Brandon Holliday’s performance in the 400-meter hurdles at Saturday’s Oregon Twilight was a high moment in the relatively low-key regular season finale at Hayward Field.
The Beaverton native recorded a half-second season best (51.08 seconds) while finishing more than a second ahead of the nearest competitor. The time was also tops in the Pacific-10 Conference this season, giving the senior something to build on in the two weeks leading up to the league’s championships.
Holliday said he just wanted to come out and run a decent race after struggling through a case of food poisoning during last weekend’s Oregon Invitational.
“I just wanted to come out and run a good, clean race,” Holliday said. “I was hoping to hold things together and finish with a respectable time.”
The rest of the field, however, was relatively unspectacular. Many athletes were reaching the end of their respective training cycles and entered the meet fatigued. The Oregon men pulled out six wins, but the Ducks’ main focus wasn’t results.
“I think we just want to get to the Pac-10
(championships) and get going,” Oregon head coach Martin Smith said. “We’re kind of right in that state of flux. We’ve had several big meets and some of the kids went back to their last training cycle and that may have left them a little short tonight. So what we got we pretty much expected.”
Along with Holliday’s win, sophomore Eric Mitchum dusted his competition in the 110 hurdles with a wind-aided mark of 13.76 (w:2.6). The Calumet City, Ill. native broke the school record two weeks ago at the Mt. SAC Relays with a blazing time of 13.53.

A pair of sprinters also captured wins for Oregon, with freshman Ryan Gilliam coming out on top in the 100-meter dash (10.70) and junior transfer Kedar Inico winning the 400 (46.92).
Gilliam’s time was his second-fastest collegiate effort and came just hours after competing as a defensive back in Oregon’s spring football game.
“Before the race I was a little concerned,” Gilliam said. “But seeing the crowd — a great turnout — here in Tracktown, USA, and being a great, beautiful day, that gave me all the energy I needed.”
In the field, freshman Brandon Tower captured his first event win at Hayward Field with a mark of 166 feet, 6 inches in the discus. The mark was a 10-foot personal best for the Beaverton native, who also competed in the hammer throw (eighth, 151-05).
Senior Adam Jenkins won the javelin with a mark of 205-3. Despite entering the meet fatigued, Jenkins finished six inches better than former Duck and NCAA champion John Stiegeler (second, 204-9).
Oregon had four competitors in the pole vault, with freshman Tommy Skipper setting a new outdoor season best (second, 17-9 1/4). Senior Trevor Woods (third, 17-1 1/2) and redshirt freshman David Moore (fourth, 16-5 1/2) set new season bests, while sophomore Jon Derby placed fifth (15-11 3/4).
Redshirt senior Ryan Andrus wrapped up the meet with an eighth-place finish (4:13.25) in the Bill McChesney Jr. Memorial Twilight Mile.
The meet concluded the regular season for the Ducks, who will now focus entirely on the Pac-10s. Decathletes will compete this weekend in Tucson, Ariz., while the rest of the events will be held the following weekend.
The Oregon Twilight also marked the last time Holliday, Woods, Jenkins and Andrus would compete at Hayward Field as Ducks.