After having lost last year’s Pepsi Invitational title to Washington by a slim two-point margin, the Oregon men left nothing up to chance this year.
Strong performances from athletes in sprint, distance and field events resulted in 211 points for Oregon. Washington placed second with 164 points, followed by Kansas State (133) and USC (118).
“Last year, we were kinda disappointed, and the meet kinda got away from us because we weren’t paying attention to the points,” Director of Track and Field Vin Lananna said. “But we emphasized that this week to make sure all our coaches were paying attention to the way the scores were and make sure we were able to get those points that were out there in an international scoring meet.
“I think our coaches did a really good job of paying attention to that.”
Sprints coach Dan Steele in particular saw his hard work pay off when the men’s corps of young sprinters pulled in more than 70 points for the team.
The men’s 4x100M relay team of Marcus Dillon, Ashton Eaton, Phil Alexander and Jared Huske ran away with the victory in 40.47, and each member of the team also contributed several more points in their individual events.
“They exceeded the form chart, so you can’t ask for any more than that,” Steele said.
Alexander and Eaton in particular stole the limelight on Saturday. Alexander, a junior who transferred to Oregon from Lane Community College this year, ran in four events and won the 100M in 10.40 to set a new personal record by .14.
“Phil is coming along great; we knew he was talented when he came in, he’s just been getting better and better,” Steele said. “The more he runs, the more people he beats, the more confidence he’s going to have, so we’re looking for some big things from him later on in the season.”
Alexander also placed second in the 200M and helped both the 4x100M and 4x400M relay teams to first- and third-place finishes, respectively.
“We train really hard as a team, and my teammates definitely push me in every single race,” Alexander said. “We just wanted to come out here and let people know we’re young and we’re all new, but we can compete with anyone. I think we did a little bit of that today.”
Eaton came in two places behind Alexander in the 100M, but his 10.51 time marked a new personal record.
But Eaton was more surprised by his regional-qualifying performance in the long jump, which he won with a 24-05 effort, amidst a talented group of athletes that included Washington’s All-American, Norris Frederick.
“Coming off the 4x100M, I was like, ‘All right my first one’s going to be a little touchy because my steps will be off,’” Eaton said. “I jumped like six inches behind the board, I turned around it said 24-05, it’s like a two-inch PR, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’”
In the distance events, several Ducks did well enough to clinch berths to regionals later this season.
Sophomore Chris Winter placed second in the steeplechase in 9:03.38. In the 5,000M, Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott paced each other to a 1-2 finish, with Rupp clocking in at 14:00.27, and Kiptoo-Biwott sneaking just under the regionals-qualifying mark of 14:12.00 with a 14:10.83 performance.
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