4x400 Relay Smashes School Record & Takes Third in NCAA Chase

Wednesday, June 8

Sacramento, Calif.

All Day

University of Oregon

M-9th, W-32nd

NCAA Championships

Men's 4x400 relay (third, 3:00.81), 6/11/05

4x400 Relay Smashes School Record & Takes Third in NCAA Chase

06/11/05 | Track and Field

By: GoDucks.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? In final day action in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Cal State Sacramento's Hornet Stadium, the University of Oregon men's 4x400 relay stole the show in a run after the NCAA title.

In the team races, the Men of Oregon scored 23 points and tied for ninth for the third time in five years after similar finishes in 2001 and 2004. The UO women tied for 32^nd with eight points courtesy of Sarah Malone's javelin second-place finish Friday.

Overall in the team chases, Arkansas won the men's title with 60 points, ahead of Florida (second, 49), LSU (third, 36) and BYU and Florida State (fourth-tie, 34). Texas claimed the women's team crown with 55 points, ahead of UCLA and South Carolina (second-tie, 48), and Tennessee (fourth, 40).

The men's 1,600 relay combination of redshirt sophomore Jordan Kent, senior Kedar Inico, and juniors AK Ikwuakor and Matt Scherer took third in a time of 3:00.81 ? a school record by 2.46 seconds over their previous mark from the 2005 Pac-10 Championships (3:03.27).

The Duck unit crossed the line only .82 seconds behind event champion LSU (first, 2:59.59) who broke the former NCAA meet and collegiate record of 2:59.91 by UCLA from 1988. Arizona State squeezed ahead of the Ducks in the final 50 meters to take second (3:00.57), .24 seconds ahead of UO.

“Every one of the guys did an amazing job,” assistant coach Dan Steele said. “The all ran personal bests, and ran exactly like they were supposed to. That is a school record that could stand for a while and will be hard to replicate. I told them before the race, that this is the most exciting event in track and field, and here's the chance to be at the center of the universe for a few moments. You rarely get a chance like this in life so you have to go for broke, and they pulled it off.”

In his first appearance on the 4x400 since his freshman year finale in the NCAA Championships prelims, Kent reeled off a 46.1-second opening split, and was followed by a 44.4 leg by Inico who had the Ducks in second place at the end of his leg. On the third leg, Ikwuakor added a 45.4-second effort and handed off to Scherer in a tight race for second place. The Sumner, Ill., native Scherer raced off just behind LSU anchor Kelly Willie who opened up a quick 8-meter lead after the first 150. Scherer ran equally hard and maintained a nearly equal deficit much of the leg's remainder and entered the last 100 meters still in second, before ASU anchor Lewis Banda edged past slightly in the final 50 meters.

Comparing times with previous NCAA finales in the 4x400 since its event debut in 1964, the Ducks ran faster than every NCAA champion since then, except for UCLA in 1987 (3:00.55) and '88 (2:59.91) and Georgia Tech in 1992 (2:59.95).

“Coming in we had played with the numbers and splits, but only one time had I ever thought we could run sub-3:01,” Steele said. “But these guys took it upon themselves to make a statement. Oregon hasn't received a lot of respect for its sprint group and they showed today that they deserve to be recognized as one of the nation's best.”

The Ducks' clocking Saturday completely erased their school record of 3:03.27 from their runner-up Pac-10 finish in mid-May at UCLA. That same prior season best ranked the unit fifth coming into the NCAA meet as UO made its third straight NCAA appearance. Travis Anderson, Brandon Holliday, Kent and Scherer took 11^th with a then-school record on the same Sacramento State track in the prelims in 2003 (11th, 3:06.73), and Anderson, Holliday, Inico and Scherer claimed fifth in the 2004 finale in Austin, Texas (3:03.88).

Two days before on Thursday, the Ducks ranked sixth in the prelims (3:04.10) with their sixth-best time in school history and featured the combo of junior Travis Anderson on lead-off followed by Inico, Ikwuakor and Scherer. Since 2003, Duck 4x400 relays have now run 10 of the top 12 times in school history, including times in 2005 of 3:00.81 (first), 3:03.27 (second), 3:04.10 (seventh), 3:05.72 (eighth) and 3:07.79 (12^th).

