M. X-Country meet Ducks on Pre's Trail

The Penn men's cross country team will be running on hallowed ground this coming Saturday -- Pre's Trails. The Quakers leave today for Eugene, Ore., home of the Oregon Invitational. The race will be held at Eugene's Alton Baker Park. Pre's Trails, located within the park, is named in honor of Steve Prefontaine. The former University of Oregon superstar is considered the last great American distance runner. Greatness will not only be in the air but will also greet the Quakers at the starting line. "We have the opportunity to face teams that we would never really race against," Penn junior captain Scott Clayton said. "Oregon is definitely one of the best teams in the nation." Not only will Oregon -- ranked No. 3 in the most recent NCAA coaches' poll -- be vying for the lead of this 19-team field, but Washington State and Nebraska will also put up a fight. "What I need from my team is a a competitive effort where we just go out and bang," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "It has to be a concentrated, aggressive, take-it-to-'em race." Oregon is a dominant squad. The Ducks shot up seven places in this week's polls on the heels of an impressive second-place finish at the Pre-NCAA Invitational held in Lawrence, Kan. Oregon's Matthew Davis finished sixth among a field of eight returning All-Americans, out of the top 15, and Ducks junior Steve Fein was 10th in the ultra-competitive race. The Ducks were second only to Stanford, the nation's consensus No. 1. Clayton jokingly remarked that "Stanford proved that Oregon is a beatable team." The Quakers can, however, look forward to more than a moral victory this weekend. The Ducks are not fielding the same varsity team that they did last week. Davis and Fein will take the race off, as will the other seven runners who paced the team in Kansas. "If they're not running their 'A' guys, winning becomes a real possibility," junior Sean MacMillan said. MacMillan, who has led the Quakers in each of the season's four meets, has a realistic chance to finish near the head of the pack on Saturday. "I feel really good. There's a guy from Washington State and a bunch of other people that are going to take it out fast," MacMillan said. "I just need to stay with them." The Washington State runner is All-American Bernard Lagat -- last year's Pac 10 champion and the favorite going into this weekend. "He's competing for the national championship," Clayton said. "If he goes out really fast, that's fine, we'll just stay tight with the rest of the pack." Powell has never taken his team to the the West Coast before, except for the NCAA championship. "If you want to have any shot of winning an at-large bid to nationals, you have to show you can beat teams that are out of you district," Powell said. "Also, when you're racing the same teams every week, a pecking order develops. I want to give my guys a chance to break out of that." Powell has elected to take 10 Quakers on the trip. This constitutes Penn's smallest roster of the season to date. For the Quakers to succeed this weekend and to defeat the host Ducks and others, a solid effort must come from the Penn top five. Sophomore Brian Kovaleski, consistently the team's third man, seems poised to improve coming off what he described as a "winning" workout on Tuesday. Injuries hampered the Quakers last weekend. Junior Jason Greene's sprained ankle forced him to leave the race at Penn State. Greene will run on Saturday but will not be 100 percent, as his ankle will need to be taped up for the race. Freshman Matt Gioffre's calves also appear to be almost back to snuff. The course in Eugene promises to be fun for the Quakers. "It's a real cross country course," Powell said. "You run across a creek, and there're some hay bales to jump over."