Oregon Invitational Saturday High Performance Session Features Elite Mile, 110m Hurdles and Pole Vault Fields

EUGENE ? Saturday afternoon's 2 1/2-hour Oregon Invitational High Performance Session will spotlight three events - a men's 110m hurdles, pole vault and mile - that will showcase several of the nation's and world's top athletes.

Kicking off the afternoon schedule at 2 p.m., the Valley River Inn Men's Pole Vault (2 pm) will feature a pair of 2005 World Championships qualifiers - silver medalist Brad Walker and ex-Duck All-American and current volunteer coach Piotr Buciarski - and another 19-foot American post-collegiate pole vaulter Tye Harvey.

At 4:05 p.m., the Valley River Inn Men's 110m Hurdles (4:05 pm) spotlights four hurdlers who ranked top-70 in the world in 2005 with sub-13.65 clockings.

Unattached entrant David Oliver leads the field with a 13.33 personal best that ranked 13th in the world in 2005, and his season best placed him fifth in the USA finale.

Duck senior and five-time All-American Eric Mitchum ranked 43rd in the world last season in the 110m hurdles with his season best from the NCAA Championships (13.53), while he broke the school record in the 2004 NCAA finale with his runner-up finish (13.38). This season he ranks fourth nationally among collegians with a season best of 13.65.

South Bay Track Club's Dominique DeGrammont posted a 2005 best of 13.59 that ranked 52nd in the world, just ahead of another of Saturday's entrants - unattached hurdler Dexter Faulk (13.63 - world ranked #68). Central Michigan's Clarence Glenn and Oregon's Akobundu Ikwuakor also own sub-14.00 bests from 2005 (13.80 / 13.83).

One distance race was saved from Friday night's distance carnival - the Bill McChesney Jr. Memorial Mile - and is slated for a 4:50 p.m. start Saturday afternoon.

The 13-person, post-collegiate heavy field includes the following tentative entries:

Austin Abbott, So., Washington ? Sub-4:00 miler indoors in 2006 (3:59.47).

Jason Jabaut, Nike Farm Team ? All-American for Villanova (DMR). 3:40.59 1,500m season best in 2005.

Brian Olinger, Ohio State - Second U.S. collegian to ever break 8:20 in steeplechase (8:19.56, 2005).

Corey Duquette, Va. International ? Won 2005 NAIA titles in the indoor mile and 1,500m (3:49.45). Owns 4:04 mile best.

Dan Browne, Nike Oregon Project ? 2004 Olympian (10,000m/marathon), 3:59 mile personal best

Gabe Jennings, Running USA - 2000 Olympian (1,500m), 2000 U.S. Champion (1,500m), 3:58.54 indoor mile PR in 2001. 1,500m season best 3:43.84 of 2005.

Jeff See, Fr., Ohio State ? Ran 4:03.53 to win the 2005 Nike Outdoor Nationals mile prep championship.

Carl Moe, RSo., Washington ? Ran 3:44.91 1,500m best in 2004 ? a Husky freshman then-record. Indoors in ’06, ran a mile personal best of 4:03.76 that ranked 43^rd nationally.

Scott Overall, Fr., Butler - Nearly broke sub-4:00 indoors in 2006 with a 4:00.53 season best.

Trevor Palmer, Jr., Southen Oregon ? 2006 Season Bests/NAIA Rankings ? 800m (fourth, 1:51.41), 1,500m (sixth, 3:50.20) . Fourth in 2005 NAIA Championships 1,500m (3:51.81).

Brad Liber, Washington, So. ? 9:05.25 steeplechase season best in ’06.

* RACE PACER - Julius Achon, Nike (Uganda) ? Mile best of 3:55.38 (1999) . Ran 5K best of 13:56.89 in 2005. Ran 2004 Pre Classic mile in Eugene (3:58.66). Four-time World Championships qualifier in 1,500m (1995, ’97, ’99, ’01), and also made the 2000 Olympics semifinal (3:40.32).

The field also includes two talented young Duck distance runners - sophomores Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott - who will run their first outdoor collegiate mile races Saturday.

Rupp owns a mile best of 4:01.8 from his high school career, and he clocked a 3:44.39 1,500m personal best in Germany last July. His other touted pre-2006 personal bests include 7:49.16 (3,000m U.S. junior record), 13:44.72 (5,000m) and 28:15.52 (10,000m U.S. junior record). Rupp is best known in collegiate circles for his honors in the 5,000m and 10,000m. Last season he scored in both races in the Pac-10 Championships (fourth/second) and added NCAA runner-up honors in the latter event (28:23.75).

Kiptoo Biwott will run unattached Saturday and sped to a mile personal best of 4:01.8 in the summer of 2004 in a meet in Portland ? a mark that ranked him second nationally among preps at season’s end. The Eldoret, Kenya native graduated in 2004 from LaCueva High School in Albuquerque and was a 2003 Foot Locker third-place cross country finisher. Last year, he ran for the University of New Mexico as a freshman in 2004-05 and was a cross country All-American in the 2004 NCAA Cross Country Championships (14th). He joined the Ducks last fall and as an unattached entrant in late March, he lowered his personal best in the 5,000m by two seconds in the Stanford Invitational (13:55.18).

Live results from Saturday's Oregon Invitational are available in the LIVE dropdown menu at the top of the page, then select LIVE STATS.

