The race for the Pacific-10 Conference men’s track and field title ended up being a distance contest.
The distance races are where Stanford is most proficient, and that’s where the Cardinal edged the Ducks in the final standings.
But the Ducks shocked the entire conference over the two-day Pac-10 Championships in Pullman, Wash., by winning five individual titles on their way to second place in the team race. Stanford won the conference title with 151 points, while Oregon notched 125 points. It was the best finish for the Ducks since they finished second in 1996.
Two of Oregon’s five individual championships came on Sunday’s final day of competition. Senior Simon Kimata ran to one conference title in the 800-meter race while sophomore Brandon Holliday leaped to another in the 400 hurdles.
“The team has been so supportive through everything,” said Kimata, who has been plagued by injuries that forced him out of the postseason this past year. “I wanted to do it for them.”
Holliday ran a half-second personal best in his event, and his effort typified the effort of many Oregon athletes who stepped beyond their potential at the conference finale. Holliday ran a 50.73, where his previous best had been 51.29. His time was an NCAA automatic-qualifier.
“I just concentrated on my race and didn’t stress and let it come out,” Holliday said. “You can’t ask for much more that a win for the team and an NCAA provisional mark in the process.”
On Saturday, the Ducks got a surprise Pac-10 championship from javelin thrower Nick Bakke, who had been ranked 12th in the conference heading into the meet. Bakke launched a throw that was more than 20 feet longer than his season best and an NCAA provisional qualifier to win the conference crown. His toss made up for the loss of the injured John Stiegeler, who won the Pac-10 title this past year.
“I knew we needed the points, so I came in focused on scoring and not the place,” Bakke said. “I
hadn’t competed since the Oregon Invitational, and coach (Bill Lawson) wanted us to shut the arm down so we could try to get it as healthy as possible. I was more concerned with helping the team.”
Duck hammer thrower Adam Kriz also threw a personal best in his event, though his improvement wasn’t as dramatic as Bakke’s. Kriz improved by 3 feet and easily took the conference title by more than 10 feet.
“I was really nervous coming in,” Kriz said, “So I took a different approach during the competition and forced myself to sit down and try to relax, and that seemed to make a big difference.”
Oregon’s fifth individual title came courtesy of decathlete Billy Pappas, who won the multi-event title May 12.
While the Ducks got 50 points from the champions, the rest of their points came from the supporting cast of runners-up and top-5 finishers. Micah Harris came perhaps the closest of any Duck to winning his event. The senior finished second in the 110 hurdles by 0.01 seconds.
In the triple jump, Foluso Akinradewo finished second to top-seeded USC jumper Julian Kapek. Sophomore Trevor Woods finished fourth in the pole vault Saturday, though his jump would have been good enough for second if he’d had fewer misses than the second- and third-place finishers.
Sophomore Jason Hartmann had an impressive showing in the star-studded 10,000. He finished second to Stanford’s Jonathon Riley.
The Cardinal accumulated most of their points in the distance events. Stars like Riley and Gabe Jennings led Stanford to 88 total points in the four events between 1,500 and 10,000 meters, including 56 combined points in the 5,000 and 10,000.
USC finished third with 103 1/2 points, while Arizona State and Arizona rounded out the top five. UCLA was the biggest surprise of the meet. Expected to finish near the top and possibly even contend for the team title, the Bruins finished sixth overall with 91 1/2 points.
The Ducks will spend the next two weeks preparing for the NCAA Championships. Several Oregon athletes, including Bakke, sit on the edge of the NCAA qualifying list. When conference meets conclude this week, those athletes will find out whether or not they are headed to Baton Rouge, La., for the national meet starting May 29.