Run-Down Forums

[Dan]

OSU Adds Women's Track And Field, Cross Country
Beavers will resume competing during the 2004-05 academic year
OSU SPorts Information
07 Jul 2003
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University will add women's track and field
and cross country to its athletic program beginning in the 2004-05
academic
year, OSU athletic director Bob De Carolis announced Monday. The move is
being made to keep the Beavers in compliance with the membership
requirements for NCAA Division I-A.
Fielding teams in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track will give
OSU 18 intercollegiate athletic programs; the minimum for Division I-A is
16. It will also move the Beavers toward compliance with Title IX gender
equity requirements.
"We're very happy to start the process of adding these teams to Oregon
State's athletic family," De Carolis said. "There's a tremendous history
of
high-quality running in this state and in the Pacific Northwest, and that
made track and field and cross country a natural fit for us as we expand
our
offerings.
"In speaking with our constituency across the state, the running community
is extremely supportive of this project. The pieces are there to enable us
to be successful both within the Pacific-10 and nationally over the long
haul."
OSU's goal is to hire a coach for the program prior to the start of school
in September, allowing a year of advance work before competition begins.
The
Beavers will begin competition with an emphasis on middle- and
long-distance
events.
"As the program develops and matures, it will branch into other areas and
become a more comprehensive program," De Carolis said.
Oregon State's campus does not have an all-weather track, so OSU is
exploring several sites or relationships with other schools for a
short-term
facility. Another possibility is building a first-class cross country
course.
"That would enable us to host everything from youth and high school meets
on
up through national championships or world-class meets," De Carolis said.
"Right now, we're still looking at the possibilities for both those
options,
a track and/or cross country course."
The decision to add track and cross country came as the result of a
year-long study by a subcommittee of OSU's Athletic Advisory Board, which
consists of faculty, students and alumni. The subcommittee not only looked
at the full list of NCAA-sponsored sports as possible additions, but also
at
the Beavers' current programs and their continuance.
Several factors went into selecting track and field and cross country -
financial aspects (equipment, salaries, facilities, scholarships,
recruiting
and other overhead), competitive potential within the conference and at
the
national level, Title IX considerations, and interest and abilities (high
schools, club associations and club sports).
"One of the big things was the recruiting pool for a potential sport," De
Carolis said. "There's a wealth of running talent in high schools in
Oregon
and the Pacific Northwest. Also, the profile of the middle- and
long-distance runner is that many of those students choose to go into
natural resource studies or engineering, and those are two fields in which
Oregon State University has some of the nation's best programs. It makes
it
an attractive package to a student-athlete."
Oregon State previously fielded varsity women's track and field and cross
country teams from 1975 to 1988; both the men's and women's programs were
discontinued after the 1988 season. The Beavers produced three U.S.
Olympic
women's team members, as high jumper Joni Huntley earned spots in 1976 and
1984, 800-meter runner Kathy Weston qualified in 1976 and heptathlete
Cindy
Greiner was on the 1984, 1988 and 1992 squads.
In those 14 seasons of intercollegiate competition, OSU had 12 All-America
finishes and four national champions in the AIAW (1975-81) and NCAA
(1982-88) national meets. Oregon State had 14 regional champions in the
years prior to women's track becoming a Pac-10 sport in 1987; the Beavers
then competed just two years in the Pac-10 before dropping track.
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[Micah Ward]

Dan, that is great news. Of course it is sad that a men's program isn't coming too but that is one of the realities of college athletics in this day and time.
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[Dan]

The talk has been the past 2-3 years that they would start it up as a women's distance program (i.e. XC only), extend that into track, fill out the events, then eventually add in the men. Sounds like they added onto the initial part of the plan a bit, so there's a decent glimmer of hope that a men's program will follow along at some point.

I've already had one well qualified person ask me to recommend him as coach, but I pointed out I'm unlikely to be asked for my advice.

Dan
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