It was the Pacific-10 Conference’s kind of day Saturday at the Mountain Pacific Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz.
But more important for the Oregon men’s track and field team, it gave a glimpse of what is to come.
The Ducks finished fourth overall with 73 points, behind first-place UCLA, then Washington State and Arizona. Fellow Pac-10 rivals Stanford and Arizona State couldn’t escape Oregon’s shadow.
Utah State, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State and UC-Riverside also competed in the meet held at Northern Arizona University’s Walkup SkyDome.
Oregon sophomore pole vaulter Trevor Woods took first place in the event, winning by four inches over Arizona’s Kevi Opalka. Woods, a Coos Bay native, raised his personal best in the competition to 17 feet 9 3/4 inches, a NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
Meanwhile, senior Cody Howell finished at 17-1 3/4, and junior Jason Slye came in at 16-8.
Off the football field, junior sprinter Samie Parker took third in the 60 final at 6.68 seconds, only 0.02 seconds slower than his Friday mark of 6.66.
Junior Micah Harris took first in the 60 hurdles, lowering his personal best to 7.85. Coming up behind him was fellow Duck Terry Ellis. The junior placed third, only 0.02 seconds behind second-place finisher Jeff Hunter of Arizona.
In the triple-jump, junior Foluso Akinradewo came in second at 49-7. He finished only .04 inches in front of UCLA’s Juane Armon. Duck freshman Derek Strubel placed 10th at 47-1 1/2.
Not to be forgotten, junior Simon Kimata took fifth in the 400 sprint at 47.39, just missing the NCAA provisional mark of 47.25.
Oregon’s 4×400 relay team ended the meet in third place, and finished with a season best of 3:11.14, behind only UCLA and Stanford.
The Oregon women did not compete Saturday, but juniors Becky Holliday and Niki Reed took third and fourth on Friday in the pole vault. Both cleared the NCAA automatic of 13-7 1/4.
E-mail sports reporter Hank Hager
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