Hall of Fame
1987, Women's Cross Country Team
Women's Cross Country Team 1987
- Induction:
- 2013
In a race of seven women covering 5,000 meters, it came down to the slimmest of margins. Carrying the pressure as the pre-meet favorite, Oregon rode into the NCAA Championships in Charlottesville, Va., behind the trio of Annette (Hand) Peters, Penny (Graves) Hewlett and Liz Wilson, who finished one-two-three in both the Pac-10 Conference and NCAA West Regional meets to provide the Ducks with dominating team titles. Yet Head Coach Tom Heinonen knew that Oregon’s second NCAA cross country title would not come easy. And that was before Hand – a five-time NCAA track and cross country All-American and future Olympian – fell to the ground halfway into the race. Yet she regained her composure to finish fifth, less than 8 seconds off the winning pace. Graves placed eighth (12th overall) and Wilson 11th (15th overall) in the team scoring race as both finished within 20 seconds of the Ducks’ leader. By the time Lisa Johnson crossed the finish line to account for 23 points (35th overall), Oregon unknowingly found itself two points shy of North Carolina State while the two schools awaited their final scorers. Little did the Ducks know their fifth finisher would need to tally four places higher than the Wolfpack’s final scorer in order to prevail for an outright team title when Karen Rayle crossed the finish line 73rd overall and 52nd in the team-scoring column. North Carolina State’s fifth runner finished 5 seconds behind Rayle but of more importance four slots behind the Ducks’ sophomore, with the 97-99 win equaling the smallest margin of victory in the first 32 years of the NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championships.
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