The Oregon men took second in their outdoor distance medley relay duel with Oregon Track Club Elite, and Boru Guyota dazzled the crowd in the men’s 1,500 meters at the Oregon Twilight, held Friday night at Hayward Field.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4367&SPID=243&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205148130&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
OTC Elite completed the distance medley relay in 9:26.07, just off the top 10 marks in American history.
Nick Symmonds ran the 1,200-meter leg (2:51.33 split), former Oregon decathlete Ashton Eaton ran the 400-meter leg (45.91), Tyler Mulder ran the 800-meter leg (1:44.74), and former Oregon distance runner Andrew Wheating ran the 1,600-meter leg (4:04.09).
The Ducks’ runner-up finish was clocked at 9:28.01, a school record and the ninth-fastest such relay in collegiate history.
Senior Matthew Centrowitz led off with a 1,200-meter leg of 2:51.17, followed by freshman Mike Berry’s 44.94 400-meter leg. Sophomore Elijah Greer ran the 800-meter leg in 1:46.30, and senior A.J. Acosta anchored with a 1,600-meter leg in 4:05.60.
Oregon freshman Boru Guyota celebrates after finishing first in his heat of the 1,500m in 3:47.47. (Alex McDougall/Oregon Daily Emerald)
Guyota, a native of Ethopia who moved to Portland at age 16, continued his outstanding freshman season by winning the 1,500 meters in 3:47.47. The time was a personal best by nearly two seconds.
Twenty seniors were honored during the meet as part of Oregon’s 2011 graduating class, and three of them emerged with victories.
Melissa Gergel won the pole vault with a clearance of 13 feet, 6 ¼ inches after coming back from nagging ankle injuries.
Amy Skofstad won the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 8 ½ inches, while sixth-year senior Alex Wolff won the javelin with a 216-foot, 2-inch throw.
Klech takes second in Pac-10 decathlon
Washington’s Jeremy Taiwo captured the Pacific-10 Conference decathlon title this Friday and Saturday at Drachman Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., but David Klech and Kevin Godfrey put Oregon on the scoreboard for the conference championships.
Klech, a senior from San Ramon, Calif., scored a personal-best 7,581 points behind Taiwo’s 7,742. He set six personal bests in completing his second career decathlon, winning four events.
Godfrey, a junior from Roseburg, overcame a rough start on his first day to take sixth place, with a personal-best 6,853 points. Godfrey hit personal-best marks in the 110-meter hurdles (15.56) and the pole vault (15 feet, 5 ¾ inches) during the second day to boost his scoring.
That leaves the Oregon men with 11 points through the first two days of the Pac-10 Championships, second to UCLA’s 15 and ahead of Washington’s 10.
The Oregon women scored no points in the heptathlon after senior Brianne Theisen pulled out of the competition with a back injury.