The hunt for a third NCAA invite is officially under way for Oregon decathlete Andy Young.
The redshirt senior and co-captain from Newberg is in day two of competition at the Mt. SAC Heptathlon/Decathlon in Azusa, Calif. This meet marks the 2006 debut for Young, who faces a cadre of collegiate and post-collegiate talent.
To many of the athletes competing, Mt. SAC marks another stepping-stone leading to conference championships. Young said Monday that he has no intention of taking the meet lightly.
“I’m going all-out, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “There are going to be some of the nation’s best there and, like any decathlon, you have to be intense.”
Young returns on the heels of a 2005 season that saw him complete his second top-13 finish at the NCAAs. Young’s 11th-place finish improved him two spots from his 2004 (13th) showing.
He added the third top-five finish of his career at the 2005 Pacific-10 Conference Championships. Young took second place in that meet and third and fifth in 2004 and 2003,, respectively. He will compete in the Pac-10 Heptathlon-Decathlon Championships May 6-7 at Hayward Field. The Ducks will host the rest of the Pac-10 finals May 13-14.
One of Young’s goals for this season is to become an All-American. The honor has narrowly eluded him the past two years.
Oregon hurdler Eric Mitchum is also competing this weekend. The senior leads a contingent of select sprinters and throwers into Walnut, Calif., to compete Thursday through Saturday at the Mt. SAC Relays.
In his three years of running the 110-meter hurdles at Mt. SAC, Mitchum has delivered two of his top-four best regular season times. He’ll be competing in the 110 hurdles Saturday.
“I’m excited to be going back,” Mitchum said. “I’ve run very fast there the past couple of years, and hopefully I can do the same this year.”
Mitchum focused on fundamentals this week in practice.
“I just tried to work on my start, my technique and my speed work,” he said.
Last weekend at the Pepsi Invitational, he won the 110 hurdles and ran in three other events en route to becoming the Pac-10 Men’s Track Athlete of the Week. It was a career-first for the All-American from Calumet City, Ill.
Mitchum was all smiles Tuesday when asked if this week’s weather in California would be a nice change of pace.
“Have you been outside lately?” Mitchum said.
Mitchum’s relay teammate Matt Scherer is also scheduled to compete Saturday.
The fellow Illinois native will likely race in the elite 400-meters section after winning the event last week at the Pepsi Invite. Scherer was making his 2006 outdoor debut in the event. His time of 46.06 seconds smashed the regional qualifying mark of 47.26 and is one of the top 10 fastest times in the nation thus far in 2006.
Scherer also debuted in the 200 last weekend. He took first place with a time of 21.37.
Redshirt junior Colin Veldman placed in the top-five in the hammer, shot put and discuss last Saturday and will compete in each event at Mt. SAC. He opens with the discuss today and has the shot put and hammer Friday.
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