The Pacific-10 Conference Championships of track and field are never dull in any way. The conference’s best athletes, all competing as individuals in the ultimate team competition, inherently put on a thrilling show.
But there is an element of predictability involved when previewing the meet. Some teams simply won’t have the talent to hang around with the big guns, the UCLAs and Stanfords that are brimming with numerous scoring athletes.
With that said, the following is a breakdown of the conference meet, in the categories of favorites, contenders and pretenders, and in the order they would finish if the meet was scored on current season bests. Enjoy.

The favorites
UCLA — The Bruins have the best shot to win the
conference because of an effective weapon come postseason time: balance. UCLA boasts an unprecedented five athletes that lead the conference in their events, including the Pac-10’s best shot putter, hammer thrower, discus thrower, long jumper and 400-meter hurdler.
Scott Moser is the star for the Bruins. The senior, who won the discus title last year, leads the conference in that event and the hammer, where his best throw is more than three feet longer than the best throw of Oregon’s Adam Kriz, who is ranked second.
Stanford — The Cardinal aren’t as balanced as the Bruins, but they are deeper. Much, much deeper. Stanford’s distance crew, which almost single-handedly won the Cardinal the conference title last year, will be back in action in Pullman.
Here’s just an idea of how good Stanford’s distance runners really are. In the 5,000-meter race, 11 of the 24 athletes with qualifying times are Cardinal. The top four runners are from Stanford, and five of the top eight — the scoring positions — hail from Palo Alto. If the 5,000 ends up like it should, Stanford would score 31 points, a huge number for one event.

The contenders
Arizona State — The Sun Devils should be the Sun Gnats of the Pac-10 Championships, picking up small amounts of points in loads of different events. Arizona State has only one conference leader, and it isn’t even an athlete, it’s the squad’s 4×400 relay team.
But that doesn’t mean the Sun Devils aren’t a threat to the conference’s major powers. Five ASU athletes are ranked second in their events, and at least one ASU athlete, senior shot putter David Wood, has a golden chance to win the crown in his event. Wood won last year’s Pac-10 title in the shot put, and his best mark this season is only four inches short of the conference’s best mark.
Oregon — The Ducks, who finished fifth at last year’s conference championships, would win this year if the meet was judged on heart. Since stars John Stiegeler and Santiago Lorenzo went down earlier this year, the team has pulled together and posted several surprising marks.
But the meet is not judged on heart, it’s judged on cold, hard times and distances. The Ducks have one conference leader in Simon Kimata and one champion locked up in decathlete Billy Pappas, who won his title on Sunday. But beyond those two, Oregon’s athletes are lodged in the second-third-fourth range. The Ducks will need to have several athletes perform above their potential, but if that happens, Oregon could complete the 2001-02 trifecta of Pac-10 Championships started by football and men’s basketball.
USC — The Trojans are balanced, but not as strong in their balance as their cross-town rivals, the Bruins. Still, a mixture of track and field semi-stars, along with a few upsets, could propel USC into the upper third of the final conference standings.
The Trojans’ strength is in the field, but fast sprinters have led them to the conference’s top 4×100 relay time. Still, conference leaders Julien Kapek in the triple jump and Dawid Jaworski in the high jump will earn USC’s bread at the conference finale.

The pretenders
Arizona, Washington State, California, Washington — These teams have an impressive number of conference leaders among them — five in all — but little to no depth. Arizona has the best shot to finish closer to the “contenders” group, but only because of two conference leaders and four athletes that rank either second or third in their event. Host Washington State has strong sprints, but little to impress in the field. Washington has two conference leaders, but only five other scoring athletes. For these teams, the conference meet should prove long and pointless.