Pepsi Invitational Brings Postseason Feel to Hayward Field

When Raevyn Rogers brought the baton across the finish line in the final event on the final day of last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, effectively securing the national title and historic Triple Crown for the UO women, Hayward Field was in a state of bedlam.

The Ducks' thrilling win in the 4x400 relay gave Oregon a 1.8-point victory over Georgia, bringing to an end a dramatic team race that saw twists and turns throughout the meet. The meet also reinforced to the Ducks the lesson that, in a scored meet featuring talented teams, every point counts.

That will once again be the focus this Saturday as the Ducks return to compete at Historic Hayward Field for the first time since that momentous day in June.

Oregon will welcome Washington, Washington State and BYU to Eugene for the 28th edition of the Pepsi Team Invitational, a four-team showdown that will begin at 11:30 a.m. PT with the men's hammer and women's discus. A free Facebook Live stream (Pac-12 Plus) will begin at 2 p.m., when the 4x100 relays kick off the day's track events.

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"This is good practice for us for our league meet, as well as on through the national meet," said head coach Robert Johnson. "It's important for us to put those Oregon colors in front of the other colors.

"It gives us a chance to truly go head-to-head and compete and beat some people, and I always find that intriguing and exciting. It'll be a close team battle on the men's side, and if everything goes well we have a chance to get a good win on the women's side as well."

Oregon's first home meet of 2018 comes on the heels of a pair of solid performances to open the outdoor season. The Ducks' throwers, jumpers and sprinters came away with eight wins and a bunch of PRs at the SDSU Aztec Invitational, and Lilli Burdon and Samantha Nadel led the distance crew to a strong start last weekend at the Stanford Invitational.

Javelin thrower Jackson VanVuren is coming off a breakout performance in his 2018 debut at SDSU, where he threw nearly a 20-foot PR, and the redshirt sophomore is looking forward to going head-to-head in front of the Hayward Field faithful.

"Normally, it's all about chasing marks and trying to qualify for (NCAA) Regionals," said VanVuren. "And while that's important here, there's also that secondary motivation factor of, 'I want to beat these people.' Our coaches are expecting certain points out of us … It creates some more comradery because you're focused on the team and not just your individual performance.

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VanVuren's big throw of 225-4 on March 24 carried some extra significance, coming on the one-year anniversary of elbow surgery that forced him to miss the 2017 season.

"Leading up to it," VanVuren said, "it was just, 'Do this naturally, you've been training for this a long time.' I kind of rebuilt my entire form after my surgery, so I got that nailed down, and then I just had so many teammates and coaches cheering for me, for 'the comeback,' so that was super exciting."

VanVuren's was just one of a few comeback stories for the Ducks in the opening weeks of outdoors.

Nadel, a redshirt senior with only a season of outdoor eligibility remaining, ran the No. 4 time in UO history last weekend in her first-ever 10,000 meters after sitting out the indoor and cross country seasons.

"I'm excited about that," Nadel said. "Leading up to Stanford, I was a little skeptical about the 10K just because I had never run it before and it's way longer than what I'm used to, but now that it went well I'm feeling excited about it and I think I can do well in it."

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Nadel's impressive debut also featured the return of proven veterans Katie Rainsberger and Alli Cash, who paced Nadel and others through the first half of the 10,000 at Stanford after missing indoors with injuries. Defending Pac-12 long jump champion Damarcus Simpson will make his 2018 debut Saturday as the Ducks continue to get healthier after a challenging indoor season.

"I think everyone's excited for the Pepsi," said Nadel. "We didn't have this meet last year, so I think it'll be exciting having an early-season meet here."

The return of the Pepsi Team Invitational will also provide both fans and student-athletes one of the last opportunities to experience the Hayward Field magic in its most authentic form, with renovation of the more than 120-year-old stadium on the not-too-distance horizon.

"We're hoping and urging all of the people to come see Hayward in its current state," said Johnson. "Our kids are thrilled and excited because we didn't get a chance to do (the Pepsi) last year, so to know that we're getting closer and closer to the end and the finality of it being Hayward as it is, there's a certain nostalgia to it and a certain sentimental piece to it."

"We have this home meet," VanVuren said," some people will compete at the (Oregon) Twilight and some won't, and then our next meet is nationals. This is the time, you know. The Hayward magic, this is the meet for that."