Day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships went about as well as the Oregon men’s track and field team could have imagined, as the Ducks finished Friday in the team lead with 24 points.
Edward Cheserek furthered his amazing freshman year as a Duck with an individual NCAA championship in the 5,000 meter run and Parker Stinson put forward a third place finish in the same event. Capping off day one for the men was the distance medley team, which finished runner-up to Stanford.
For the majority of the 5,000 meter race, Cheserek sat on the shoulder of Arizona senior Lawi Lalang, who was considered the favorite to not only win on Friday, but to perhaps pull off an unprecedented triple in the 5,000, 3,000 and mile. Lalang and Cheserek separated from the rest of the pack with approximately a mile to go with Lalang looking to sap any potential kick from the legs of the Oregon freshman.
But Cheserek threw down a relentless kick with about 300 meters to go and Lalang was unable to respond — an unfamiliar position for the man that Oregon coach Robert Johnson described as a “beast” and “monster” during the pre-meet press conference. Cheserek’s turnover was phenomenal as he was able to rattle off a 25.9 second last lap to finish with a time of 13:46.67, over six seconds ahead of Lalang.
From a team standpoint, the most significant finish in the race for Oregon was arguably the third place finish of Parker Stinson. The Oregon junior ran with a five-person chase pack during the final mile and was able to edge out BYU’s Jared Ward and pick up a crucial six points for the Ducks.
The Oregon men also got a stellar performance from its distance medley team of Brett Johnson, Marcus Chambers, Boru Guyota and Trevor Dunbar. During the pre-meet press conference, Johnson said that he and the rest of the coaching staff had to look at the “best way possible to maximize your point potential,” which the coaching staff evidently decided was to keep Mac Fleet fresh for the finals of the mile on Saturday.
Coach Johnson and his staff were rewarded nicely by the decision, as Dunbar, who started the anchor mile leg in sixth place, ran strongly and the distance medley team finished second and picked up eight points.
On Saturday, Fleet will compete in the mile while Cheserek, Stinson and Dunbar will all run the 3,000 meter run. Also making the finals for the Oregon men was Johnathan Cabral in the 60 meter hurdles and Mike Berry in the 400 meter dash. Dakotah Keys heads into day two of the heptathalon in sixth place after a first-day personal record of 3,266 points.
While the battle for the NCAA championship is still likely to be between Texas A&M and Florida, the Oregon men are poised for a high finish on the podium after Friday’s performance.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch