Oregon head coach Martin Smith doesn’t like to talk about
his team after a meet — he prefers instead to laud the Ducks’ individual efforts.
But if a whole is the sum of its parts, the Ducks are going to be a whole heap of trouble for other conference teams when the Pacific-10 Conference Championships roll around in mid-May. They proved as much with a strong team showing at Saturday’s Oregon Invitational at Hayward Field.
“We took several positive steps forward today,” Smith said Saturday. “We’re 21 days out from the conference meet, and the most important thing at this point is to continue to make gradual improvements at each meet.”
Oregon athletes scored several important marks at the massive meet. With more than 30 teams from across the nation there to provide competition, Adam Kriz threw an enormous personal best in the hammer — twice — and shrugged it off afterwards.
“I expect to get PRs at this point;
I expect to win meets,” Kriz said.
Eric Mitchum had Hayward Field’s strong winds at his back and ran a blazing-fast 110-meter hurdles race, while Samie Parker also capitalized to run a fast time in the 100. Foluso Akinradewo had a season best in the triple jump.
But it was Oregon’s new qualifiers that stole the show at the end of Saturday’s meet. The sun came out and shone on the Oregon 4×400 relay team, which barely qualified for the NCAA West Regional, and Eric Logsdon, who turned in a much-needed qualifying time in the 5,000.
“You only get so many chances to run the 5K,” Logsdon said. “So we were definitely targeting this meet.”
Earlier in the day, freshman jumper Chad Clason qualified for regionals in the high jump. He said the presence of former Duck jumpers Jason Boness and Kyley Johnson helped him jump higher than he’s jumped this season. Boness, who won the competition, and Johnson graduated last year and both competed unattached.
“Those two are pretty good,” Clason said. “They just take you under their wing.”
The surprise of the day came from John Stiegeler, and it wasn’t a pleasant surprise. The javelin star, who sat out last season with a knee injury, threw massive foul after foul at Saturday’s competition and finished third. But Oregon’s Adam Jenkins picked up Stiegeler’s slack and threw a personal best to finish second behind national leader Rob Minnitti of Boise State.
The Ducks also got strong performances from Brandon Holliday in the 400 hurdles, Jason Willis
in the 200 and Trevor Woods in the pole vault. But for the second time in three weeks, the story
at Hayward Field was Kriz and
the sprinters.
As much as Kriz tried to play off his almost 220-foot heave in the hammer, the senior and reigning Pac-10 Champion drew the most noise from the home crowd Saturday. In the final round, he threw 219-1, a personal best by more than a foot, on his first throw. Then he bested that by eight inches on his second throw. He threw short on his final toss, and looked to have the competition beat. But Scott Boothby of Club Northwest threw 221-10 on the final throw of the day to edge Kriz for the win.
“I’m glad he went out and beat me, because mine wasn’t that great of a throw,” Kriz said.
Mitchum’s 13.87-second sprint to the win in the 110 hurdles was a personal best for the freshman but was heavily wind-aided. It was the second time this season Mitchum ran a sub-14-second race that was discounted because of wind.
The 4×400 relay team gave Oregon fans a glimpse of what could be in store for the future of the Duck relays. The relay started with two freshmen, Travis Anderson and Matt Scherer, running the first two legs. Senior Santiago Lorenzo and Holliday, a junior, finished it off. Both ran their legs without competition as the other teams fell far behind.
“It’s just another step toward the big day,” Holliday said, referring to Pac-10s. “That’s our motto this year, ‘It’s all about on the day.’”
Holliday might as well have spoken for the entire Oregon team. Even if the coach won’t talk about the team effort, the team is made up of individuals. And the individuals put on a show Saturday.
Which means the team is whole.