Going back in school history, Oregon's third-place finish Saturday was its highest in more than 20 years, after prior combos took finished fifth in 2004, second in 1971, and fourth in 1970 and '65.

Just as impressive as the quality of the Ducks' times was also the quantity during the four-day meet. Inico ran seven races for the Ducks (three open 400s, two 4x400 relay second legs, and two 4x100 third legs), Scherer ran six races (two open 400s, two 4x400 relay anchor legs and two second 4x100 legs), Ikwuakor ran four races (two 110 hurdle rounds and two 4x400 third legs), Kent ran three legs (two 4x100 anchor legs, and one 4x400 lead-off leg) and Anderson ran one leg (one 4x400 first leg).

“Matt, Jordan, AK and Travis are back next year, but losing someone like Kedar won't be easy to replace,” Steele said. “When I watched them race here in Sacramento three years ago, I thought they had the makings of a great team. It's been a gradual process that has required a lot of work, but they've met the challenge and continued to improve every step of the way. The feelings of nervousness before and joy afterwards pretty much surpass anything I ever felt as an athlete (he was an Olympic medalist in the bobsled and an NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles at Eastern Illinois).”

Earlier in the day in the men's 400, Inico claimed his first outdoor All-America honor in the 400 (eighth, 45.85). The Queens, N.Y. native entered the meet seeded 11^th with a prior personal best of 45.61 that he bettered in Friday's semifinal with a .29-second personal best (45.22). That clocking from the semis moved him to second all-time for UO, and only .15 seconds behind former world record holder Otis Davis (45.07, 1960).

Overall in the event, Olympic 4x400 gold medal anchor Darold Williamson won by .24 seconds (44.51) over Mississippi State senior Jamel Ashley (second, 44.75) and Texas Tech junior Andrae Williams (third, 44.90).

In the 5,000, redshirt senior Eric Logsdon made his third appearance in the NCAA outdoor 5,000 (12^th, 14:20.21) and ran virtually the whole second half of the race near his final placing.

Overall in the event, the Stanford pair of juniors Ryan Hall and Ian Dobson escaped the field before the halfway point en route to a comfortable 1-2 finish in times of 13:22.32 and 13:22.54, respectively, five seconds ahead of Michigan junior Nick Willis (third, 13:27.54).

The Canby, Ore., native Logsdon entered the meet seeded eighth with his personal best of 13:40.21 from the Cardinal Invitational in late April ? a mark that also ranked him eighth all-time for UO. In prior NCAA Championships, he had posted top-eight finishes as a sophomore (eighth) and junior (seventh) in 2003 and '04. He qualified for the NCAA showdown as an at-large invite based on his seventh-place regional finish, while in prior Pac-10 Championships, he scored for the Ducks in the 5,000 in (sixth in '05, fourth in '04, sixth in '03 and fourth in ?02) and in the 10,000 in '05 (fourth).

In the women's heptathlon, junior Lauryn Jordan took 14^th with a 168-point career best score of 5,367 points, and finished eight places higher than her pre-meet seed.

Jordan posted second marks of 19-6 1/4 in the long jump (w:0.6, fifth), 111-7 in the javelin (15^th) and 2:31.15 in the 800 (22^nd). In comparison to her heptathlon bests, her long jump was a nine-inch hep season best, her javelin mark was less than 10 feet off her personal best (121-5), her 800 was a 2.36-second personal best over her former best (2:33.51) and her second day tall of 2,336 point smashed her former best of 1,975 from the league finale.

The Stockton, Calif., native entered the day in 14^th place after a first-day, four-event total of 3,031 points that was only 23 points shy of her first-day personal best from the Pac-10 Championships in early May (5,324). Her first day marks from Friday included 14.38 in the 100 hurdles (PR, w:0.4, 20^th), 5-5 1/4 in the high jump (11^th), 41-7 1/4 in the shot put (PR, fourth), and 25.25 in the 200 (PR w:-1.6, 13^th).

Overall in the competition, Eastern Michigan senior Lela Nelson climbed one spot on the final day to win the title (5,878) by 84 points over Georgia junior and first-day leader Jessica Stockard (second, 5,794) and Nebraska junior Ashley Selig (third, 5,775).

