University of Oregon
NCAA Indoor Championships
Ducks Thunder to NCAA Victory in Men?s Distance Medley Relay
03/13/10 | Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? "It's just called Hayward Field magic. We bring it everywhere."
That was senior Chad Barlow describing the men's dramatic victory in the distance medley relay, but he may as well have been capturing the entire first day of the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the Oregon men's and women's teams.
"It was a great day for the Men and Women of Oregon," said Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna. "We set school records, qualified many athletes for the finals, and, of course, finished the day with great performances in the 200 meters and distance medley relays. Our teams are in good position, and I think they showed that you really can take the magic of Hayward Field with you on the road."
Friday began with Ashton Eaton setting four personal bests in the heptathlon at the Randall Tyson Center and ended with a pair of spectacular distance medley races. In between there was Amber Purvis scoring in the 200 meters, solid runs in preliminary races and yes, some disappointments as well.
“In any championship competition there's going to be some highs and some lows and a sign of a good championship team is how we manage those highs and lows,” said assistant coach Robert Johnson regarding the women's competition. “And as you can see from the results after the first day, we had some highs and we had some lows.
“The good thing about it is we still have a shot to contend for a trophy,” said Johnson. Oregon's women have never finished higher than ninth at the indoor meet.
“Our men had a pretty good day,” said assistant coach Andy Powell. “The DMR was once again an exciting race, and we advanced everyone in the mile and Andy Wheating in the 800 and I think our freshmen did a real nice job today.
“And of course Ashton Eaton was phenomenal in the heptathlon,” said Powell. “That was a really special performance today.”
The final races of the night, the men's and women's distance medley relays, proved to be the marquee events once again.
In the men's race the Ducks defended their national title in striking fashion. Senior A.J. Acosta led off the 1,200 meter leg and came through in fifth. Barlow was next on the 400 leg and brought the baton around in ninth. Junior Travis Thompson then took the stick and moved the Ducks up a spot to eighth before Wheating closed for a comeback win.
Both Barlow and Thompson were a little higher than their placing might indicate but a tight race created near-pile-ups at the exchanges. “Like trying to find a hole in the offensive line,” was how Wheating described it.
Once the 2008 Olympian took the baton, he drifted as far back as 11th before the pace surprisingly drew to a crawl the first half of the mile leg. That only allowed Wheating to conserve his energy and with 400 meters remaining, he made his move. He first cleared space to the outside and moved up to sixth.
Then Arkansas miler Dorian Ulrey made his break, Wheating followed and pulled to second with one lap remaining. The galloping Wheating reeled in Ulrey, ultimately passing him in a thunderous charge off the final banked turn and clipping him at the tape by about a half second.
Oregon won in 9:36.87, with Arkansas right behind in 9:37.53.
“We knew (Ulrey) was fresh and we knew he was going to put up a good fight,” said Wheating. “When it came down to about three laps to go, I knew I had my gears lined up and I knew when to use them. I just was waiting for somebody to push me and Dorian took off and I went with him.”
That win gave Oregon 10 points for the day, which was tied for fifth. Arkansas led with 24 points, followed by Florida with 20, Florida State with 14 and Arizona State with 12.
The women's distance medley quickly turned into a two-team race between Oregon and Tennessee but was just as thrilling.
The Lady Vols sprinted out to a big lead on the 1,200 meter leg, but Oregon freshman Anne Kesselring remained in touch and had the Ducks in second. Junior Michele Williams kept the Ducks there through the 400 leg, as did junior Zoe Buckman on the 800. That left it up to Jordan Hasay on the mile. She slowly caught Tennessee's Brittany Sheffey and then charged to the lead with 700 meters remaining.
But Sheffey responded to regain the lead with two laps remaining and fought off two charges by Hasay to win the race in 10:58.37. The Ducks still took second in 10:58.96, which was another school record.
Just before the DMRs, Purvis got the Ducks on the scoreboard with a fourth place finish in the women's 200 meters. She ran 23.21 in the final to set another school record, bettering the time she ran in the preliminaries, 23.22, earlier on Friday.
“I'm really excited,” said Purvis. “I'm really proud of my 200. I did a really good job. I PR'd every time.”
The Duck women were fourth in a tight team race. Auburn was the overnight leader with 18 points, followed by Tennessee with 16 points, Arizona with 15.5 points, Oregon with 13 points and Penn State with 11 points.
Long before the action heated up on the track, Eaton set out on a torrid pace Friday morning, setting heptathlon personal bests in all four events, setting lifetime personal bests in two events, and setting NCAA meet records in three events.
The senior from Bend., Ore., led the competition with a first day PR of 3,561 points. R.J. McGinnis of Minnesota was second with 3,200 points, followed by Bjorn Barrefors of Nebraska with 3,196 points and Lars Rise of Missouri with 3,194 points.
Eaton opened the day with a win in the 60 meters in 6.71 seconds. That was a lifetime best and an NCAA meet record which was good for 988 points. That time moved Eaton to second all-time on Oregon's indoor 60 meter list.
“It was coming actually because when I ran 6.78 at Texas A&M, I tripped out of the blocks, so I knew if I had a good start it would be primo for a PR,” said Eaton of his first event.
He next set a heptathlon and indoor PR in winning the long jump with a leap of 25-4.5, which was also a meet record. That mark ranked third all-time indoors for Oregon.
His third heptathlon PR of the day came in the shot put with a throw of 43-0.5, before finishing off day one with another meet record and personal best in the high jump, clearing 6-11 for his third victory of the day.
“Obviously, the day went pretty well,” said Eaton. “I high jumped awesome. I don't know how much I cleared 6-11 by but it felt really good.”
Much of Friday was simply about advancing for the Ducks.
All four runners in the mile ? three of them freshmen ? advanced to Saturday's finals. In the women's mile, freshman Anne Kesselring was second in her heat in 4:43.48, while freshman Jordan Hasay took third in her race in 4:41.89. On the men's side, Mac Fleet, another freshman, was an automatic qualifier for the finals after taking third in his heat in 4:03.21. Senior A.J. Acosta was fifth in heat one in 4:03.21, and advanced on time following a wild finish in the faster heat. The second through fifth-place finishers were all within .11 of each other.
In the women's 400 meters, Keshia Baker finished second in her heat in 52.56. That time was the fifth fastest qualifier and broke her own school record in the event (52.79 set Jan. 30 at Texas A&M).
In the men's 800 meters, Wheating cruised to victory. He was near the back of the pack for the first 400 meters, moved up to third at 600 meters and then lightly kicked to the lead with 150 meters left and glided to the finish line in 1:49.23 to advance to Saturday's final. Freshman Elijah Greer was sixth in his heat in 1:50.55.
The Ducks caught a tough break in the women's 5,000 meters when senior Nicole Blood tripped and fell with four laps remaining and was not able to continue. She was running in third at the time and was in a tight battle with Marie Louise Asselin of West Virginia and Jackie Areson of Tennessee when she caught a spike on the back of her right leg before going down. After the race, Blood said she was sore but still planned to race in Saturday's 3,000 meters. Senior Mattie Bridgmon was 15th in 16:51.48.
Sophomore Luke Puskedra was in the hunt to get Oregon on the board in the men's 5,000 meters, running as high as fourth with 11 laps remaining, before finishing ninth in 13:57.98.
In other women's action, Purvis was second in her heat of the 60 meters in 7.31 seconds. She missed advancing to the final by .04. Junior Mandy White took fifth in her heat in 7.43. Buckman finished sixth in her heat of the 800 meters in 2:10.35. Junior Jamesha Youngblood fouled on her three attempts in the long jump.
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