New sports put OSU on Title IX track.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

Oregon State is back in the women's track and cross country game.

In an attempt to comply with both Division I-A program minimums and NCAA Title IX requirements, OSU athletic director Bob De Carolis announced Monday that the Beavers will add women's cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field for the 2004-05 academic year. Oregon State last fielded men's and women's track and cross country teams from 1975 through 1988.

The move helps Oregon State in its attempts to meet gender equity requirements set down by Title IX and also gives OSU 18 varsity sports by August 2004, the deadline for schools to have at least 16 sports under new Division I-A football standards. Cross country, indoor track and outdoor track were added to OSU's current total of 15 sports to make 18, the name number Oregon will have when it adds women's lacrosse in 2004.

A subcommittee of OSU's Athletics Advisory Board of faculty, students and alumni spent a year studying the possible additions to the athletic department. Among the other possible choices were field hockey, lacrosse and water polo.

"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," De Carolis said in a statement. "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."

The Beavers hope to hire a head coach for the program by this fall, allowing for a year of preparation before competition begins. The coach will have 18 scholarships to offer between the three sports and will likely be a distance runner, with the team's stated emphasis of middle- and long-distance events in its initial season.

Oregon State also lacks a home track facility, though the number of events contested at the other Northwest schools will help OSU meet NCAA competition requirements without traveling too far away. The school is considering construction of a 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."

While the addition of women's cross country and track and field means more competition in recruiting, Oregon coach Martin Smith said he welcomes the addition of the Beavers, who were the only Pac-10 school without varsity women's running programs.

"Truthfully, I think it's great," Smith said. "I think it's good for the sport, and healthy for the sport the more Division I schools that have track for women or men. It's good to have more opportunities within the state for graduating high school athletes, and I think it's good for the conference, now that all 10 schools have (women's) cross country and track and field programs."

De Carolis said he thinks OSU will be an attractive option for the runners the Beavers hope to recruit.

"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 OSU has some of the nation's best programs," he said.

Among the aspects affecting the Beavers' decision were financial considerations, competitive potential, interests and abilities of local athletes and Title IX.

The addition of the running events would appear to help OSU meet the Title IX tenet that schools "demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex."

Also, the requirements for classification as a Division I-A football school changed in 2001. The new standard, which takes effect Aug. 1, 2004, states among other things that schools must have a minimum of 16 sports, with at least six for men and eight for women.

OSU already had eight women's sports - basketball, golf, gymnastics, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and volleyball - but had only seven for men, for a total of 15.

OSU TRACK AND FIELD HISTORY

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.

OSU produced three U.S. Olympic women's team members: high jumper Joni Huntley, 800-meter runner Kathy Weston and heptathlete Cindy Greiner.

The Beavers 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.

- Oregon State