Chances of earning postseason marks are growing more scarce by the week.
And with only two of those chances left, the Oregon men’s track and field team flew down to Palo Alto, Calif., to try its hand at Stanford.
The Ducks played their strong suits at the Cardinal Invitational on Friday with a variety of strong showings, including outdoor personal bests, near personal bests and seasonal bests.
Oregon also upped the ante in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships by three chips. Three Ducks earned qualifying marks for the event, which will be held at Hayward Field on May 20 – 21. The Pac-10 combination events take place May 13 -14.
Yet while Oregon’s deck appeared stacked at times, its success only reached so far.
The Ducks upped their number of Pac-10 qualifying marks to 24, but recorded no new NCAA qualifiers.
Teammates Foluso Akinradewo and Nat Johnson took first and second place in the triple jump. Their marks — 49 feet, 1 3/4 inches and 47-7, respectively — were outdoor personal bests for both athletes.
Johnson’s mark tied the qualifying distance for the Pac-10 triple jump, giving him eligibility for his second conference event. However, the senior has yet to win an expected NCAA-qualifying mark this season.
Sophomore John Bello continued to chase an NCAA-provisional mark in the shot put, but his throw of 51-7 fell about two inches short. Bello won third place in the shot put, and his throw was an outdoor personal best. He didn’t have as much success in the discuss, finishing third with a mark of 173-11.
Sprinter Howard Moore also searches for his first-ever NCAA tournament berth. To get the required time of 46.20, Moore would be required to break his personal-best time of 46.83. The senior finished third at the Cardinal Invitational in 47.49.
Freshman sprinter Ricardo Cottengim ran his first Pac-10 qualifying mark of the season in the 200 meters. He won his race with a time of 21.43 seconds, followed by fellow football player Jermaine Hanspard, who finished fourth in 22.57.
In the distances, sophomore Adam Bergquist scored his first Pac-10 qualifying mark in the 5,000 meters with a season-best time of 14 minutes, 25.21 seconds. In doing so, Bergquist beat his old season-best by about 24 1/2 seconds.
Ross Krempley, who endured electrifying finishes in the 800 at the Oregon-Washington Dual two weeks ago and the Oregon Invitational last weekend, shifted and ran the 400. The sophomore finished fourth in the race and second among collegians behind Moore with a time of 48.94.
Perhaps the biggest heartbreak of the meet was Todd Humcke barely missing a Pac-10 berth in the 1,500. Humcke finished a low 27th of 33 finishers in three heats, but his time of 3:50.83 was less than a second away from the Pac-10 qualifying time of 3:50.83.
With distance runner Steve Fein still recovering from training-related problems, Oregon’s trump card proved to be Jason Boness, one of the Ducks’ three NCAA qualifiers. Boness upped his season best in the high jump by clearing 7-3 on his second try. Going into the weekend, Boness was ranked No. 11 in the nation in the high jump with his prior season best of 7-2 1/2 from the Mt. SAC Relays last month.
Freshman Terry Ellis raced his second-fastest time of the season in the 110 hurdles with a second-place finish in 14.63 seconds. Sophomore Tim Overfield was the lone entrant in the 400 hurdles and finished with a time of 53.51 seconds, only a half-second off his season best.
James March showed promise in the shot put and discuss. The freshman set personal bests in both events, throwing the shot 53-0 and the discus 156-3.
Another former Duck notched one of the meet’s most impressive runs. In the 10,000, Nick Rogers met the Olympic “A” qualifying standard with his time of 27:54.81, ranking fourth overall and second among Americans.
Nike Irishmen Mark Carroll won the contest (27:46.82), ahead of Adidas Australia entry Shaun Creighton (second, 27:49.20) and Nike’s Abdi Abdirahman (27:54.81).