nats being the next meet, and Oregon being on the hot streak they were, the idea of upsetting the reigning champions (Colorado) seemed like a possibility. The Buffalo’s, however, said otherwise. Colorado dominated the loaded field with an outrageous score of 35 points. Oregon couldn’t hang despite Ches and Jenkins going 1 and 3. Winn was able to snag a top 20 spot at 19^th while Pepiot and Neuman placed 26^th and 42^nd. The performance was still excellent for Oregon who tallied 91 total points and defeated Georgetown by 57. Oregon was still on a role, but may have been brought down to Earth a bit after seeing such a dominating performance from the Buffs. No worries though, the Ducks wouldn’t have to wait long to see them again. Two weeks passed and the two powerhouse teams met up in California for PAC-12’s. As always, Colorado was the heavy favorite, but with Stanford and Washington in the field, Oregon couldn’t get too comfortable. King Ches and his sidekick Jenkins did their jobs by taking the title and runner-up positions. Colorado, however, took 4 through 8, which sealed the title for them. Melancon and Winn would go on to place 15^th and 16^th respectively. The fifth man Cole Watson hurt the Ducks a bit and nearly cost them second place by finishing in 23^rd. Colorado won with 30 points while Oregon was 27 points back with 57. Stanford, however, had rallied their troops and was 3 points away from upsetting Oregon. The men in green would see Stanford once again at West regionals. Although, Stanford would not be the team Oregon needed to worry about. Portland had been coming on strong as of late and were establishing themselves as a threat to the other powerhouse team in their state. Still, the Ducks kept their focus and went to work with Ches and Jenkins letting Korolev get the win and settling for a 2-3 finish. The rest of the Ducks held their own and did their job with Winn placing 17^th, Pepiot placing 18^th, and Neuman finishing 20^th. The scorers stuck together and the results showed it. Oregon won the title for the first time since 2010 with a score of 60 points. Portland fought hard, but it simply wasn’t enough to match the Ducks who were 11 points ahead. Stanford had an off day and scored a total of 97 points. Oregon now headed into nationals with the same drive that they started the season with. Even if they couldn’t beat Colorado, the medal podium was still expected of them and there was no reason to think otherwise. Their sole loss of the season had come to only the Buffs, and they had defeated teams on the East and West coast. Oregon was ready. With yellow jerseys and an 'O' on their chests, the Ducks stepped to the line knowing they had the two fastest individuals in the NCAA. Sure enough, the Ducks claimed a 1-2 finish with Ches taking the gold and Jenkins taking the silver as they had done all season. The rest of the team, however, did not find the same success. Pepiot did what he could and finished 46^th. Winn was 60^th and fifth man Cole Watson was a very disappointing 155^th. The high scoring fifth man hurt the Ducks a good bit and with the rest of the pack so spread out, it didn’t help the score. Oregon finished a shocking 6^th place overall and was kicked off the podium.

Oregon enters this season now with their 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th man (from nationals) all gone. How on earth can this 2015 team possibly succeed after the losses they had? Well for starters, this is the Oregon Ducks were talking about. This was the team that made distance running relevant. This was the team that has generated the best American distance runners ever. This was the first true powerhouse team. Oregon has history like no other so to say that they shouldn't be a top 10 team is just ridiculous. Losing that many guys of that caliber can sometimes crush a team’s confidence. Although if I’m Oregon, I’m silently smiling to myself with all the weapons around me… Alright, let’s just get him out of the way: Edward Cheserek is the King of XC (and track) and will dominate the NCAA. There. End of story. Let’s continue. The next guy I’m looking at is Jake Leingang who is currently 47^th in the Etrain rankings. The guy is a special talent who struggled a slightly during his sophomore year of XC, but really broke out during track grabbing PR’s of 7:53 (3k) and 13:46 (5k). With two seasons of experience under his belt and killer times like that, it’s impossible to think that Leingang won’t thrive in a system where he is now desperately needed. Jeremy Elkaim is another veteran who holds PR’s of 3:59 (mile), 7:48 (3k), 13:39 (5k). His times are outrageous, but my concern is how consistent he will be. He hasn’t always been able to constantly have the same performances that he’s had in the past so his strength will need to improve. Melancon will enter his senior season as well. Although he struggled greatly at NCAA’s, Melancon established himself as a threat during XC last season. He was an excellent fifth man who rarely under performed. Of course, he will need to improve and fill the spots Winn, Pepiot, and Watson left. Finally, with an artillery of stars to choose from, Oregon will most likely dip into their new recruits to find their fifth man. Flotrack believes that the fifth man will be the sub-4 miler, Matthew Maton. However, I believe we will see Tanner Anderson take that spot. In my opinion, Anderson is the most underrated high school national champions ever. In a year where there were two sub-4 milers and one of them getting his second national XC title, Anderson hasn't received much love. The guy was constantly under 15 minutes throughout all of his races during high school and was consistently a beast. Anderson is my guess to get the scoring spot. While all those guys are great, there is still massive depth at Oregon’s disposal. Neuman, Prakel, Haney, Maton, and more can all step up and take a scoring spot from someone (except Cheserek). The depth is there just in case injuries become an issue. Even with all of the massive talent around Oregon, there are still things I want to see from the Ducks... It’s easy to see some of these guy's PR’s and immediately assume they’ll be amazing on the grass too. However, I still want to see Elkaim and Leingang prove that they can run against some of the best during the fall. I believe they can do it, now they just need to execute. I’m also hoping that the pack will be tighter than last season. While the Ducks did have a solid pack at times, they still could have been closer. Hopefully, all that time of training in the shadows of Oregon’s elite has made this group grow and train closer together. I guess only time will tell.

As I mentioned above, this the first time Flotrack and I have agreed on where to put a team. Oregon is Oregon. They are simply too good to be left out of the top 10 and it seems like Flotrack acknowledges that. But when you lose so many guys at that level, you can’t put them too low and Flotrack and I both seem to agree there. Oregon cross-country is always fun to watch. The depth will be exciting, but the unknown potential of this team is even better.