Oregon sophomore distance runner A.J. Acosta raced neck-and-neck with Minnesota’s Hassan Mead for the majority of the men’s 5,000-meter race Saturday.
Acosta tried to get away before the final lap but Mead stayed with him while the two battled for first as they neared the finish line.
“He pushed me out a little bit too,” Acosta said, indicating that Mead was using his elbow to get in front toward the end. “But he’s a great competitor. I knew he was going to be tough. I didn’t think I had it until about 50 meters to go. He was still right there, so I knew I couldn’t let up.”
Acosta edged Mead 13 minutes, 57.81 seconds to 13:57.87 for his first Hayward Field victory as a Duck and also an NCAA West Regional qualifying mark.
“It was dogfight for those last 200 meters. I think (Acosta) moved out to lane four before it was all said and done,” Oregon associate head coach Dan Steele said.
The rest of the meet wasn’t quite as contested.

The Oregon men won 12 of 19 events, including five events in which they finished first and second, to win the Pepsi Invitational with 230 points. Penn State’s 150 points were good for second while Minnesota (140.5) and Washington (125.5) finished third and fourth.
“The men did a terrific job across the board, much better than we were anticipating,” Steele said. “We leave the meet with a lot of things to be excited about.”
Steele said many of the men’s runners exceeded the coaches’ expectations because the team’s practices have been labor intensive, and the constant rain and cold weather during the meet couldn’t have helped either.
“They’re in a pretty heavy training phase right now, so we weren’t expecting any big marks,” Steele said.
But that didn’t stop many of the men from setting new personal records while rain drizzled on the track. Senior Phil Alexander recorded the fourth fastest 200m in school history in 20.74 and also won the 400m in 47.13.
“Phil Alexander’s 200 was terrific – a lifetime best, in these conditions with the heavy training phase that he’s in, it’s pretty exciting.”
Alexander said his times may go down further because he’s been working on his starts.
“Hopefully I’ll run faster,” he said. “We’ve been working on my drive phase.”
Alexander was the Ducks’ lone double winner of the day and he set regional qualifying times in the 100m, 200m and 400m, in addition to being a member on both the sprint relays. He said he’d probably drop the 400m in future meets.
Other highlights include Mark Lewis, a member of the offensive line on the football team, winning the shotput with a throw of 56 feet, 7 1/2 inches. Oregon’s Colin Veldman took first in the discus with 175-6.
Sophomore middle distance runner Andrew Wheating, who had only run the 1,500 three times previously to Saturday’s race, took home first place in 3:47.11 with teammate Joaquin Chapa right behind him at 3:48.78. Wheating typically runs the 800, but said he could be running more metric mile races in the future, saying the 1,500 is “fun.”
“This is kind of a breakout for me,” Wheating said. “Doing all these 800s has improved my kick so much more.”
The Oregon men also swept the top two spots in the hammer throw, the 3,000m steeplechase, 110m hurdles and the 400m.
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