The spirit of the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be reborn at the site of the 2010 NCAAs.
The Pepsi Team Invitational, Oregon track and field’s first home competition with team scoring this season, pits the Ducks against Washington, Missouri, the Illinois men — and Texas A&M.
The Aggie men and women took home national titles at the 2009 Outdoor NCAAs for the third time in NCAA history; Oregon finished runner-up in both competitions.
At the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 12 and 13, the Duck women struck back with a national title of their own, the first by an Oregon women’s team in 23 years. The most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll awarded the women a No. 2 national ranking; the men are No. 3 nationally. The Aggie women enter the Pepsi meet with the No. 1 ranking; the men are No. 2.
Expect fireworks.
“We’ve been talking about upping the stakes in the Pepsi meet these last couple of years,” assistant athletic director Vin Lananna said. “Texas A&M decided to join us. Missouri is a good team, and Washington has come back in. It should be good.”
Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry told The Register-Guard that he accepted an invite to the Pepsi for two reasons. First, he owed Lananna a return date after the Ducks competed in last year’s Texas A&M Challenge, held in College Station. Second, Henry wanted to familiarize his athletes with Hayward Field and its distinct atmosphere.
“We hope to come to Eugene this week and put on a little bit of a show,” Henry told The Register-Guard.
Is Oregon-Texas A&M a direct track rivalry? Not necessarily, although there’s familiarity on both sides.
“I know a lot of athletes at A&M personally, so I don’t feel like there’s any hostility, really,” said Ashton Eaton, who is slated for the long jump, 4×400-meter relay and 110-meter hurdles. “I know, historically, that sprinters tend to have a more aggressive attitude toward their competitors, and I know A&M is a very big sprint school. I don’t know how they feel. It’s important to come at this pretty competitive.”
“I’m really excited to have competition finally. Texas A&M is, like, our biggest rivalry,” said Amber Purvis, the school record-holder at 100 meters and 200 meters. “I’m really excited to see what they can do and what I can do against them.”
Granted, this is a team-scored meet, and the Huskies and Tigers will provide significant resistance. Oregon’s goal — on both sides — will be protecting its home turf.
“We never lose at Hayward Field,” said A.J. Acosta, who will be competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the men.
Well … not quite. The Duck men did lose the team competition at last year’s Pepsi Invitational to Indiana, 200-194 (Oregon won the women’s competition.) Lananna will trade a loss in the Pepsi for a win at NCAAs, if he can get it.
With Texas A&M coming to town, of course, home field advantage is definitely at stake.
“This year is kind of a wake-up call,” Acosta said. “Everyone is going to go out and run as hard as they can.”
Bowerman’s Pack T-shirt giveaway

Bowerman’s Pack, Oregon’s track and field student section, is giving away special T-shirts to the first 225 student attendees at Hayward Field, beginning at 11 a.m. The meet starts with the women’s hammer throw at 10:30 a.m.
In its second year of existence, the student section resides in Powell Plaza, just past the entrance gates to Hayward, next to the East grandstands.
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