Dominated by a sea of green, the St. Patrick’s Day celebration began early for the Oregon’s men’s track and field team Saturday at Hayward Field.
Competing against the likes of non-Division I foes Lane Community College, Southern Oregon and Willamette University, the Ducks did not relinquish their Division I talents, winning seven of 19 events at the Oregon Preview.
In the inaugural outdoor event of the year, 11 Ducks qualified for the Pacific-10 Conference championship.
Sophomore John Stiegeler’s javelin throw of 238 feet, 9 inches easily gave him an automatic bid for the NCAA Championships that will be held in Eugene at the end of the season. The toss, which is second best in school history, surpassed Stiegeler’s previous personal best of 225-3.
“It was nice to get out on the first day and get a mark,” Stiegeler said. “You never know what you’re going to do until you get out here. I’m just happy the Lord’s given me the opportunity to do what I love to do. He’s blessed me with a lot of abilities and I’m just trying to do the best I can.”
Freshman Adam Jenkins received a bid to the Pac-10 championships with a javelin toss of 218 feet, 5 inches. Senior Ryan Keith did the same in the same event with a throw of 206-3.
“I didn’t expect Jenkins to throw quite that far in the first meet,” Stiegeler said. “He’s got a lot of potential and I think you could see him throwing that 238 mark before the season’s over.”
With help from pace-setting senior Michael Kasahun, redshirt freshman Jason Hartmann won the 3,000 meter run with a time of 8:09.79.
“It feels good just to come out and run again,” said Hartmann, an all-American cross country runner. “I felt comfortable, but couldn’t get rollin’ the way I wanted.”
Stacked in the 110-meter hurdles, Oregon qualified four representatives for the Pac-10s, including junior transfer Micah Harris, who won the event with a time of 14.16. Sophomore Terry Ellis, freshman Jake Garlick and junior Billy Pappas finished out the top four, respectively.”I feel great,” said Harris of his first competition at Hayward Field. “You can always do better, but I’m just doing my best. I wanted to come out here and do my best and have some fun.”
With a young squad, head coach Martin Smith said he was pleased with how the Ducks handled themselves on opening day.
“This was a good start for our first outdoor meet,” Smith said. “We have a solid base to start on. I think we’ll be able to look back on this meet as a real positive first step for this team.”
Rounding out the Pac-10 qualifiers were Tim Overfield in the 400-meter hurdles, Jason Boness in the high jump and Foluso Akinradewo in the triple jump. Pole vaulters Cody Howell and Trevor Woods will also participate in the Pac-10s with equal marks of 16 feet, 4.75 inches.
Junior Ross Krempley, the 800 meter winner, just missed the conference qualifying mark.
“I think the main question is, ‘Can we build from this, can we learn from this weekend?’” Smith said. “If that’s the case, our hope is that we’ll have a very solid track team this year.”