Luke Puskedra’s 2008 cross country season could not have been any better for a highly touted freshman. 
 

He was a productive runner for the Oregon Ducks, and he was not required to carry more than his share of the workload. Puskedra, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, who attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City, had posted all-classification record times in the 1,600m and the 3,200m in high school. 
 

But he was just as big a threat in cross country, having taken fifth place at the prestigious Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in 2007. The Ducks did not lack star power among the cross country ranks in 2008, led by then-two-time cross country All-Americans Galen Rupp and Shadrack Biwott. And don’t forget All-Americans Diego and Daniel Mercado and Kenny Klotz, along with A.J. Acosta and Andrew Wheating.
 

“It was definitely a different experience (compared to high school),” Puskedra said. “We had Galen and Shadrack to look up to training-wise. We had 10 guys doing all the workouts — you never knew who was going to be in the race.”
 

As is tradition, the talented bunch of individuals that comprised the team went to Sunriver for September’s training camp, and became a team. Days were reserved for group workouts and nights for board games and card games and the occasional arm-wrestling match. Puskedra’s long, thin arms didn’t win him many matches, but he felt the bonds of the team growing stronger.
 

“That was a key part to our success down the road,” he said. “There was a family-like atmosphere where you were in it not only for yourself, but for your other teammates. It was bigger than just, ‘Oh, I’m going to race well here.’ If you were hurting in a race, you’d think ‘Oh man, we have that many guys and I’ve gotta help those guys out.’”
 

Comfortable with his teammates, Puskedra quickly became comfortable with collegiate competition. His first race of the season was the Bill Dellinger Invitational, where he held strong with the leaders and finished a surprising third — the top placer for the Ducks — behind Portland’s David Kinsella and Alfred Kipchumba. Oregon went on to take the 8,000m race with 49 points to the Pilots’ 56.
 

“He’s a tough kid,” Biwott said of Puskedra following the Dellinger.