This weekend, the Oregon track teams will travel to College Station, Texas, to participate in the 2012 Texas A&M Challenge presented by Mondo America. The meet will feature teams from three different conferences: Texas A&M and Texas Tech from the Big 12, Florida and Tennessee from the Southeastern Conference and Oregon and Arizona State from the Pacific-12 Conference. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205368195@@ @@http://www.big12sports.com/@@ @@http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/SECSports/Home.aspx@@
The women will enter the event as clear favorites, entrenched at the top of the first regular season USTFCCCA poll, which was released Tuesday. The Ducks held the No. 1 slot by a wide margin over No. 2 LSU while Arkansas came in third, followed by Clemson and Texas. The top-ranked women will face No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 17 Tennessee on Friday and Saturday. @@http://www.ustfccca.org/2012/01/featured/arkansas-men-moves-to-division-is-no-1-oregon-women-hold-top-by-wide-margin@@
The men, on the other hand, will be relative underdogs as No. 1. Arkansas led the men’s poll, followed by Florida, LSU, Florida State and Texas, while Texas A&M came in at No. 9. The Ducks will line up with the No. 2 Gators and the No. 9 Aggies this weekend.
The women dominated in their first and only outing thus far in the indoor season. Rebecca Rhodes, Phyllis Francis and Trevor Ferguson were double winners on Jan. 14 at the Blue and Orange Opener in Nampa, Idaho. For the men, Johnathan Cabral, Arthur Delaney and Joeal Hotchkins were victorious in their Oregon debuts as Oregon won 12 events at the Idaho Center between the two sides. The competition took place in the same venue that will host the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=243&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205361177@@
Rhodes, a senior from Salem, Ore., recorded a personal best of 8.62 seconds in winning the 60-meter hurdles, easily eclipsing her previous best of 8.78. The effort was the third-fastest time in school history. She also won the long jump with a best leap of 18 feet, 8 inches.
In the men’s 60-meter hurdles, Cabral came out on top in his debut for the Ducks. He won the final in 7.95 after winning his preliminary heat in 7.89. The preliminary effort tied the Calabasas, Calif., native for the third-best 60-meters hurdles time in school history. Sophomore Dakotah Keys placed third in the final in 8.38 after running 8.36 in his preliminary.
Freshman sprinter English Gardner captured a thrilling women’s 60-meter dash, finishing in 7.34 seconds to barely edge Endurance Abinuwa of Texas-El Paso by .01. Gardner, a freshman in eligibility indoors, was just off her personal best of 7.29.
The Texas A&M Mondo Challenge will begin on Friday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. in Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.