Despite the inclement weather Saturday for the first Oregon-UCLA dual meet since 1985, Ducks and Bruins alike all raved about the competition and the atmosphere.
“This is a fun meet,” Oregon hurdler Jared Huske said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever competed in a dual meet, but I liked it a lot. I think we should do it every year.”
He may get his wish.
After the meet, UCLA head coach Art Venegas declared it a success and his willingness and eagerness to continue the tradition past the current two-year agreement.
“(Oregon) preserved the integrity of Hayward Field and put it up to the 21st century in terms of handling a meet,” he said. “I’m thrilled to be back next year. I’ll see if we can make it more of a long-term affair.”
He’ll find a willing partner in his counterpart, Oregon head coach Vin Lananna.
“Everything needs to start some place and I think this is a return back to where it was during the big-time years, and I think that we’ve got a lot of potential for this thing to really grow,” he said.
The two coaches each took part in some chest-thumping in advance of the 2009 meet, promising stronger teams and a better meet. This time, Venegas held out All-American hurdler Kevin Craddock to protect him from injury but said that wouldn’t happen again.
“I’m guaranteeing a victory next year for the Bruins. We will take it to the Ducks with no mercy shown next year,” he said. “Nobody will be held out, we will go no matter what the weather.”
Lananna countered, saying he expects the Ducks to be even better a year from now.
“I think that UCLA walked away from this realizing that they’ll need to come back really loaded next year and I think they expect to do that, but I think we have a surprise for them because we may have the best team we’ve ever had at the University of Oregon next year,” he said. “I think that he thinks he’s gonna have the win next year and I would hope that’s what he would say, but I think they’ll certainly have to work for it.”
No matter how long the series goes, it should be held at Hayward Field, Venegas said.
“This meet belongs at Hayward Field, it should never be home-and-away,” he said. “I couldn’t care less about meeting the Ducks at home. I think we could kill them at home. Even in the hail. My kids told me they’ve never had more fun than this.”
Count Bruin thrower Greg Garza in that group.
“If I was not graduating this year I would love to come up here again,” he said. “I found out last year we were going to have a dual meet against Oregon and I was just counting down the days. You’ve got to love the crowd. This is Track Town USA, you can’t get better than this in terms of the fans.”
Even with the success of the meet with UCLA, Lananna was hesitant to add too many more dual meets to the Ducks’ schedule in the future.
“There needs to be a balance and I think this has its place,” he said. “I don’t know that I would do this every weekend, but I think that it is a good opportunity as long as you get good competition, which we had today.”
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