Athletes at Oregon are used to dealing with the elements when competing. The Oregon men’s track and field team took a break from the cold rain of Eugene for the high winds and muggy temperatures of Austin, Tex.
Several Ducks recorded solid marks despite high winds at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. Three Ducks earned NCAA provisional qualifying marks to bring the Oregon total to five.
Junior transfer Micah Harris led the Ducks on the track. The former junior college All-American placed third in the 110 meter hurdles, earning an NCAA qualifying mark in only his third race in a Duck uniform. Harris’ time of 13.8 seconds moves him to second on the all-time school record book.
“I got out strong, and everything continued to go great from there,” Harris said. “Coming in, we had been focusing on this meet for a while so I was ready to put it on the line. I just tried to stay relaxed and focused, get out fast and continue to push through the line.”
On Friday, redshirt junior John Bello came from behind to win the shot put on his final throw. The Alta Loma, Calif., native trailed Purdue’s Nick Swathwood with one attempt remaining. Bello then tossed a personal best 59 feet, nine and 3/4 inches to edge Swathwood by a mere nine inches. Bello now ranks ninth nationally.
Bello faced less favorable winds in the discus competition, but still managed a Pacific-10 qualifying mark in placing third with a throw of 174-6.
Freshman Trevor Woods is wasting no time for Oregon in the pole vault. The fourth-ranked prep vaulter last season placed second with a leap of 17-4 1/2. Woods’ mark is nearly a foot personal best and equaled the NCAA provisional mark.

“Usually the better the competition, the better I do,” Woods said, “The wind was great — it gave me that much more speed and didn’t throw me off at all. It’s good to get the NCAA provisional mark out of the way, with another four inches probably meaning a trip to NCAA’s.”
Sophomore John Stiegeler improved upon his already-qualified mark in the javelin. After a record-breaking tosses at the Oregon Preview and Baldy Castillo Invitational, Stiegeler recorded another personal best, placing second with a throw of 245-9 for the top mark in the nation.
Three other Ducks recorded personal bests on Friday. Sophomore Foluso Akinradewo inched closer to an NCAA provision mark in the triple jump. The Fresno, Calif., native placed eighth with personal best leap of 50-6. Akinradewo has easily qualified for the Pac-10 meet and needs only another foot for a provisional mark.
Senior Ryan Keith uncorked a 10-foot personal best in the javelin, placing second in the “B” section of the javelin. The Salem native now needs only four more feet for a provisional mark.
Sophomore Terry Ellis ran a 14.15 in the 110 hurdles, good enough for third in his heat.
The Ducks were also represented in the Relays portion of the meet. Oregon placed fourth overall in the sprint medley relay in a time of 3 minutes, 23.39 seconds. Harris and freshman Jake Garlick ran opening 200-meter legs, followed by a 400-meter leg by junior Ross Krempley and an 800 meter anchor leg ran by junior-transfer Simon Kimata.
Oregon returns home next weekend for the annual Washington Dual meet.