Leonidas Watson was disappointed with the effort he had just given in the triple jump. The junior transfer had given away several inches on his effort by missing the board on his takeoff.
Watson turned to jumps coach Bill Lawson, seeking advice for improving in his next attempt.
“Hit the board,” Lawson said to Watson in a fiery, competitive voice. “And let’s put this one away.”
Watson took Lawson’s words to heart, responding with an eventual event-winning mark of 48 feet, 10 3/4 inches.
Winning efforts were contagious for the Duck men Saturday as eight individual event victories led to an overall team win for Oregon during the Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward Field.
0regon (191 points) defeated Minnesota (second, 169), Washington (third, 144) and Colorado (fourth, 101) in the first point-scoring meet of the outdoor season.
Eric Mitchum was one of Oregon’s biggest point contributors, winning the 110 meter hurdles (13.70 seconds) and the 400 meter hurdles (51.47). The sophomore All-American’s blazing time in the 110 missed Micah Harris’s two-year school record by .03 seconds.
Travis Anderson shined in the 400-meter dash, winning the event with a time of 47.04.
Adam Jenkins set a positive tone early for Oregon in the field, winning the javelin with a mark of 218 feet. The 2003 Pacific-10 Conference champion made his outdoor season debut after nursing a sore shoulder and didn’t disappoint. The Gladstone, Ore. native improved on all but one of six throws — using a half approach — and won the event by more than 15 feet.
“I just wanted to go out there and get a decent mark,” Jenkins said. “It felt good and I wanted to have a good time because I didn’t want to get stressed out and mess up.”
Along with Jenkins’ performance, the Ducks captured four other field events. Watson, in addition to winning the triple jump, took home first-place honors in the long jump (24-2 1/4). The St. Louis Community College transfer stood in third place until his fifth jump, when he was able to regain the top position from Minnesota’s Steffen Landgraf (23-10 1/4).
While Watson’s marks fell well short of his personal bests, the St. Louis native said he was happy with his performance because he was using a short approach.
“It feels good and it’s a (personal record) from short approach,” Watson said. “I wanted to go from full approach but coach (Lawson) was just holding me back. We were just going for the win and just wanted to rest for Pac-10s.”
Mansfield, Texas native Jeff Lindsey won the high jump (7-1 3/4), while holding off Minnesota’s talented duo of Bryant Howe (second, 7-0 1/2) and Josh Paulson (third, 7-0 1/2). The sophomore improved his Oregon best by 1/4 inch and was pumped about defeating his Golden Gopher opponents.
“It’s a lot easier (to get excited) when there’s three guys over seven feet,” Lindsey said. “Once you start jumping like 6-10 you start getting in a zone and you’re in your own little world.”
Freshman Tommy Skipper had one of the busiest days of any Oregon athlete. The Sandy, Ore. native won the pole vault for the second time at Hayward Field (17-5), but not before taking third in the javelin with a Pac-10-qualifying mark of 198 feet.
The All-American pole vaulter said preparing himself mentally for different events throughout the meet might have had an impact on his performance in the day’s final field event — pole vault.
“When it’s spread out throughout the day, you’re warming up and cooling down,” Skipper said. “Emotionally it’s a little straining on you, but you have to try and be on top of your game.”