The eighth-ranked Oregon men’s track team returns to action as the Ducks compete in the 16th Annual Pepsi Team
Invitational beginning Saturday at noon at
Hayward Field.
It marks the second straight weekend the Ducks compete at home as well as the
rebirth of the Ducks’ scored-meet track and field tradition.
Oregon will face Washington, Missouri and No. 6 Indiana, which is fresh off its team victory at the Indiana Relays last week. The Hoosiers will make their third trip to Eugene for the event, having last competed in 1997. The Huskies will make their eighth Pepsi Invitational appearance and will battle the Ducks for the 94th time in the school’s history.
Oregon and Indiana will renew a brief rivalry that began at last month’s NCAA Indoor Championships, in which the Hoosiers finished one point ahead of the sixth-place Ducks behind the strength of long jumper Aarik Wilson. The redshirt junior from Fallon, Nev., became only the fifth collegiate athlete to capture both the long jump and triple jump titles at the same indoor collegiate event with jumps of
26 feet, 9 3/4 inches and 55-6 1/4,
respectively. Wilson added a regional qualifying mark in the triple jump last week at the Indiana Relays with a jump of 53-4 1/4 and ranks second in the nation in the event.
Oregon long jumper Leonidas Watson knows all about Wilson and his titles, having finished third in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The All-American has set several school records of his own, holding the indoor record in both long jump and triple jump. His jump of 25-11 at the Mountain Pacific Championships in February is a
personal record and earned him an automatic NCAA qualifying mark.
“I’m looking forward to (jumping against Wilson),” Watson said. “It’s going to be a good competition.”
In addition, Watson will be defending his long jump and high jump
titles from last year’s invitational. Watson won both titles with jumps of 24-2 1/4 and 48-10 3/4, respectively.
Also in the field events, Oregon high jumper Jeff Lindsey returns
to action after missing the last
five weeks.
“I’d just like to really go out there and get the crowd into it and maybe get a regional qualifying mark,” Lindsey said. “But really, I’d like to just get a meet under me. But I’m excited; we’ve been lifting really hard, and I think we’ll jump pretty well.”
Lindsey is considered one of the Ducks’ more consistent high jumpers but will face stiff competition in Washington freshman Norris Frederick. The Seattle native has already cleared
7-0 1/4 during the indoor track season, tying him for second all-time in Washington school history.
Missouri senior high jumper Jesse Sims will also look to contend for the high jump title on Saturday. The Paola, Kan., native has already secured an NCAA qualifying mark this season and owns a personal high jump record of 7-2 1/2.
On the track, Oregon will look to take the 4×400 title away from Washington, which won last year with a record time of 3:09.14. The Ducks won the 4×400 in last week’s Oregon Preview. Sophomore Sol Rexius and junior A.K. Ikwuakor, members of the 4×400 team, also took home titles in the 110- and
400-meter hurdles and will look for two in a row on Saturday.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good coming off of nationals,” Ikwuakor said. “I don’t like to give times for superstitious reasons, but we will just wait and see what happens.”
This season Ikwuakor has been filling the shoes of departed senior Brandon Holliday, Pacific-10 champion in the 400-meter hurdles.
“I’m getting used to it,” Ikwuakor said. “There was pressure — Brandon was a tough guy to replace.”
Oregon has won the invitational nine times and has captured team
titles each of the past two years.

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