Indoor Season Gets Serious For Ducks in New York

Two weeks after busting the winter rust off in the first meet of the indoor season, things are about to get serious for the Oregon track and field program.

The Ducks will begin taking aim at qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships, to be held in just six weeks. The men and women will field distance-medley relay teams Friday in the Columbia East-West Challenge at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York, while heptathletes Joe Delgado and Mitch Modin will compete for qualifying scores in the heptathlon at the UW Invitational in Seattle.

"Indoor always goes pretty fast," said Brooke Feldmeier, who will run 800 meters in the New York event. "We want to get out there and get some fast times, so we can get qualified for nationals early and not have to stress about it later. It's just exciting."

The Ducks opened their indoor season two weeks ago at the UW Indoor Preview, and have two more meets scheduled for mid-February before the postseason begins with the MPSF Championships on Feb. 24-25. UO coach Robert Johnson would like members of the distance relay teams to use those events to seek qualifying times in their individual events.

"With so many new kids at Washington (two weeks ago), you never know what you're going to get when the lights go on," Johnson said. "But they fared well and we were excited about the majority of the results. … But we're going to New York and looking to get those DMRs out of the way."

Johnson said 15-time NCAA champion Edward Cheserek will open his indoor season Friday, running a mile with the distance-medley relay. The Ducks also tentatively planned to run Cameron Stone for the 400-meter leg, Mick Stanovsek for the 800 and Matthew Maton for the 1,200.

Maton will also run the 3,000 on Saturday, in his first competition since the cross country season. He said he's usually bothered by "aches and pains" when resuming training for the indoor season, but that hasn't been the case this winter.

"I don't think I'm entirely as fast as I will be by the end of the year, but I'll be fit enough," Maton said. "I think it's going to hurt, for sure. …. My speed needs to be sharpened a bit. And races are the best way to do that."

The women's DMR, Johnson said, was scheduled to include Ashante Horsley over 400, NCAA champion Raevyn Rogers in the 800 and freshman Katie Rainsberger in the mile. Coaches have the flexibility to alter that lineup prior to the race, when they'll also determine the runner for the 1,200-meter leg.

The Ducks are taking an unusually large group of athletes to New York, a contingent numbering around 50.

"We feed off each other every day in practice," Feldmeier said. "So going into a meet, that energy level's even higher, so we can feed off each other even more."

Johnson joked that the large contingent in New York will be a challenge for the coaches and other administrators on the trip, as much as anyone.

"For us to get the chance to take some of these West Coast kids, these California kids, to the East and put them on the subway will be an experience in and of itself," Johnson said. "So it'll be fun, it'll be exciting. It'll be good competition, and hopefully we'll turn out well like we did at Washington."