Brandon Holliday remembers.
The former Pacific-10 Conference 400-meter hurdle champion was competing in his signature event during the Pepsi Team Invitational on April 10 at Hayward Field.
Despite battling the tight turns that came with being stuck in lane one, the Beaverton native ran a respectable time of 51.52 seconds, which was more than one second better than the nearest competitor.
Except for one.
Fellow Duck and sophomore Eric Mitchum, who was victorious in the 110 hurdles earlier in the day, finished .05 seconds ahead of Holliday, winning the event that the senior prides himself on.
“It did bother me, just not as much as people think it did,” Holliday said. “I definitely wasn’t happy about losing. Nobody wants to lose. But it’s not like I lost to some guy off the street. Eric’s a good athlete and he’s stepping up his game every race. I was upset at myself, not at him.”
Mitchum conceded that Holliday’s second-place finish was likely due to him running in lane one, where the tightness of the turns can wear on an athlete during longer races.
“Running in lane one is hard to do,” Mitchum said. “It’s rough on the inside.”
Still, not coming in first in the 400
hurdles that day may be all the motivation Holliday needs when he competes in the event Saturday at the Oregon Invitational.
“I’ll definitely store it and think about it when I’m getting ready to run another race,” Holliday said. “I definitely don’t want to lose again, so I’ll probably be going over that in my mind.”
Along with Holliday, other Oregon athletes who will compete Saturday include 2003 Pac-10 javelin champion Adam Jenkins, Tommy Skipper (pole vault), Leonidas Watson (long jump, triple jump) and Mitchum (110 hurdles, 400 hurdles).

Thursday’s results
The Oregon Invitational opened Thursday with heptathlon and decathlon competition.
Competing unattached, Oregon redshirt freshman Ben Looney ranked sixth with 3,404 points after five events in the men’s decathlon. The Coos Bay native finished ninth in the 100 (11.46), eighth in the high jump (6 feet), eighth in the long jump (21-7 1/4) and 10th in the shot put (35-8 1/2). He completed the day with a “disappointing” time of 51.77 in the 400.
“I wanted to break 50 (seconds),” Looney said. “Times were slow today; it was frustrating.”
Looney said he has enjoyed his competition time during his redshirt year, despite going up against some of the nation’s best athletes. His experience included a chance to compete in the Oregon Preview during spring break.
“Just to be practicing with (quality athletes) and wondering what it’s like to be a Division I athlete (is motivating),” Looney said. “It was pretty good running the hurdles with Eric (Mitchum), A.K. (Ikwuakor) and (former Oregon athlete Santiago Lorenzo).”
On the women’s side, senior Abby Andrus sat in fifth after Thursday’s action (3,072).
Her first-day highlight was a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles (14.15). The Peoria, Ariz. native’s first day total was 46 points off her personal best (3,108).
“It was a decent first day,” Andrus said. “But the way I’ve been practicing I was hoping for more points, so it is still a little frustrating. My 100 hurdles was pretty good; I was a little close to the bar and a little fast in the high jump.”