Mead Products Run This Show Freshmen Help Oregon Turn Corner

The impact of an athlete on a track team may not always be fully captured by a stopwatch or a tape measure.

For instance, when Matt Davis, Greg James and Rob Aubrey raced in lock step from Mead High to the University of Oregon, it seemed as if they would provide depth in the short run and considerable potential for down the road.

Clearly, though, they’ve done more than that.

“I’m a sophomore,” said Oregon distance runner Ben Andrews. “And last year, none of us got along very well and there was a lot of turmoil.

“But ever since the Mead guys came in, it brought us all together a lot more, somehow,” Andrews said. “It seems like we all have a lot more fun with it now instead of going at each other all the time.”

Oregon coach Bill Dellinger also recognizes the intangibles offered by the three freshmen.

“I like their enthusiasm and attitude - it’s good to have on a team,” Dellinger said at last weekend’s meet against Washington State in Pullman.

As heirs to the rich distancerunning tradition at Oregon, the three Mead grads have stepped in and lived up to their promise.

Davis earned all-America honors at the NCAA cross-country meet in the fall and has the fifth-best 5,000-meter time (14:17.51) in the Pacific-10 Conference.

James has clocked a Pac-10 qualifying 3:49.79 in the 1,500, and Aubrey clicked off a conferencequalifying 9:08.8 in the steeplechase early in the season.

“It’s going very well,” said Davis, a three-time State AAA cross country champ. “It’s different, though. A lot of people expect you’re going to go to college and instantaneously beat people the way you did in high school, but it’s totally different. Everybody you run against now is there because they’re good.”

The trio enjoys an obvious benefit from the decision to attend Oregon together.

“What’s made it real easy is that you’ve got a support group right off the bat,” James said. “And I think that even as freshmen we’ve stepped right in and exceeded goals we had.”

“We’ve been best friends since the sixth grade, so I know if I have a bad race, I’ve got two guys right there supporting me,” Davis said.

Although Aubrey posted a swift steeple time in the first outdoor meet, he’s struggled with physical problems since.

“It’s been a bummer for me lately; I’ve had a lot of fatigue while running,” Aubrey said. “I don’t even feel like I’m racing sometimes because of the fatigue.”

Aubrey has undergone tests for mono and other illnesses, but hasn’t been able to pinpoint the exact cause of the problems. And it makes it difficult, in some ways, seeing his old friends improving all the while.

“We always improved together and I’ve been with them so long, it’s kinda hard to be sidelined,” Aubrey said “I’ve tried to keep a positive attitude all season, but it’s hard.”

The three live in a house a few miles from campus. “We did that on purpose because it can be pretty crazy around campus,” Aubrey said.

And in some ways, Eugene is not very different from Spokane.

“It’s really a lot like Spokane,” Davis said. “Both towns have strong running traditions and that makes it nice for us.”

Some other local grads are having strong seasons outside of the area.

Rogers High grad Sarah Schwald, the NCAA indoor 3,000 champ for Arkansas, carries the best time in the NCAA over that distance. With a clocking of 9:06.30, Schwald has the best collegiate time by more than five seconds. She also has the third-best time in the 1,500 at 4:20.33.

Coeur d’Alene High’s Corissa Yasen, a junior at Purdue, is an automatic NCAA qualifier in the high jump with a clearance of 6-1.