Oregon men’s track and field head coach Martin Smith will need multiple personalities to follow his athletes this weekend. Or at least multiple bodies.
The Ducks will travel to two different meets, the Jesse Owens Track Classic in Columbus, Ohio, and the Cardinal Invite in Stanford, Calif. The multiple-meet weekend is one of two remaining chances to score marks before Oregon heads to the Pacific-10 Conference Championships on May 18.
That means the Ducks will be on in the hunt to qualify as many athletes as possible for the Pac-10s. Though Oregon already has the maximum number of 24 athletes qualified for the conference meet, the Ducks will be looking for the best 24 possible to take to the postseason.
All of the seven Oregon athletes headed to the Cardinal Invite today are qualified for the Pac-10 meet, but six are in the hunt for NCAA provisional or automatic times. Sophomore Jason Hartmann is qualified for the national collegiate meet in the 10,000-meter race, but he will run in the 5,000 at the Stanford meet.

Also running the 5,000, but in different sections, are Ducks Adam Bergquist, Eric Logsdon and John Lucas. Bergquist and Lucas are qualified for the Pac-10 5,000 and are both less than 11 seconds slower than the NCAA provisional time, while Logsdon is qualified in the 1,500 but hasn’t run the 5,000 this season.
The Oregon crew that is headed to Ohio State on Sunday has more field athletes and more Ducks looking for Pac-10 marks. Sophomore Allan Amundson, a football player now focusing on track full-time, will shoot for a Pac-10 time in the 100 and will look to lead the 4×100 relay squad. Another football player, wide receiver Samie Parker, will also compete in the 100 and the 4×100, and will try to bump his Pac-10 mark up to an NCAA time.
On the field, junior James March will try to break out of his shell and qualify for his first Pac-10 meet in either the shot put or the discus. March’s season bests are short of Pac-10 marks by three feet in the shot put and 10 feet in the discus.
The stars of the Oregon field will also be on display Sunday. Trevor Woods will look to break 18 feet in the pole vault for the second time this season and Adam Kriz will try to keep his momentum going from previous standout meets. The pole vault unit will be complete for the first time in a while, as senior Cody Howell is set to return from a hand injury and will make his first bid for an NCAA-caliber height this season.
In the high jump, senior Jason Boness is still hunting for an NCAA height this season after qualifying for the national meet in his first three seasons. Senior
Kyley Johnson, who has qualified for the Pac-10s, will also compete this weekend.
In the middle distances, senior Simon Kimata is set to return to action this weekend after two weeks of resting his strained left Achilles. He will compete in the 800 with senior Ross Krempley, who is looking to qualify for his first NCAA meet but is already qualified for the Pac-10s.
In all, more than 22 Oregon athletes will compete this weekend. And head coach Smith will only need two personalities to follow them all.