The Oregon men’s track and field team returns to action this weekend as it heads south to compete in the Golden Bear
Invitational in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday.
The Ducks’ third outdoor meet of the season will feature a strong contingent of Oregon sprinters, highlighted by the hurdling duo of Eric Mitchum and A.K. Ikwuakor.
Over the last two meets, Mitchum and Ikwuakor have captured three hurdles titles, with Ikwuakor winning the 400-meter hurdles at both meets. The Arvada, Colo.,
native notched a personal best time of 51.47 seconds at the Pepsi Invitational, bettering his time at the Oregon Preview by more than 1.4 seconds.
Ikwuakor will compete against Houston’s senior sprinter Andrew Carruthers, who has run a personal best of 50.50 in the event.
Last year, Carruthers finished second at the Conference USA Championships in the 400 and finished third at the Midwest Regional Championships with a time of 51.08.
Carruthers, Ikwuakor and Mitchum are the only entrees in the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday to post times under 52 seconds in the event.
Carruthers will also compete in the
110-meter hurdles with Mitchum, Houston teammate Milton Mason, and California sophomore Thomas Mack. Carruthers finished fourth at the Tom Tellez Invitational with a time of 14.13, while Mack ran a lifetime-best 14.12 at the Stanford Invitational. Both men will be chasing Mitchum, the Ducks’ top-returning hurdler from last year.
In last week’s Pepsi Invitational, Mitchum cruised to a victory in the
110, beating teammate Ikwuakor by
0.4 seconds. Mitchum owns the field’s
best mark, with last season’s 13.38 at the NCAA Championships in Texas.
In addition, Mitchum will pull double duty and compete in the 110 at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., on Sunday.
Also on the track, a quintet of Ducks will compete in the 200-meter dash with redshirt sophomore Jordan Kent and junior Matt Scherer leading the way.
Kent will be competing in his second event of the season, coming off his win last week in the 100-meter dash at the
Pepsi Invitational.
Kent, along with Scherer, will be chasing the regional qualifying mark of 21.19. Kent last competed in the 200 at the NCAA Outdoor preliminaries in 2003, where he finished 20th with a time of 21.50.
Oregon javelin thrower Matt Adams and senior long jumper Leonidas Watson will lead the way for the Ducks in the field events.
Adams will compete against some of the best throwers in the country, headlined by California’s Paul Teinert. Teinert is ranked fourth in the nation after setting a personal record of 235 feet, 9 inches last week at the Brutus Hamilton Memorial Invitational. Also competing will be Canadian national record holder Scott Russell, who comes in with a personal best of 267-11.
“I want to hit the best I can,” Adams said. “There are some pretty good throwers there, and it will be pretty good competition. Hopefully I can step up and do good.”
Watson will look to improve on his triple jump regional qualifying mark of 50-6 3/4 set last week at the Pepsi Invitational.

[email protected]