Last year three runners transferred in for their senior season.  All were all-Americans in cross country.  US junior record holder Lindsay Scherf, 2007 NCAA 10,000 meter runner-up Melissa Grelli, and NCAA cross country competitor Mattie Bridgmon all joined Oregon in the fall of 2008.  Scherf and Grelli were injured most of the year and Bridgmon improved in all of her events tremendously. 

            Bridgmon broke her 1,500 meter personal record (pr) by five seconds, 3,000 meter pr by 31 seconds, in the 5,000 meters (5K) by 24 seconds, and the 10,000 meters by 3:20.  Her performance of 33:37.73 over 10,000 meters (10k) at the Stanford Invitational qualified her for the NCAA meet and the US championships and made her sixth all-time among Ducks.

            She had a bruised heal after that meet and won the Pepsi Invitational 5k meters in 16:26.21 a week later.  She had to take two weeks off after the race and had a disappointing fifth place finish at the Pac-10 meet in 35:30.96 and tenth place finish a day later in the 5k  (17:01.62).  Two weeks later she was starting to recover and ran to a seventh place finish at the West Regional meet in 16:31.96.  At the NCAA meet she had a tremendous race in warm, humid conditions and was seventh (34:18.20) in the 10k with an inspired run to move from ninth to seventh over the last three laps.  She finished her season with a 19^th place finish at the US championships (34:10.51).

            Top 10,000 meters runners of the ‘00s (top time, UO ranking, all-American awards in event and years of career)

1.      Mattie Bridgmon, 33:37.73, #6 UO a-t, seventh ’09 NCAA, fifth ’09 Pac-10, two-time a-a (40^th ’08 XC), ’09-

2.      Keara Sammons, 33:54.55, #7 UO a-t, twelfth ’07 NCAA, fourth ’07 Pac-10, ’07-

3.      Sarah Pearson, 34:29.72, #12 UO a-t, third ’08 Pac-10 and seventh ’06, ’06-‘08

4.      Zoe Nelson, 34:50.59, fourth ’08 Pac-10, seventh ’07 Pac-10, eighth ’06 Pac-10, ’06-‘09

5.       Hanna Smedstad, eighth ’01 Pac-10, ‘01

Top athletes of other decades (including other NCAA champions if there are more than one)

            90s – Stephanie Wessell, 33:31.3, #4 UO a-t, eighth ’90 NCAA, ’90 and ’91 Pac-10 10k champion, ’91 5k Pac-10 champion, three-time a-a, ’87, ’89-‘91

                      Melody Fairchild, 33:18.99, #3 UO a-t, #9 a-t Pac-10, ninth ’96 NCAA, ’96 Pac-10 champion, three time a-a, ’95-‘96

            80s – Kathy Hayes, 32:43.81, UO SR, #4 a-t Pac-10, ’84 NCAA champion, fifth ’85, second ’82 and ’83 5k, third ’85, two-time a-a (nine total, four XC), ’85 US XC champion, 16^th World XC, ’82-‘85

                      Lisa Martin, 33:12.1, #2 UO a-t, #6 a-t Pac-10, fourth ’84 NCAA 5k, sixth ’81 AIAW 3k, (four-time a-a, two-time XC), ’84, ’88, ’92 Marathon Olympian, second ’88 Olympics, ’80-’81, ‘83

                      Eryn Forbes, 33:31.7, #5 UO a-t, second ’82 10k, third ’82 NCAA 5k , sixth ’81 AIAW 5k, eighth ’84 NCAA 5k, seven time a-a (three in 5k), ’77 World XC comp, ’80-’82, ‘84

            70s – Molly Morton, 34:28.5, #11 UO a-t, sixth ’79 AIAW 10k, two-time a-a, ’78 & ’79

The Ducks have won nine all-American awards and one NCAA championship in this event.