Saturday’s Oregon Twilight meet at Hayward Field represents the last “regular season” meet for the Duck track and field teams, both of which are riding positive momentum.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rewarded the Oregon men for a strong team performance at last week’s Oregon Relays, vaulting the Ducks from No. 9 in its poll to No. 2.
“I was telling (men’s associate head coach) Andy (Powell) that that’s one of my favorite meets in my four years here,” senior 400-meter runner Chad Barlow said. “There were so many good things happening. You get really excited and get a big adrenaline rush, and then 10 minutes later you’d get another one from a really big mark. I think it did a lot for us going into the championship portion of the season.”
The Oregon women, meanwhile, remained at No. 3 in the nation. Texas A&M is the No. 1 school in both polls, and LSU is No. 2 in the women’s poll.
Twenty-five seniors — 16 men and nine women — will also close out Hayward for the regular season, including some who will not likely make it to NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“The Twilight meet’s always special,” said senior Nicole Blood, who is all but assured to be back at Hayward when the NCAAs begin in June. “It’s another meet where you can have fun, where there’s not much stress.”
Blood competed in the 5,000 meters at the Oregon Relays before stepping off the track with an injury. Like many of the runners, she will compete at the Twilight with an emphasis on matters of greater importance than a qualifying time.
“My calf was kind of tightening up throughout the race, so it just wasn’t smart to hammer out the last (1,000 meters), especially at this point in the season,” Blood said. “This weekend will be to actually get something out of racing.”
“I want to have a good meet,” Barlow said. “End it on a good note.”
“Football 60” at Twilight

Oregon football enthusiasts may finally be able to settle the question: Who’s the fastest of them all?
Seven football players not on the track and field roster will compete in a special 60-meter dash competition at the Twilight, set for 6:30 p.m. Running backs Remene Alston and Jide Shinaba, defensive backs Dior Mathis and Eddie Pleasant, wide receiver D.J. Davis, defensive end Tyrell Irvin and tight end Brandon Williams are entered to compete.
“If we can work it out, we’re going to have Chip (Kelly) start the race,” assistant athletic director Vin Lananna said. “I think it’s clearly where we need to go with a combination of the track and football programs. For track, it’s a speed-oriented sport. For football, Chip wants to have the fastest team in collegiate football. This is just a good opportunity and a demonstration of that, and Chip and his staff have been incredibly supportive of having the kids doing football and track.”
Running backs LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner are also entered in the 100-meter dash at the Twilight, opposite Oregon State defensive back Rashaad Reynolds. This will mark Barner’s track and field debut for the Ducks.
James won the 100 meters at the Oregon Relays in a season-best 10.90 seconds in his quest to compete beyond the “regular season.”
Multi-event athletes at Pac-10s

Meanwhile, in Berkeley, Calif., the Pacific-10 Conference Championships gets underway this weekend with the decathlon and heptathlon competitions.
Oregon used the multis to build substantial leads last year, accruing 19 points from both the men and the women en route to two Pac-10 team titles. The Ducks lost heptathlon runner-up Kalindra McFadden to graduation (McFadden is currently a volunteer coach on the Oregon staff) and decathlon scorer Aaron McVein to a knee injury, sustained during the Mt. SAC Relays on April 14.
“(We have to) just try to go down there, Erin (Funkhouser) and I, and get a head start, and we’ll see how it goes,” junior heptathlete Brianne Theisen said.
Ashton Eaton and Marshall Ackley will be competing in the decathlon for the Oregon men.
Eaton and Theisen are the defending Pac-10 champions in their respective multi-event competitions, and Eaton’s mark of 8,310 points (wind-aided) from the Texas Relays (March 31-April 1) is currently the nation’s best. Several records may be in play, including the decathlon school record of 8,176 points, set in 1992 by Pedro da Silva. Eaton has yet to record a point total above that in which all events are wind-legal.
“There was talk about a record by my coach and I,” Eaton said. “If it’s in sight, I’ll go for it, but the goal is kind of a minimum amount of effort to get the victory because it’s important for me to come back and do the open events next week.”
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