Several of Oregon’s long distance runners made debuts this past weekend at the 32nd annual Stanford Invitational.
A trio of newcomers competed in the 1,500 meters for the Ducks including senior Blake Flanders and freshman Donald Wasteney and Andrew Perri. Flanders and Wasteney ran to top 20 finishes in the ‘B’ section taking 12th (three minutes, 52.08 seconds) and 16th place (3:53.33), respectively.
Perri ended with a time of 4:03.73, which was good enough for 52nd.
Washington State’s Justin Ireland took first in the event (3:49.13).
Redshirt freshman Christopher Winter started his career at Oregon by taking seventh (9:04.74) in the steeplechase. As the only Pacific-10 Conference athlete competing in the event, he ended 16 seconds after first-place finisher Rob Watson (8:47.96) of Colorado State. More importantly for Winter, his time met the regional standard of 9:07.00.
First-year transfer Shadrack Kiptoo -Biwott ran unattached in the 5,000 and took fifth in the ‘A’ section. His time of 13:55.81 marked a new personal best for the redshirt sophomore originally from Kenya.
Biwott’s twin teammates Carlos and Esteban Trujillo made their track debuts over the weekend by competing in the same event. The redshirt sophomores finished fourth (14:21.05) and 28th (15:06.30) in section 3, respectively.
Carlos ended 11 seconds shy of the regional qualifying mark (14:10.00) and was narrowly beaten by Kyle Ivie (14:20.25) of Chico State. Notre Dame freshman Patrick Smyth finished first at 14:12.61.
Oregon redshirt sophomore Patrick Werhane ran to a personal best time of 30:36.58 in the section B 10,000. He took 33rd place, 4.39 seconds behind Baylor’s Cody Wells.
On March 25, Oregon’s short distance runners and select field athletes competed at the Trojan Invitational hosted by USC.
Senior Eric Mitchum ran to a first-place finish in the 110 hurdles with a season-best time of 13.65. Teammate Walter Thurmond III took seventh (14.29) in the same event. His time was also a season-best for the freshman from West Covina, Calif.
Along with Mitchum, Oregon’s senior tandem of Matt Scherer and Travis Anderson achieved season-best times in the 800. They clocked third and 10th place times of 1:50.25 and 1:53.83, respectively.
In the field, Jonathan Derby in the pole vault and Colin Veldman in the shot put finished second. Both athletes accounted for two of Oregon’s six regional marks achieved over the weekend.
Also from the field, Jacob Tolbert (long jump) and Matthew Maloney (hammer) earned season-best distances. Tolbert’s best jump was 21 feet, 4 1/4 inches. Maloney ended at 163-9, which gave him 13th place. Maloney also took sixth place (192-03) in the javelin behind teammate Ryan Brandel, who finished fifth (195-01). Alexey Shkuratov, also of Oregon, finished 17th at 141-06.
The Oregon men will face athletes from Boise State, Washington and Minnesota this weekend at the Pepsi Team Invitational. Ducks slated to compete will be announced later this week.
Three Oregon athletes make debuts
Daily Emerald
April 2, 2006
Oregon sprinters Eric Mitchum and Walter Thurmond III ran to season-best times in the 110-meter hurdles at the Trojan Invitational on March 25.
0
More to Discover