New era begins: Schumacher's Oregon cross country team debuts at Dellinger Invitational

A new era of Oregon distance running begins in earnest Friday.

Led by one of the top coaches in the business and one the greatest American women’s distance runners of all time, the Ducks’ cross country teams will race in front of the home fans for the only time this season when the annual Bill Dellinger Invitational takes place Friday at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield.

The men’s 8,000-meter race starts at 11 a.m. and the women’s 6,000 race is scheduled to start at 11:45 a.m.

Though a handful of Oregon athletes competed at the Lewis & Clark Opener on Sept. 1  — before practice had really even started — Friday’s race will be the season debut for everyone else as the Ducks have entered 37 athletes.

It will also be the first big race for new Oregon coach Jerry Schumacher, who built his credentials over the last 15 years as the leader of the Nike-sponsored Bowerman Track Club professional training group in Portland. There he cultivated the likes of Grant Fisher, Courtney Frerichs, Evan Jager, Elise Cranny, Karissa Schweizer and Moh Ahmed, among others.

Schumacher was hired to replace longtime Oregon coach Robert Johnson in July.

Shalane Flanagan, an Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion, followed Schumacher to Eugene after three years as an assistant with the Bowerman Track Club, coaching the women's squad.

New Oregon track and field coach: 'It's a privilege and a wonderful opportunity'

Though Schumacher oversees the entire Oregon cross country and track and field program, he’ll also personally coach the men’s distance runners, with Flanagan coaching the women.

“We’re still very much in the get-to-know-each-other phase, and that’s fun,” said Schumacher, whose team assembled for training three weeks ago. “That might go on for a while. It might go on for a large part of the season.”

He’ll have a better idea about the potential of his group after Friday’s race.

Oregon men going to fight for podium spots

The Oregon men have 24 runners entered with the nine who still have redshirt potential competing unattached.

Among the entries is all-American Aaron Bienenfeld, a sixth-year senior and three-time NCAA championships qualifier. He was the Ducks’ top runner at cross country nationals last season with an 18th-place finish.

“It’s always great to have someone you know is a low NCAA performer,” Schumacher said. “That’s just essential to any program that aspires to be national class, and obviously that’s what we want to be. We want to fight for a podium spot every single year and hopefully have our share of wins along the way.”

The Ducks have three other scorers back from last season’s 29th-place team in Abdinasir Hussein, Quincy Norman and Caleb Brown.

Oregon women coached by Olympic medalist Shalane Flanagan

The women’s team didn’t do much better at the NCAA meet last season, finishing 24th, and they lost their top-two finishers — Aneta Konieczek to graduation and junior Alessia Zarbo to injury.

Flanagan said Zarbo, the Pac-12 runner-up in the 10,000 last spring, will miss the cross country season as she deals with a foot injury that occurred late in the summer.

The Ducks have 13 women entered Friday with Flanagan eager to see who steps up when the lights go on.

“Some people are trainers and some people are racers,” Flanagan said. “Sometimes I can see people who train at a really high level but their races don’t correlate to the same level. Then I see some people who can’t do quite as much in training and don’t have these really big workouts, but then they go to race and they have a Superman cape.”

Izzy Thornton-Bott is the defending Dellinger Invitational champion — a title she won in her Oregon debut — and has impressed her new coach these past three weeks.

“She’s an A-plus person,” Flanagan said. “She’s very charismatic. Lots of enthusiasm and a great work ethic.”

Thornton-Bott is one of six women who’ve separated themselves during training, Flanagan said, along with senior Melissa Berry, sophomore Harper McClain, senior Emilie Girard, newcomer Klaudia Kazimierska and sophomore Maddy Elmore, a former standout at South Eugene who has been set back by injuries as a collegian.

“Maddy is thriving,” Flanagan said. “Maddy is doing a great job.”

Both Schumacher and Flanagan said it’s too early to be goal-setting for either team, other than a general expectation that the athletes improve as the season goes on.

“From the day we started until the day we finish, I would hope after three months of a cross country season, I see a macro shift in our development,” Schumacher said. “They’re all at this age where they can just keep getting better and better if they’re motivated, if they’re driven and are excited to excel. They’re at an age where they’re not even close to reaching the top.”

As for the competition Friday, UCLA, Washington State, Portland, Portland State, UC Davis and Cal-State Fullerton have entered both men's and women's teams. Oregon State and Texas are entered in the women's meet, and Lewis & Clark is entered in the men's meet.

Meet the coaches and team Friday at Hayward

The Dellinger meet is just the beginning of what should be an eventful day for the local fanbase.

The gates at Hayward Field will open to the community at 6:30 p.m. for the Hayward Field Welcome Party, a free meet-and-greet with the new coaching staff and team members.

Those in attendance can tour the Hayward Hall museum, take on lap on the track, and stay for a movie — “McFarland, USA” — on the Hayward Field Experience Board. For more information, visit the team's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/oregontf.

Flanagan said the idea for the community event at Hayward Field stemmed from conversations about how to boost enthusiasm for the Oregon program.

“There’s a lot of people who haven’t actually been in Hayward,” Flanagan said. “To get to hang out in Hayward and get to know our team and our staff, I think is important. ... I want (the community) to feel like it’s their home as well. When they feel like they genuinely know you, it makes a big difference in how you enjoy the sport.”

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.

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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: New era of Oregon cross country starts with Dellinger Invitational