After winning the javelin competition at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, senior Ryan Brandel expects to have the same kind of performance at the Western Regionals next weekend in Eugene.
“I expect myself to win it,” Brandel said. “I definitely expect to go to Nationals.”
Of course, Brandel thought he’d do well at Regionals the last two times he was there but wasn’t even able to qualify for the finals last year. Brandel hopes the third time’s the charm and that his past shortcomings may fuel a breakthrough this time around.
“Last year I had a really bad experience at Regionals. I don’t expect to do that again,” Brandel said. “I still have that chip on my shoulder.”
His performance at the conference championships would indicate that Brandel is setting himself up to do well next week. After seeing Arizona State’s Andrew Smith record a throw of 231-7 on his first attempt, Brandel felt the pressure to out-throw Smith and did so on his next two throws, winning with a distance of 235-4 on his third attempt. Unlike so many others, the pressure only drives Brandel.
“There was a lot of pressure (to win) but I kind of like those situations where there’s more at stake. I think I threw farther because of that,” he said. “I knew it was time for me to step up.”
Brandel hopes his recent performances will help him reach a new plateau when the competition becomes even stiffer.
“How I’ve been doing so far has given me a lot of confidence and raised my expectations even higher. I still know I can throw a lot farther than I have been,” he said.
Brandel won’t be the only Oregon athlete trying to repeat a first-place finish. Both Tommy Skipper and Galen Rupp are candidates to win their events again, even if they may be reluctant to say by how much.
“You ask the football team to open their playbook for you?” Rupp said after being asked what time he was shooting for in the 5000m at Regionals. “I’m running to win but other than that I can’t really say.”
And despite vaulting for the first time in competition all season, Brandel wasn’t surprised by Skipper winning the pole vault at Stanford.
“That kid, he’s just a winner and that’s what he does,” Brandel said. “When I found out he was jumping, I didn’t expect anything less.”
Oregon coach Vin Lananna said everybody’s performance surprised him even if a specific individual was expected to win an event, he was pleased with everybody’s effort.
“Everybody that scored did a great job and it added up to a men’s championship,” he said.
As for Regionals, Lananna isn’t asking the men’s team to win the whole thing, he looks at it as a qualifying meet for Nationals rather than another championship the team needs to win.
“It’s a chance for each athlete to qualify for the NCAA meet,” Lananna said. “Teams score but I don’t think anybody takes that seriously.”
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