The sprinters led the charge again this weekend in the Oregon Twilight as the Ducks worked out their remaining kinks in the final meet leading up to the Pacific-10 Conference Championships next week.
Oregon junior Phil Alexander took first place in the 100m with a time of 10.50, only .04 off his personal best.
Alexander already qualified for regionals earlier this season, but said his performance over the weekend was encouraging nonetheless because it represented progress in some of the mechanics he’s been working on.
“It was pretty good,” Alexander said. “We’re trying to tweak my start so I’m not the last one out and of course I’m trying to improve time as I go along.
“On my start, I just need to get out more. I bring up my leg and I pause – just a slight pause – and everyone gets a meter ahead of me. In a 10-second race, that matters a lot.”
In the 200m, Marcus Dillon also came in first with a season-best 21.23, but fell just shy of the 21.19 regional qualifying mark and said he was disappointed because he doesn’t believe he’s running his best yet. Dillon’s personal best in the 200m is 20.8, a mark he set in 2004.
For freshman Chad Barlow, his 47.71 win in the 400m marked a breakthrough.
“I was going to go a little faster, but I’ve been in a slump lately, so that’s the first 47 I’ve run in an open race in about three weeks,” Barlow said. “I think (the slump was because) I just started thinking about it too much. Today I just kinda reminded myself of why I’m here, to have fun and run hard. I wasn’t thinking about it so much.”
Jared Huske competed in both the 400m hurdles and the 110m hurdles, and finished third and first, respectively.
Huske’s 14.19 in the 110m hurdles was only .01 away from his season best, and is his fastest performance at Hayward Field.
“It was a good tune-up for Pac-10s,” Huske said. “In the 110 high hurdles, I was still a little drained from the 400m, and I was tired at the end, but it was a good time considering.”
With the regular season drawing to a close and Pac-10s around the corner, Huske hopes to drop time even more in the coming weeks.
“My time goal is just to run fast, and just to make the finals of the Pac-10s,” Huske said. “If I do that, I’ll (get a personal record) in both events, and I’m peaking right now, so it’s just a matter of time before it happens, and hopefully it’ll happen next week.”
In the distance events, freshman Andrew Wheating qualified for regionals in the 800m in front of his parents who had come to visit.
Despite lagging in the back of the pack for the entire first lap, Wheating put his kick in gear on the final straightway of the bell lap and finished fourth behind Oregon Track Club’s Matt Scherer (1:47.89), Elliott Blount (1:48.76) and unattached entry Will Fitts (1:49.09).
Wheating’s 1:50.17 was a 5.15 personal best, and fell just inside the 1:50.40 qualifying time. He is the first Duck to qualify for the 800m in regionals this season.
Oregon got another two regional marks courtesy of freshman distance runner Kenny Klotz and senior pole vaulter David Moore.
Klotz ran a personal best 14:07.78 in the 5,000m and easily met the 14:12.00 regional qualifying mark. He is the seventh Duck to qualify for regionals in the 5,000m this season.
Moore qualified for regionals by finishing first place in the in the pole vault with a 16-6 3/4 performance that tied his season-best.
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