It was never supposed to be a close team victory, and it never was.
The Oregon men sealed up their third consecutive Pacific-10 Conference Championship team title on Sunday, racking up a school-record 158 points to USC’s 117. The fourth conference title for the Ducks in five years, this is Oregon’s eighth championship since the Pac-10 was formally created in 1979.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled,” Associate Director of Track and Field Dan Steele said. “This was just an incredible day.”
Oregon became just the second Pac-10 school to have the men and women win conference titles in the same year. UCLA had completed the feat eight times previously.
Ashton Eaton received an individual award as the top male point-scorer, collecting 10 points for winning last week’s decathlon, sixth points for third place in the men’s 400m (a personal-best 46.34 seconds) and eight points for his runner-up finish in the men’s long jump (a personal-best 25 feet, 6.75 inches). Eaton also ran the first leg of the men’s 4x400m relay for the Ducks; he, Marshall Ackley, David Klech and Chad Barlow finished third in 3:08.95 for third place, six points, and an NCAA West Regional qualifying mark.
Holding the lead after receiving 19 points from the Duck decathletes, the Oregon men put extra pressure on the competitors early with a 17-point javelin performance. USC thrower Corey White, a participant in the 2008 U.S. Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field, set the tone early with an initial throw of 248 feet, 5 inches. Facing a strong headwind, no other javelin thrower came within 10 feet of White’s throw.
Until, that is, Oregon’s Cyrus Hostetler – keeper of the world’s second-best javelin throw of 272-5 – stepped up for his final attempt.
“I struggled a lot. It was really hard. The wind was coming at us really strong,” Hostetler said. “Christina (Scherwin), our coach, came out and said, ‘You’ve got nothing to lose.’”
Hostetler’s final throw traveled 250 feet, 5 inches – good enough for the Pac-10 title if White couldn’t beat him on the next throw, which he did not. Hostetler was joined in the scoring efforts by Alex Wolff (third place, with a personal-best throw of 235-5) and Britton Nelson (eighth, 204-2).
Oregon’s next major scoring event came in the steeplechase, where Chris Winter became the first Duck since Micah Davis in 1999 to become the Pac-10 champion in that event, clocking in at 8:51.46 for 10 points.
“This is something I’ve been dreaming about ever since before I came here,” the senior from North Vancouver, British Columbia said.
The Ducks also made Saturday’s final event, the 10,000m, count in a major way, as Galen Rupp, Shadrack Biwott, Luke Puskedra and Danny and Diego Mercado stayed together in a flock for much of the race. Rupp broke free in a hard charge toward the race’s end, completing his last lap in 54 seconds to win in 29:01.93. Biwott (second, 29:03.47), Puskedra (fourth, 29:18.11), Danny Mercado (seventh, 29:47.63) and Diego Mercado (eighth, 30:00.32) joined with Rupp to provide an additional 26 points to cap the night, taking an 88-45 lead over first-day runner-up UCLA.
“I’m really happy. I was working on my speed for a long time, and it’s good to finally see it,” Rupp, a graduating senior, said after the race. “It’s a good way to go out. Especially in an atmosphere like this, it’s just really a lot of fun.”
Rupp still had to get up Sunday morning for the men’s 1,500m final, performing a double he had never previously attempted. With Matthew Centrowitz and Andrew Wheating also in the race, the three Ducks pushed hard over the final 200m and swept the top three positions for 26 points, with Centrowitz (3:51.00) besting Rupp (3:51.18) and Wheating (3:51.27).
Wheating was also in the midst of a difficult double, coming back an hour later for the 800m final. The reigning Pac-10 champion ran a signature race, kicking hard in the last 200m, but USC’s Irek Sekretarski appeared to have held him off at the line – until a video replay showed Wheating’s torso beating Sekretarski’s to the line. Wheating won by two-hundredths of a second, 1:49.83 to 1:49.85.
“I was surprised to see (someone from Oregon),” Sekretarski recalled. “(I figured) I lost.”
Oregon would have accomplished a rare distance sweep – winning every event from the 800m to the 10,000m – were it not for Arizona State’s Brandon Bethke, who outlasted Biwott to capture the 5,000m individual title. Biwott and Danny Mercado nevertheless contributed nine points toward the event.
“I thought I had it but, oh well,” Biwott said afterward. “You know, sometimes other people have to win something. You can’t win everything yourself.”
Biwott, a redshirt senior, ends his career at Oregon without an individual Pac-10 outdoor track title.
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