Oregon Duck fans had their hopes of a national championship dashed last Thursday when Dennis Dixon went down with a knee injury and the Ducks lost to the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. Perhaps Duck fans shouldn't have let themselves plunge so quickly into despair, because the Ducks were in fact destined for an NCAA championship this year. It just wasn't in football. Yesterday in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Ducks men's Cross Country team won the national championship when they outpaced second place Iona and the 28 other teams that qualified for the championship.

The Ducks, ranked first in the nation coming into the meet, didn't disappoint.

Led by second place individual finisher junior Galen Rupp, who narrowly lost the battle for the individual championship to Liberty's Josh McDougal, Oregon dominated the meet with every Duck finishing ahead of his counterpart on second place Iona. That impressive performance resulted in the Duck men coming in with the meet low score of 85. Iona was second with 113. No other team scored better than 180.

Besides Rupp, the Ducks got impressive performances from junior Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott who finished ninth, and sophomores Diego Mercado who came back from injury to finish 31st , and Kenny Klotz who finished 37th as well as redshirt freshman Daniel Mercado, Diego's twin, who recovered from a multiple runner spill to finish 41st. All five Duck runners earned All-American status for their effort and all five will be returning next year.

That became clear when, in a post race interview, Rupp affirmed his intention to redshirt in track this coming spring in preparation for the Olympics and return in the fall. "I have every intention of being back next fall" he said. "I'm going to be Duck. I want to finish my degree out. It's been great. Any other school, I probably would have left, to be honest, and just gone pro. But to be running in Eugene for the University of Oregon, is something that's too special, and too great of an opportunity to pass up." With that declaration, Rupp ensured that, barring injuries the Ducks will be prohibitive favorites to repeat their success next year.

"It was a great day for Oregon," Rupp later said. "I am so excited to be a part of this team. We have such an unbelievable group of guys, and we had confidence coming in, and were so relaxed yesterday. It was so fun to watch the other guys come in and be able to celebrate together. We knew we needed to get in good position early and really hold on in a meet like this with so many good guys out there. We told ourselves that it was no different than any other race this year, and we needed to get out hard and work together."

Duck coach Vin Lananna called the Duck's men's efforts "a fantastic performance by those kids" in an interview as the race was finishing. It certainly was. It was nearly matched by the Duck women who came into the nationals ranked third and were a healthy Keara Sammons away from an upset victory over the top-ranked Stanford Cardinal. Led by sophomore Nicole Blood who finished seventh, the Ducks finished a close second to the Trees, 144 to 177. That duplicated the women's finish in both the PAC 10 championships and the Western regionals earlier this year. Don't expect that trend to continue in the future. With their top four scorers and Sammons, who is generally viewed as one of the Ducks top three when healthy, all freshmen or sophomores, the future looks as bright for the women as it is for the men. Stanford graduates five of its top six finishers and the Ducks outpaced third place Florida State by nearly 50 points this year, so the Duck women are also likely to be strong favorites to bring an NCAA title home next fall.