Wheating, Centrowitz break UO 800, mile records in Seattle
Junior Andrew Wheating set a school record in the men’s indoor 800m Saturday, and redshirt freshman Matthew Centrowitz broke junior A.J. Acosta’s school record in the indoor mile as the Oregon track team recorded yet another set of NCAA indoor automatic and provisional indoor qualifying marks at the Husky Classic, at the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle.
In his first 800m race this year, Wheating posted a winning mark of 1:47.03, ahead of Texas’ Tevan Everett (1:47.82). Wheating’s time, which broke Simon Kimata’s school record of 1:48.07 set in 2002, was an NCAA automatic qualifying time.
Centrowitz ran a 3:57.92 to win the indoor mile, improving to an NCAA automatic qualifying time and breaking Acosta’s mark, set last year, by .23 seconds. He had never broken the four-minute barrier in his career.
The men’s 5,000m race saw four NCAA qualifying times go to the Ducks. Senior Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott led the charge with a third-place finish in 13:41.66, the third-best mark in school history, a 14-second personal best, and an automatic qualifier to boot. Freshman Luke Puskedra came in fifth with a time of 13:46.52 (automatic qualifier), and senior Scott Wall (13:54.20) and sophomore Diego Mercado (13:57.79) posted provisional qualifying marks.
Junior Mattie Bridgmon set an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the women’s 5,000m, finishing in 16:09.29, a 24-second personal best. Her fifth-place time ranks third on the school’s records list.
Sophomore Melissa Gergel yet again topped her personal best in the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 9.75 inches after clearing a then-personal best 13-9.25 at the UW Indoor Invitational two weeks ago. She improved on an NCAA automatic qualifying time.
Junior Nicole Blood (mile, 4:41.72, PR) and senior Lindsey Scherf (3,000m, 9:19.25) also posted NCAA provisional qualifying times for the Ducks.
Rupp sets American record
Senior Galen Rupp only finished in second place at the 5,000m at the Tyson Invitational on Friday night in Fayetteville, Ark., but he broke four esteemed records in the process.
Rupp’s time of 13:18.12 broke Doug Padilla’s 1982 mark of 13:20:55 to set a new American record in the indoor 5,000m. He also broke the UO, collegiate indoor and American collegiate indoor record, all set in a 1981 race in that year’s Millrose Games. That year, Tanzania native Suleiman Nyambui’ of UTEP (13:20.4) bested Rupp’s mentor Alberto Salazar (13:22.6) in a race that came to be known as the “Fabulous 5,000.”
Bekana Daba of Ethopia won the race in 13:17.89. Sam Chelanga of Liberty, who finished second to Rupp at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships, finished third in 13:19.79.
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