A shot put, a discus, a javelin, a pole vault pole, athletic tape for marking starting points, throwing flats, sprinting spikes and a emerald green and lemon yellow singlet. Five Oregon decathlete/heptathletes gathered this list of implements Wednesday for this weekend’s trip to the Pacific-10 Conference Multi-events Championships in Berkeley, Calif.
After months of training, the Ducks will be put to the test against the conference’s eight other schools and their multi-event crew.
Junior Santiago Lorenzo leads the decathletes into action. The all-American and two-time Pac-10 runner-up has already qualified for the NCAA Championships and will look for his first conference crown Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s been a good season so far,” Lorenzo said. “The main goal is to win and score points for the team. Other than that I’d like to PR but the main goal is to win.”
The Buenos Aires, Argentina native has the best mark in the Pac-10 and the fourth best nationally with 7,726 points.
“This is a quiz for the big exam which is the NCAAs,” he said. “Eventually I’d like to break 8,000 points.”
Junior Billy Pappas and sophomore Jason Slye will also compete and are expected to score major points for the Ducks.
Slye won the Baldy Castillo Decathlon in Tempe, Ariz. on March 23 with 6,677 points. Pappas was a NCAA provisional qualifier last season and placed fourth overall.

Kenyon, Sullivan compete

on women’s side
Junior Jenny Kenyon and freshman Ann Sullivan will represent the Oregon women’s track and field team at the Pac-10 heptathlon this weekend.
“This is the biggest meet of the year for them,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said.
The two athletes will try to “set the tone” for the expanded Pac-10 meet next weekend, according to Kenyon.
“It’s sort of like dominoes,” Sullivan said. “If we do well, that gives the rest of the team a boost for next weekend.”
Sullivan and Kenyon will compete in the 100 hurdles, shot put and high jump Saturday, and the 200, javelin, long jump and 800 Sunday. The 800 will be the last event of the meet, and Kenyon is apprehensive enough about the 800 to call the event “scary.”
Both Kenyon and Sullivan expect top-notch competition at the meet. The heptathletes will compete with some of the best in the country, including UCLA’s Michelle Perry, the top-ranked heptathlete in the country.
“I don’t really pay attention to the competition,” Sullivan said. “I concentrate on the times.”