Things are about to kick up a notch for Oregon track and field as the program heads into the championship season this weekend.
The Ducks will be traveling down to Los Angeles to partake in the Pac-12 Track and Field Championships on UCLA’s campus. The meet begins on Saturday and will conclude Sunday. This is the first time UCLA has hosted the meet since 2005.
“It’s that time of year that we all get excited about and have lots to do,” Oregon head coach Robert Johnson said. “The Pac-12 meet is always a big crown jewel for us.”
Oregon is facing the added pressure of once again sweeping the affair, something they have been able to do for the past six years. Last year in Pullman, Washington the Ducks made things look easy, but this season things look tougher with the emergence of a real threat — USC.
“I think we are pretty used to having a target on our back,” Oregon redshirt senior Will Geoghegan said.
The Trojans feature the No. 2 women’s and No. 5 men’s teams, both of which have a wealth of talented athletes. Last year, they finished second to the Ducks, despite winning more individual events (12-9).
The strength of the Trojans is in the sprints. They pose the trio of Andre De Grasse, BeeJay Lee and Just’N Thymes, who rank first, second and third respectively amongst conference runners in the 200. They also have the conference’s fastest men’s 4×100 relay squad by nearly a second and a half.
On the women’s side, the sprints should be a battle between the two programs, with the school’s combining for the top seven times in the 100 and 11 of the top 12 in the 200 this season.
Johnson acknowledged the strength of USC, though he was also quick to point to the talent spread throughout the twelve schools.
“You know, they say it’s the conference of champions for a reason,” Johnson said.
Injuries have also taken their toll on the Ducks, with both senior hurdler Johnathan Cabral and freshman sprinter Ariana Washington kept of the list of Oregon entrants. Cabral has been dealing with hamstring issues, something that sprung up during the Oregon Twilight when he pulled up and grabbed the back of his leg after the 110 hurdles. Washington has been dealing with an undisclosed foot injury.
During Oregon media availability on Wednesday, Johnson confirmed Washington would not compete, but didn’t talk about Cabral.
Losing both removes the possibility for a decent amount of team points. The Duck men also didn’t pick up as many points as they expected last weekend during the Multi-Championships after senior Dakotah Keys no-heighted in the pole vault en route to a 10th place finish in the decathlon.
Regardless of the narrowing of the gap amongst the elite teams in the Pac-12, Oregon will still enter the meet as the favorites — something that would mean a lot to the athletes.
“We are just going to execute the same plan and do the best we can,” Oregon junior Annie Leblanc said. “I don’t think we are going to focus on the past, we are going to be in the present.”
Like the rest of her teammates, Leblanc doesn’t know what events she will be competing in. Oregon won’t make that decision until much closer to the event. Each school gets a max of 28 entrants for each gender, so the coaches will play around with trying to get the most points out of their athletes.
Geoghegan, a transfer, will be competing in his first Pac-12 Championship. He joked that the only thing he knows for sure is he wont be competing in the javelin.
“This is what we’ve been working for all year,” Geoghegan said. “At the end of the day the Outdoor Championship season is what really matters.”
The men’s hammer throw will get things started with the event set to begin at 10 a.m Saturday.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur