The Hayward Field faithful got what they were looking for in the men’s 800-meter quarterfinals Friday evening.
A record crowd of 20,964 saw six Eugene-based athletes advance to today’s semifinals, including Duck sophomore Andrew Wheating, Oregon Track Club Elite’s Nick Symmonds and Matt Scherer, the former Oregon All-American.
Both Wheating and Symmonds won their heats, but were more worried about just advancing.
Symmonds said the first round for him is mostly to just knock the rust off.
“The first heat has its own special set of nerves just because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “You might jump in there and for whatever reason … your legs might feel flat.”
Wheating sat in sixth place for most of his heat before moving out wide and turning to his trademark late kick to secure an automatic qualifying spot.
“I just went out for another run,” he said. “Sure, it was a little tight moving out in lane four there, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Galen Rupp, who redshirted indoor and outdoor track seasons in preparation for this meet and a potential Olympic race, sat with a pack of five before sprinting past the pack to win his 5,000m heat, the second of two, in 13:59.14.
“(Wheating’s) my inspiration right now coming down that homestretch,” he said. “The way he closes, it’s something else.”
Rupp, who said he was using the 5,000m semifinal as a warm-up for the 10,000m, said, “Coming in, the main thing was just to work out the kinks and just experience everything and get used to the atmosphere. My focus is definitely the 10K and that’s gonna be my best event here.”
He said the decision on whether or not he would run the final of the 5,000m would be made today.
In the men’s pole vault, Tommy Skipper, a five-time NCAA champion at Oregon, struggled with leg cramps and failed to clear a bar in three attempts at 18-0.5.
“I’m really sad, but it wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “I can’t help that my legs cramped up, and I can’t do anything without my legs.”
Brad Walker, Derek Miles and Tim Mack, all among the favorites in Sunday’s final, advanced without problem.
The three favorites in the men’s shot put – Adam Nelson, Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell – each just had to make one throw to reach the automatic qualifier for tomorrow’s final.
“My plan was to just throw it out there, and come back and do the same thing tomorrow, when it really counts,” Cantwell said.
Washington State freshman Jeshua Anderson, the NCAA 400m hurdles champion, had the fastest qualifying time in the heats, but all the favorites also moved on.
Miguel Pate jumped 27-0.5 to lead all long jumpers into the final on Sunday. Former Oregon All-American Leonidas Watson did not advance.
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