Seemingly every year the men’s track and field team enters the spring season with high expectations but questions linger on whether or not the Ducks can meet their lofty goals.
This year, repeating as Pacific-10 Conference champions will be a task the men will be hard pressed to accomplish. Although the talent is there to make them one of the league’s top teams, the Ducks lost a bevy of athletes who won their events in the conference championship meet.
Gone are school pole vaulter record holder and five-time NCAA champion Tommy Skipper, distance runner Galen Rupp – who is working toward an Olympic bid – and throwers Brian Richotte and Ryan Brandel.
That’s 50 points missing from Oregon’s winning score of 114 in the Pac-10 finals, which was three points ahead of second-place Arizona State (111) and four ahead of USC (110), both of which are expected to challenge for the title this year.
If Oregon wants to repeat as Pac-10 champions, it’s going to need its returning athletes to reach that next level. And if the indoor season and the opening meets of the outdoor season were any indication, it’s already begun.
“Being the Olympic year, these kids don’t want to wait to be good, they want to be good now,” associate head coach Dan Steele said. “This is going to be one of the most exciting track years Oregon’s ever seen.”
The Ducks are already showing that they’re capable of making up for the departed athletes. Sophomore Ashton Eaton has already reached the NCAA qualifying mark in the decathlon and sophomore distance runner A.J. Acosta took third place in the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 1,500. While the Oregon teams always seem to produce some of the nation’s best athletes, Acosta says it’s from their own hard work and desire to improve.
“I ran a lot more miles this summer,” Acosta said.”Putting in the miles and putting in the work – I think that the M.O. of the team is hard work and dedication. As much as people want to think we have everyone living in an altitude tent and we have everything made in the shade for us, it’s not like that at all. We bust our butts like everybody else does. We put in the 80-mile, the 90-mile, the 100-mile weeks, just like everyone else does.”
When Oregon hosts the four-team Pepsi Invitational Saturday, including Washington, Minnesota and Penn State, more of the men’s runners are expecting to see their times from last year.
Sophomore sprinter Chad Barlow, whose personal best in the individual 400 is 47.25, is excited to run in his first open 400 of the season, hoping to finally break into the 46-second mark.
“If it’s a 46.99, I don’t care. It’s still a 46,” Barlow said
Acosta, too, thinks some of his teammates are set to record new personal bests this week.
“Hopefully on the distance side, we can get a couple more regional qualifiers this week,” Acosta said. “Our guys can just get in there and get competitive.”
Despite the heightened expectations and the upcoming Olympics, the Ducks aren’t feeling any added pressure to the season. They’re at Oregon to be part of an extremely competitive atmosphere.
“They’re here because they want to be the best in the country,” Steele said. “I don’t think they get any added pressure, they want to get out there and show their stuff. They love getting into the fight and battling with the best kids in the country.”
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Big picture critical in approach to Pepsi
Daily Emerald
April 3, 2008
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