Eric Mitchum had little time to talk Saturday in between jumping hurdles and running victory laps.
The senior sprinter from Calumet City, Ill., did have a few words for his out-of-state competitors at Saturday’s rain-soaked Pepsi Invitational.
“Welcome to Oregon, everybody,” Mitchum said while drying off.
He was one of Oregon’s many athletes that ended the meet with a season or personal-best mark. Mitchum took first place in the 110 and 400-meter hurdles.
His time of 52.09 seconds in the 400 hurdles was a regional qualifier.
“I haven’t been practicing hurdles a whole lot lately so I was kind of surprised I did so well,” he said. “Actually, I haven’t at all, so luckily I got some points. … It was rainy out there but it was fun.”
The invite belonged to Washington, which walked away with first-place finishes in five events. The Huskies added seven runner-ups en route to a team title.
Highlighting Washington’s victories was its 4×400-meter relay team whose time of 3 minutes, 7.73 seconds set a new meet record.
Two Huskies, Norris Frederick and Warren Eickhoff, tied for first place in the high jump. The two tied with Minnesota’s Kevin Netzer with a clearance of six feet, 7.5 inches.
The win was a first for Washington in the Pepsi Invite, which Oregon has won the past three years. The Huskies (178 2/3) edged the Ducks (176) by just less than three points.
Minnesota followed in third at 172 1/3 followed by Boise State (84).
Given the first-place finish for the Oregon women at the same meet, first-year Oregon coach Vin Lananna was torn in his post-meet press conference.
“There’s always mixed emotions after you have a great meet with a great crowd, the weather holds up, and you win the women’s meet by a couple points and lose the men’s meet by a couple points,” he said. “The objective for the weekend was really to compete and compete intensely. We saw some great things happen, some not-so-great things happen. … It’s an opportunity to identify all of those things as we move into the championship portion of the month.”
Oregon freshman Chris Winter gave the Oregon men an early lead by winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase. His time of 9:00.95 topped second-place finisher Ryan Malmin (9:07.89) of Minnesota by just less than seven seconds.
Winter led the race wire-to-wire and was not surprised by his lead heading into the final lap.
“I was feeling pretty good especially because of that buffer. The other guys weren’t necessarily not challenging me, and it’s always nice having that kind of buffer,” Winter said. “This is a big win for me. Things are looking good.”
Matt Scherer was Oregon’s biggest winner. The senior sprinter from Sumner, Ill., won the 200 and 400 with times of 21.37 and 46.06, respectively.
Scherer was making his outdoor debut in the 400 and ended .36 seconds from his personal best time of 45.70.
“I was really happy with my time and how the race went,” Scherer said. “I got out in front fast and just tried to maintain that lead.”
Scherer later helped Oregon to a second-place finish in the 4×400. The foursome ran to a season-best time of 3:11.31.
Scherer’s teammate Akobundu Ikwuakor ran a leg of that same event. It was one of three events Ikwuakor competed in. He took fifth place in the 400 with a personal-best time of 48.60. Earlier in the meet, he placed second behind Mitchum in the 110 hurdles.
Field competition saw junior thrower Colin Veldman of Oregon take third place in the shot put and discus. He also finished fifth in the hammer.
Veldman’s teammate Jon Derby won the pole vault with a clearance of 16-6.75. The senior beat his favored teammate Tommy Skipper, who failed to record a height.
“I was hoping to finish one and two with Tom (Skipper),” Derby said. “It was too bad he didn’t make a height. I was hoping he would.”
Much like Skipper after clearing 19 feet at the Oregon Preview, Derby credited his win, in part, to the crowd.
“There’s nothing like it,” Derby said referring to jumping at Hayward Field. “There’s nothing like the crowd. You’ll never find a better one.”
Select athletes from the men’s team will compete next week in the Mount SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., April 13-15.

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