The Oregon men’s track and field team used a strong performance on the track to capture three individual titles and several qualifying marks at the Golden Bear Invitational at Edwards Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday.
The Ducks’ first road challenge of the season was highlighted by the 4×100 meter relay team securing a title by running a near-Oregon record 39.83 seconds, only .03 seconds behind the school record set in 1991. The team, featuring Richard Del Rincon, Matt Scherer, Kedar Inico and Jordan Kent, beat second-place California by less than a second-and-a-half after using a fast start by Del Rincon to take control of the race before the second leg.
The team improved on last week’s second-place finish at the Pepsi Invitational by more than a half-second.
Del Rincon also took first in the 100 and Kent finished second in the 200. Kent came within .07 seconds of breaking his personal record of 20.99, set at the 2003 West Regional. Kent’s 21.06 time earned him a NCAA mark, besting the NCAA regional standard of 21.19.
“I was a little surprised by the time,” Kent said. “I thought I might run 21.3 or 21.4, so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. There’s lots of room for improvement, so I want to take it week by week and keep getting better little by little.”
Del Rincon took home his second title of the day after beating
California’s Toby Atawo by .05
seconds with a time of 10.54 in the 100 meter dash.
Oregon’s Eric Mitchum took home the 110-meter hurdle title, beating Houston’s Andrew Carruthers with a time of 13.77. Mitchum finished .28 seconds ahead of Carruthers and .33 seconds ahead of teammate A.K. Ikwuakor. All three earned NCAA qualifying marks, and Ikwuakor’s time of 14.10 was only .01 off his personal best of 14.09 at the 2004 NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, which ranks 10th all-time in Oregon history.
Oregon long jumper Leonidas Watson took home the Ducks’ lone title in field events. The senior, competing only against Sacramento State’s Richard Duhaime, easily took home the triple jump title with a mark of 52 feet, 9 1/2 inches. Watson bested Duhaime by almost
9 1/2 feet en route to a regional qualifying mark.
“It wasn’t the typical meet, but it still worked out,” Watson said. “The event was delayed by more than two hours, so I kept warming up only to have to wait again. But once it started, there were only two of us, so it was really easy to get a rhythm and keep my momentum after I got a good jump under my belt.”
The St. Louis native moved to fourth all-time in school history
and improved his previous outdoor school-record of 51-5 that was set
in 2004.
The field events were highlighted by the competition in the javelin. Boasting a number of top performers, including a Canadian national record holder, the event yielded four qualifying marks. One of those marks went to Boise State’s Wallin Gabriel, who set a stadium
record with a throw of 248-6, also good for the top mark in the country so far this year. California’s Paul Teinert finished second with a throw of 229-2.
Also in the field, Oregon senior Paul Etter posted a solid fourth-place finish in the hammer with a throw of 192-4, while junior Jeff Lindsey finished fourth in the high jump with a mark of 6-8 3/4. Sophomore Brandon Tower finished seventh in the shot put and
discus with throws of 47-8 1/2 and 156-11, respectively.

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