With much of the focus on Becky Holliday and the vaunted women’s vault team, Trevor Woods stole some limelight back for the men Saturday at the Texas Relays.
Woods leapt 17 feet, 8 1/2 inches to take third in the crowded university section of the pole vault at Mike A. Myers Stadium. The mark was an NCAA Regional qualifier and set Woods’ season best by more than nine inches.
Also over the weekend, freshman hurdler Eric Mitchum made a splash in his first meet against top competition. Mitchum finished second by .01 seconds in his qualifying 110 hurdles heat Friday, then finished fourth overall and second among college athletes in Saturday’s final. Mitchum already qualified for the NCAA Regionals with a time of 14.07 at the Oregon Preview, but his 13.98 at the Texas Relays solidified him as one of the most exciting young talents on the men’s track squad.
“I’ve had a good indoor and outdoor season, and this gives me even more confidence heading into the middle stretch of the season,” Mitchum said.
Mitchum said he hit a lot of hurdles in Saturday’s final, but he felt good about his performance nonetheless.
“I still felt pretty smooth the whole way,” Mitchum said. “I had a good start and kept my speed through the end, so I knew that a time in the 13.90s was likely.”
Mitchum also ran a Pacific-10 Conference Championships-qualifying time in the 400 hurdles Thursday.
Woods and Mitchum weren’t the only Ducks in action over the weekend. Freshman high jumper Jeff Lindsey — a highly-touted high jump recruit out of Texas last year — returned to his home state and took 14th in the high jump. He hit his first height of 6-6 3/4, but missed three attempts at 6-8 3/4 to tumble in the standings. Lindsey is intimately acquainted with the Texas Relays meet; as a high schooler, he took fourth and second in the high school competition in his junior and senior years, respectively. In those two meets, he jumped 6-9 and 6-10.
On Friday, triple jumper Derek Strubel finished 16th in his event. His jump of 48-4 3/4 was well short of his season best of 49-5 1/2.
The weekend capped nearly a full week of action for the men. On Wednesday and Thursday, Oregon’s decathletes were on display, as Santiago Lorenzo finished second in his return to decathlon action after redshirting last season. Oregon’s Andy Young finished 11th in the tough field.
“(Lorenzo and Young) laid it all on the line and stepped it up in pressure situations all meet long,” Oregon assistant coach Bill Lawson said.
The Ducks’ relay teams didn’t fare as well as the individuals on the weekend. Oregon’s 4×800 team finished seventh in its 18-team field Thursday, while the 4×400 team finished sixth in its heat and 15th overall Friday.
The Ducks won’t be making travel plans again anytime soon. Oregon returns home for the Pepsi Team Invitational next weekend, then competes in two more home meets before the Pac-10 Championships in Los Angeles. All told, the Ducks will spend almost a month at home.
This year, the Pepsi Team Invitational takes the place of Oregon’s traditional dual meet with Washington. The Huskies will be at the four-team meet, as will Colorado and Minnesota. The meet will have the head-to-head competition aspect of the Washington Dual and postseason meets, but the meet is merely expanded in size this year.
Saturday’s first field event is scheduled for noon, while the first track event is scheduled for
2:40 p.m.