BLOOD'S DRIVE IS TO FINISH FAST.

Byline: Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

Nicole Blood is already one of the most decorated runners to ever compete at Oregon.

The seven-time all-American has two Pac-10 titles to her credit.

She dominated the conference cross country race in Long Beach, Calif., three weeks ago, and on the track, she claimed the league's 5,000-meter crown in 2008.

In addition, the diminutive Blood, a senior from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is only the second Duck female in school history with two top-10 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

She'll get a chance to stand alone in that category - ex-Duck Marie Davis was ninth in both 1997 and '98 - when she steps to the starting line on Monday for the women's 6,000-meter race at the 2009 national meet in Terre Haute, Ind.

The men's 10,000-meter race begins at 9:08 a.m. (PST) and the women's competition starts at 9:58 a.m.

"Nicole is an absolute gem," UO coach Vin Lananna said. "She's a fantastic, tough young woman who has gotten herself in great shape ... I'm very proud of her. She's clearly a strong, mature leader on this team and has been a stalwart for us."

Blood, who is looking forward to a career in broadcast journalism, has no problem forecasting her finish at the NCAA championships.

"It's a really competitive field," Blood said, pointing to the expected battle up front between Colorado's Jenny Barringer and Florida State's Susan Kuijken. "I feel like an awesome race can bring me into the top three, a great race can bring me in the top 10, and with a subpar race, I should still be top 15 to 20 at worst. I'm looking forward to a breakthrough race and be in that top five."

For the third straight season, Blood expects to have company from at least one or two of her UO teammates.

Junior Alex Kosinski finished 13th overall in 2007 and actually beat Blood last year with an eighth-place performance. Blood was 10th last year and eighth in 2007.

This year, of course, a third athlete has joined the Ducks in the lead pack with the emergence of Jordan Hasay as perhaps the nation's top freshman distance runner.

"It definitely helps to have Alex and Jordan up there," Blood said. "Whether it's training, or just the little things like stretching, rolling or icing, we do everything together. ... We know how hard we all work, so none of us should be dropping the other one before the 5K mark.

"As long as we know that, and we stay tough, and everybody has their finish, we should be right up there."

Lananna has no qualms about the ability of his top three runners to get the job done on Monday, and he's confident that sophomore Claire Michel will bounce back from a less than stellar NCAA West Regional meet.

He will choose three more NCAA entrants from among four Ducks making the trip - senior Lauren Zaludek, junior Zoe Buckman, sophomore Bronwyn Crossman and freshman Anne Kesselring.

"Our top three are as good as anybody in the country," Lananna said. "We need our other kids to run well to have a chance at a trophy.

"At nationals, with that big of a field, those in the back need to pay attention. It's easy to get buried in that race."

Top-ranked Washington, which is undefeated since the 2007 NCAA championships, remains the team to beat.

"Washington, clearly, has the best five athletes out there," Lananna said. "I would call them the prohibitive favorites.

"But I think several teams have a shot to unseat them. Villanova is really good and they're running well. Florida State is dangerous, and Colorado has Barringer, so they should be tough, and then you have the Ducks. Who knows?"

This will be Blood's final cross country race as a Duck.

"I don't know what I'm going to do next year when she graduates," Kosinski said. "It's hard for me to even think about. My whole running experience in college has been with her as a teammate.

"I've done every workout and every race with her. I've looked up to her from the moment I got here, so I'm like, `Don't leave. Stay in Eugene.'"

It could happen, especially with Oregon Track Club Elite always looking for more female runners.

But for now, Blood has a race to focus on.

She was Lananna's first big-time distance recruit after he arrived at Oregon in 2005 and established his top priority as resurrecting UO's middle distance and distance programs.

By her sophomore year, the UO women had not only ended a six-year drought of qualifying for the national cross country meet, but they went on to back-to-back NCAA runner-up finishes - and they'll be looking for another spot on the awards podium on Monday.

That legacy inspires Blood the most.

"That's huge to me," she said. "To see how far this team has come since I was a freshman. I think we've really started something special here. Look at who we have now, people like Jordan, they're just going to keep it going, and it will only get better and better."

2009 NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Monday at Terre Haute, Ind.

Men's Race: 10,000 meters, 9:08 a.m. (PST). OREGON ENTRIES - (seniors) Diego Mercado, Kenny Klotz, Jordan McNamara. (juniors) A.J. Acosta, Daniel Mercado, Matt Centrowitz. (sophomore) Luke Puskedra. (freshman) Mac Fleet.

Women's Race: 6,000 meters, 9:58 a.m. (PST). OREGON ENTRIES - (seniors) Nicole Blood, Lauren Zaludek. (juniors) Alex Kosinski, Zoe Buckman. (sophomores) Claire Michel, Bronwyn Crossman. (freshmen) Jordan Hasay, Anne Kesselring.

Television: Live on Versus (Comcast 32, 732 HD).

Watch Party: The public is invited to join UO staff and track and field teams in the Casanova Center's Pittman Room, located on the second floor. The Pittman Room opens at 8:30 a.m.