Jordan earned her first NCAA invite thanks to her fourth-place mark and previous best from the Pac-10 Championships in mid-May at UCLA (5,299). She climbed one spot on the UO all-time list Saturday to fifth and passed recent two-time NCAA qualifier Abby Andrus who previously ranked fifth with 5,325 points.

In the women's shot put, redshirt senior Bree Fuqua wrapped up her collegiate career and took 12^th (50-4) ? 2 feet and 7 1/2 inches from the eighth and final scoring position.

The Polson, Mont., native qualified for Saturday's final after she ranked seventh in the prelims Thursday (53-3 3/4). Fuqua's Thursday best was only 7 1/4 inches off her school record (53-11) that seeded her 12^th coming into the meet and came in the Pepsi Team Invitational in Eugene in early April. Fuqua had made her NCAA discus debut the first day of the meet on Wednesday, and took 22^nd in the prelims (151-6) ? five places better than her pre-meet seed.

Overall in the shot put final, Miami senior won by 3 feet, 8 3/4 inches (59-8 1/2), over Texas sophomore Michelle Carter (second, 55-11 3/4) and UCLA senior Jessica Cosby (third, 55-1 1/2).

In the hammer, redshirt junior Brittany Hinchcliffe wrapped up her first appearance for the Ducks in the NCAA finale (12^th, 189-11). On her three throws in Saturday's prelims, the first-year Duck posted marks of 189-3 (57.69m), 189-11 (57.88m) and 186-9 (56.92m) and was 8 feet, 8 inches from qualifying for the final based on the eight-best mark in the opening three rounds (198-7). Two days before in the event qualifying round, she also ranked 12^th and claimed the final qualifying spot (194-8).

The Olympia, Wash., native entered the meet seeded 17th with her season best and school record of 199-2 from the Pepsi Team Invitational ? a heave that broke the former Duck mark set by another recent NCAA qualifier, Jordan Sauvage, from 2003 (191-4).

Overall in the event final Saturday, top seed and Colorado State senior Loree Smith won (224-8) by 5 feet, 9 inches over Georia sophomore Jenny Dahlgren (second, 218-11) and UCLA senior Jessica Cosby (third, 209-6).

Complete results and third-day heat sheets are available at the www.NCAAsports.com , www.HornetSports.com and www.FlashResults.com websites.

Looking ahead, several men's and women's athletes will compete in the USA Outdoor Championships and U.S. Junior Championships. Both will be held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., Thu.-Sun., June 23-26.

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ADDITIONAL 4X400 RELAY QUOTES

“It doesn't matter how many races I run,” Kedar Inico said. “Coach has trained me for it and I actually felt looser in the relay than in the open 400. This is my last year here, so I wasn't going to leave anything out there.”

“If someone had told me we would run 3:00 at NCAA's I wouldn't have believed that we would get third,” AK Ikwuakor said. ”We have nothing to be ashamed of. There was so much emotion out there with the national championship. Coach predicted exactly what happened. He said when they passed me at 200, not to worry, and come back on them on the homestretch, and that's what I did. I was pretty nervous coming in, but once I got the baton I felt fine.”

“This was a great achievement for the team, and I want to call special attention to Travis Anderson (the normal first leg) who helped get us there,” Jordan Kent said. “Going first made it really easy for me, since I had a lane all to myself. Lane 8 was certainly fine by me ? better than lane 1 or 2. I only saw the shadow of one other person out there, so I wasn't sure how I was doing until after I handed off. (After I redshirted last year) I always expected to be back here, and it's a wonderful feeling to have been a part of this relay two years ago, and see how far we've come.”

“Everybody ran perfect legs, so it made it easy for me,” Matt Scherer said. “I went out harder than normal, but felt pretty strong on the way home. LSU got out really well, so going into the far turn, I was looking up but also concerned who was behind, too, since there were some great teams from Baylor and Florida to watch out for. During the race, I couldn't hear the crowd at all ? all I heard was the footsteps of the ASU guy who came up on me at the end. I gave it my all and had my best split of the year, so I'm not disappointed with the place.”

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