Four straight officially in the books.
With 168.5 points, the Oregon men captured their fourth consecutive Pacific-10 Conference track and field title on Sunday, battling second-place USC (156) to the meet’s final events. The Trojans needed big points in the penultimate event, the triple jump, that they could not secure.
Stanford (92 points), UCLA (85) and Arizona State (85) rounded out the men’s top five.
Ashton Eaton built on the momentum from his Pac-10 decathlon victory by winning two more events this weekend. The senior from Bend won the men’s long jump by a quarter of an inch on his final attempt (25 feet, 7 1/2 inches to 25-7 1/4, over Brendan Ames of USC) on Friday.
On Saturday, Eaton won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.54 seconds (No. 2 all time at Oregon) and finished second in the men’s 100 meters (10.33, No. 7 all-time at Oregon). Eaton also ran the second leg of the Ducks’ fourth-place 4×100-meter relay team.
Oregon received a huge boost Saturday from its men’s javelin corps, which secured 20 points for the Ducks. Cyrus Hostetler won with a throw of 253 feet, 4 inches, and Alex Wolff (fourth, 235-8), Mike Simmons (sixth, 228-7) and Britton Nelson (seventh, 215-8) all placed behind him.
Andrew Wheating made his 800-meter race count with a third-straight Pac-10 title. The senior from Norwich, Vt. (1:47.77) bested teammate Elijah Greer (1:48.83) to win the final race. Travis Thompson (1:49.33) also earned fifth-place points for the Ducks.
A.J. Acosta had a busy weekend. The senior set a 40-second personal best with a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:52.62) on Saturday, then came back on Sunday to place second in the 1,500 meters (3:41.83) and third in the 5,000 meters (13:46.87).
The 1,500-meter race was very kind to the Ducks, as Matthew Centrowitz locked up the Pac-10 title in 3:41.16. In addition to Acosta, Mac Fleet finished sixth in 3:43.21 and Jordan MacNamara finished seventh in 3:45.00.
On the other hand, the Oregon women won their second consecutive Pac-10 title this weekend, tying a school record for points set at a conference meet.
With 215 points, the Ducks tied a mark previously set at the 1983 NorPac Championships. Oregon’s 12 wins in the 2009 meet was also a school record, ahead of eight event wins from 1983.
Arizona finished second with 109 points, followed by Arizona State (89.5), USC (89) and Stanford (88).
Senior Nicole Blood had a thrilling weekend, starting with a win in her first-ever 10,000m (33:28.38) on Saturday and ending with a 5,000m conference title (16:06.74). The Saratoga Springs, N.Y. native is the first woman to ever win the 5,000-meter/10,000-meter double at Pac-10s. The Ducks scored big points in both races; Mattie Bridgmon was second at 10,000m and sixth at 5,000m, Lauren Zaludek finished eighth at 10,000 meters and Alex Kosinski finished second at 5,000 meters.
Oregon scored an upset at 1,500 meters, as Zoe Buckman (4:15.95) beat defending champion Katie Follett of Washington (4:16.00) at the line for the race win and the 10 team points. Freshman Jordan Hasay (4:17.39) and Kosinski (4:18.98) place third and fourth, respectively.
Jamesha Youngblood successfully defended her titles in the long and triple jumps, with two new school records made in the process. The junior from San Pablo, Calif., won Saturday’s long jump competition with a school-record leap of 21 feet 9 inches, and won the triple jump on Sunday with a mark of 43-7.75. The triple jump mark was wind-aided, but an earlier jump of 43-7.5 is wind-legal and the new Oregon school record.
Amber Purvis successfully doubled up in the 100m and 200m, winning the former race in 11.38 seconds and the latter race in 23.14. Keshia Baker won the Pac-10 400-meter dash for the third straight time in her career, lowering her school record to 50.76. She also finished second in the 200m dash (23.41, a personal best) to Purvis. Both women, along with Mandy White and Jamesha Youngblood, contributed to a 4×100-meter relay win in a school-record 43.27.
Another school record was lowered on Saturday, as Claire Michel won the women’s steeplechase in 10:11.70. Freshman Taylor Wallace added a point with an eighth-place finish (10:39.44) for the Duck women.
Anne Kesselring continued her excellent freshman season with a Pac-10 title at 800 meters, winning in 2:04.36. Yet again, Oregon scored big in a distance event, with Buckman (third, 2:05.85), Becca Friday (fifth, 2:05.89) and Chloe Steinbeck (sixth, 2:07.54) putting up points for the Ducks.
Having wrapped up the meet well in advance of the final event, the 4x400m relay, Oregon sent out Alexandria Davidson, Friday, Steinbeck and Kesselring to finish the meet. The Ducks’ relay team took seventh place, the only running event without hurdles that the Oregon women did not win.
[email protected]