At 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oregon football players Wesly Mallard, A.K. Keyes and Samie Parker walked off the practice field after participating in their team’s second scrimmage of the spring.
Less than 24 hours later, the three were lined up in the lanes of Hayward Field and trying to help the Oregon track and field team beat the Huskies Saturday at the Washington Dual.
After four football practices in five days, the quick turnaround to the fast lanes provided more challenges than a few of the players were expecting.
“It was very tough on my legs,” said Keyes, a cornerback from Los Alamitos, Calif. “It was tiring, but I had a lot of fun. I ran track in high school three years ago and I love it and miss it a lot.”
Keyes, Mallard and Parker were three of the four members on the Ducks’ 4×100 meter relay team that finished in 42.30 seconds, just behind the Huskies and their time of 41.54.
But considering that the relay team had only practiced twice together — once on football’s day off Wednesday and the other just prior to the meet — the results were quite impressive.
“Hey, we got it around the track and there were no dropped batons, so you can’t say anything bad about that,” said Mallard, a soon-to-be senior linebacker.
Mallard and Keyes also were among the six competitors in the 100-meter dash. While the two looked the part and certainly ran fast, they were overshadowed by another football/track player. Washington’s Ja’Warren Hooker, who has played two seasons on the gridiron as a wide receiver, showed off his world class speed and won the event with a time of 10.32.
Keyes finished third in the event at 11.08, while Mallard finished in 11.47 to beat out a Husky to take fifth-place.
“It was definitely a different experience and a different way of competing, but I had a blast,” said Mallard, who last participated in track five years ago while in high school. “It didn’t bother me at all to do the football scrimmage and then the track meet. But I really need to work on my track stamina.”
Mallard told football head coach Mike Bellotti that the sprinting made him sore in areas he’s never been sore before.
One of the reasons these athletes are able to compete in both sports is the relationship that Bellotti has with men’s track and field head coach Martin Smith.
“Martin and I have talked a lot and we’ve come to an understanding as to how it should be handled and I think it’s a positive,” Bellotti said. “If we have football players that can go score points for the track team, I think that’s awesome.”
Smith was also thrilled with the football players, especially since sprinting is his team’s weakest link. The Washington Dual is Oregon track’s only head-to-head meet of the season and since the Huskies have a strong sprint corps, Mallard and Keyes’ presence was all the more important.

“It was nice to have the football guys and I’m really appreciative of coach Bellotti, who was very generous,” Smith said. “That’s a heck of a sacrifice for them after a live scrimmage on Friday. They bring a neat attitude and showed a lot of Oregon Duck pride.”
Football will remain the top priority for the players, but they look forward to competing again on the track later this season. The spring football workouts end on April 28 with the annual Spring Game, which coincides with track’s Oregon Invitational, but after that, Bellotti said the “guys will have free reign to do whatever they want track-wise.”
Mallard and Keyes both even mentioned possibly qualifying for the May 19-20 Pacific-10 Conference Championships in Berkeley, Calif.
“There could be an outside chance at that,” Keyes said. “Anything’s possible. I’d love to if we could since all my family’s down there in the Bay Area.”
Both Keyes and Mallard expressed how great the Duck track athletes were in welcoming them with open arms. John Steigeler, a javelin thrower, said that the added speedsters “make the team complete.”

2001 NFL Draft
Saturday marks the National Football League’s draft, and there are some strong possibilities that a few Ducks could get plucked.
Bellotti said that defensive end Saul Patu, linebacker Matt Smith, punter Kurtis Doerr and quarterback A.J. Feeley are Oregon’s likeliest selections. He also mentioned how defensive end Jason Nikolao and wide receiver Marshaun Tucker could be “sleepers.”
“You never know what can happen on draft day,” Bellotti said. “I never make predictions.”
Feeley, who has hired Leigh Steinberg as his agent, has impressed NFL scouts at private workouts despite not starting a game during his senior season.
The seven-round, two-day NFL Draft begins at 9 a.m. Saturday on ESPN.

Oregon’s third scrimmage
The Oregon football team finishes its third week of spring workouts today with its third scrimmage of the month.
The scrimmage will last from 5:15-6:30 p.m. and will take place on the practice field near the Casanova Center. It is open to the public.
Oregon’s spring season concludes April 28 with the annual Spring Game at Hillsboro Stadium near Portland.