Being the top athlete in the nation brings many honors. For the second time this season, Oregon sophomore javelin thrower John Stiegeler is the Pacific-10 Conference’s Athlete of the Week.
The nation’s leader in the javelin at 245 feet, nine inches, placed second at the Oregon Invitational Saturday. Stiegeler ranks fifth on the U.S. list, which includes post collegians.
The Coos Bay native placed second to Eastern Washington’s Ryan Cole, who threw the nation’s second farthest toss at 244-7.
Stiegeler’s personal best is 11 feet farther than the next highest Pac-10 mark, held by Stanford’s Chad Wassink.
The other Pac-10 honoree for the week is Stanford’s Michael Stember. The Olympian was pivotal in two Cardinal wins at the Penn Relays on Saturday. Stember broke the school record in the mile as the anchor leg of the 4 x 1,600 relay. The Fair Oakes, Calif., native ran a time of 16 minutes, 15.7 seconds to secure a Stanford victory.
Later in the day, Stember also anchored the Cardinal’s 4 x 800 relay. Stanford won in a time of 7:19.8.

Cross-town rivalry
It’s one of the most ferocious rivalries in Division I track and field, and it’s shaping up to be the best track and field dual meet of the 2001 season. The storied rivalry between Southern California and UCLA will enter its 68th chapter this Saturday, and it looks to be a speed-fest.
The No. 1-ranked USC women host No. 2 UCLA in a meet that will feature the top Pac-10 competitor in 13 events. The men’s race should also be close, with No. 3 UCLA taking on the No. 4 Trojans.
The Los Angeles-area schools are known to have the strongest sprinting teams in the country, which will make for exciting races in the 100-, 200- and 400-meters, as well as in both relays.

Top of the field
While the Pac-10 men have only two favorites to win NCAA titles, those two events will be ones to watch.
Arizona State’s Marcus Brunson currently has the nation’s official top mark in the 200-meters with a time of 20.37 seconds.
Washington Olympian Ja’Warren Hooker has the nation’s unofficial best time of 20.37 seconds, a split second ahead of Brunson. Too bad the mark was aided by wind. Hookers’ non-aided seasonal best is 20.57 seconds, which ranks him 10th nationally.

In the polls
The Pac-10 may be known for being one of the toughest track and field conferences, but not according to the Trackwire.com national rankings. Defending national champion Stanford was the highest ranked team in the conference at No. 9. Washington was the only other top-15 team at No. 12. Oregon and USC rounded out the Pac-10 field at 20th and 21st, respectively.
Texas and the South Eastern Conference swept the top-10, with Texas Christian getting the top nod and SEC teams ranking two through eight. Texas, UTEP, Texas A&M, Baylor and Southern Methodist occupied the remaining top-15 spots.

Form chart
USC leaped ahead of Stanford in the Pac-10 form chart this week. If the Pac-10 meet were held today and were based on season bests, the Trojans would run away from the field with 142 points. The Cardinal would finish second with 117, with UCLA not far behind. Rounding out the list would be Arizona State, Oregon, California, Arizona, Washington and Washington State.