The Oregon men stand as shoe-in favorites, but won’t be taking any points for granted
“I like to look at it this way,” redshirt senior Shadrack Biwott told reporters Tuesday. “Once you practice to sing a song, they tell you to sing the song again, and it’s much easier.”
Biwott and the No. 1-ranked Oregon men have made resounding overtures this season in establishing themselves as the team to beat in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships. However, in true team-oriented fashion, ask the Ducks about the sweet sound of a possible third consecutive Pac-10 Championship, and they’ll tell you it’s all about making the music.
“It’s anybody’s race to win,” Biwott said. “We can’t take anything for granted. Every single point, we’re gonna go for it.”
They’d have a harder time convincing anyone otherwise.
“Our team goal is to get second. I think everyone has identified Oregon as a team that, however much they win by, they will win by,” Washington State assistant coach Mark MacDonald said.
Oregon already got off to a resounding start with 19 points in the decathlon, a 13-point lead against second-place Washington. Ashton Eaton, the returning NCAA champion in the decathlon, was the overwhelming favorite to pick up 10 points, but juniors Marshall Ackley and Aaron McVein’s second- and eighth-place finishes, respectively, showed off depth that few teams in the field can match.
“They gave us a huge jump ahead of the game,” junior Cyrus Hostetler said. “Those guys were terrific. They’re the workhorses of the team.”
Hostetler, whose javelin throw of 272 feet, 10 inches at the Pepsi Team Invitational is the second-farthest throw in the world this year, is one of seven Oregon men with the top seed in his respective event. (Senior Galen Rupp holds the top seed in two events, the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters.) Oregon men hold every top seed in distance races longer than 800 meters, including the 3,000-meter steeplechase (Chris Winter). Coupled with the Ducks’ depth (five of the top six seeds in the 10,000 meters, for instance, are Oregon runners) and the site of the conference championships (the venerable Hayward Field), and it becomes increasingly difficult to foresee any serious challengers make great headway.
“Everyone’s just really stoked,” Hostetler said. “We’re all here, we’ve all bonded over the course of the year. We’re a team now.
“We’ve got this bulls-eye on our back anyway.”
Duck women are poised to win their first Pac-10 title since 1992, but will have to get through ASU, USC to do so
So, are the Oregon women the favorites, or aren’t they?
It’s a strange question to ask of a team recently vaulted to No. 2 in the nation in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, on the backs of strong performances in the heptathlon from Brianne Theisen, Kalindra McFadden and Erin Funkhouser, all of whom set personal bests in the event. The 19 points earned during the first event of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships puts the Ducks in better-than-expected position going into tomorrow’s events.
A conference title, however, would be Oregon’s first since 1992. Should Arizona State – another title favorite, along with USC – come away with the team victory, it would be the Sun Devils’ fourth straight. The Women of Troy also come to Hayward Field hungry, having not won the conference title since 1996.
“We’ve been looking forward to this for so long, and especially being a home meet, we’re just ready to give it everything we got,” said Nicole Blood, the top seed in the women’s 5,000 meters. “We’re just going to tally them up at the end and see where that takes us.”
For some, home field carries a little more weight than others. Javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich, a three-time conference champion in her event, is looking to make it four-for-four in front of a home crowd. That she stands an excellent chance at beating her personal best of 191 feet, 1 inch during the meet (a school and conference record) after consistently hovering just below the mark this spring, adds more fuel to the fire.
“It would just be special because it’s kind of documentation that I’ve progressed and I’ve been able to keep up with the physical aspect of the sport,” Yurkovich said.
A Pac-10 conference title for the women will have to be a complete team performance. The Ducks’ favorites – Yurkovich, Blood, Mattie Bridgmon in the 10,000 meters and Zoe Buckman in the 5,000m – will have to perform to their seeds, but Oregon will have to rely on every point it can squeeze from competitors not heavily favored in their events – like Funkhouser, who was expected to finish outside the top 10 in the heptathlon.
“We have people that can score in every single event,” sophomore steeplechaser Claire Michel said. “People say you can’t nickel-and-dime your way in every single event … Well, just watch us.”
With Michel, Dana Buchanan and Brooke Giuffre, the 3,000-meter steeplechase is one such event where a great performance and good luck could push the Ducks closer to a title. In the 200 meters, Mandy White and Keshia Baker are seeded just outside the top eight scoring positions. Several Ducks are entered in races they have not competed in during the season, including five in the 10,000m. Every little point matters.
Yurkovich, a longtime cornerstone of the Oregon women, believes that the time is right to seize the moment.
“Seeing the progression of the team, how we matured as competitors, it would be really cool,” she said. “I’m excited to see what happens.”
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