The historic mile race is named in memory of former Oregon distance star Bill McChesney Jr. who owns school records in the 5,000m (13:14.80) and 10,000m (27:50.82), but it is better remembered for his magical junior season.

Following the lead of his older brothers and Duck track alum, Steve and Tom, the younger McChesney rebounded from a heel injury in March and April of 1980 and debuted in the Pac-10 5,000m (third). Three weeks later, he repeated the same place in the NCAA 5,000m (13:47.96) as the top American in the Austin, Texas-hosted finale. The Olympic Trials followed in Eugene, and he inspired the homecrowd with a gutsy surge with a mile remaining in the 5,000m.

As the crowd roared, he pushed out to a 70-yard lead ? a gamble that eventually paid off with a third-place finish (13:34.4) and an Olympic Team spot. Later that summer in Europe, he became America’s second-fastest ever in the 5,000m (13:18.6) and sixth all-time in the 10,000m (27:58.50). He returned home in July to join the Duck sub-4:00 club at an Oregon Track Club all-comers meet (second, 3:59.1).

In those three months in 1980, he dropped his 5K personal best almost 24 seconds (13:42.5-13:18.6) and more than a minute in the 10K from his prep personal best (29:06.8-27:58.50). In all-time national and world rankings, he stood top-five nationally in the 5,000m three years and fourth in the world in 1981 (13:15.77). In the 10,000, he ranked top-10 in the U.S. four years and ninth in the world in 1981 (27:47.50). He ran his 5K career best of 13:14.80 in 1982, while his 10K best of 27:47.25 came in 1981.

Besides making the 1980 Olympic Team in the 5,000, he finished 15th in the 10,000m in the 1983 World Championships. Overall as a collegian, he claimed two All-America track honors in the 5,000m, and two honors in cross country.

His Oregon 5K best also stands as the American collegiate record with only Washington State Kenyan Henry Rono running faster at the collegiate level (13:08.4). As a redshirt and would-be senior in 1981, he lowered his mile best in the Oregon Twilight (second, 3:56.36) ? a race that featured a meet record five under the 4:00-minute barrier. In cross country, he raced in four NCAA Championships, including 28th overall as a freshman helping the team to its fourth NCAA title in 1977, and runner-up finishes in 1978 and 1979.

He was equally decorated as a prep at South Eugene High School and helped the Axemen to four state cross country and three track team titles, and individually he won six state titles in track (3) and cross country (3). As a prep, he ran his six-mile (28:09.4) and 10,000-meter (29:06.8) national junior records during his junior year (3/20/76) at Hayward Field. On the relay front, he was a member of national record quartets in the four-mile relay (17:06.6) and distance medley (10:01.6). He broke Steve Prefontaine’s state meet record in the 3,200m by 12 seconds with his 8:50 clocking. Even today, he ranks third behind Pre (8:07.4) on the all-time state 3,000mlist (8:16.2).

The memories of one of Eugene’s favorite track sons - tragically killed in a traffic accident in Newport, Oregon in October 1992 ? still run deep at Hayward Field.

Oregon Twilight Mile Champions & Sub-4:00 Milers

1966, Dyrol Burleson, 3:57.3; Roscoe Divine, 3:59.1; Wade Bell, 3:59.8

1969, Mike Manley, 4:01.8

1970, Roscoe Divine, 3:56.3; Steve Prefontaine, 3:57.4; Dave Wilborn, 3:58.2; Norm Trerise, 3:59.1; Steve Savage, 3:59.2

1971, Arne Kvalheim, 3:56:4; Steve Prefontaine, 3:57.4

1972, Steve Prefontaine, 3:56.7

1973, Steve Prefontaine, 3:55.0

1974, Paul Geis, 3:58.1; Mark Feig, 3:58.5

1975, Gary Barger, 4:02.7

1976, Peter Spir*, 3:43.8

1977, Peter Spir, 4:01.3

1978, Don Clary*, 3:47.0

1979, Matt Centrowitz, 3:59.7

1980, Matt Centrowitz, 3:57.77

1981, Tom Byers, 3:55.71; Bill McChesney, 3:56.36; Rudy Chapa, 3:57.04; Ed Spinney, 3:57.34; Ken Martin, 3:57.84

1982, Jim Hill, 3:56.41; Dan Aldridge, 3:59.87

1983, Dub Myers, 3:57.06; , Larry Mangan, 3:57.46; Ed Spinney, 3:58.02

1984, Dub Myers, 3:58.24; Larry Mangan, 3:58.36; Randy Wilson, 3:58.74; Mike Blackmore, 3:59.80

1985, Mike Blackmore, 3:59.81

1986, Dub Myers, 3:55.31; Mike Blackmore, 3:58.35; Kelly Britz, 3:58.55; Marty Hemsley, 3:59.70

1987, Dub Myers, 3:59.40; Harold Kuphaldt, 3:59.73; Rick Bergesen, 3:59.79; Mike Blackmore, 3:59.88

1988, Dub Myers, 3:57.44; Mike Blackmore, 3:57.46

1989, Alan Foster*, 3:42.12

1990, Eric Peterson*, 3:46.16

1991, Greg Whiteley, 3:59.22; Colin Dalton, 3:59.44

1992, Shannon Lemora, 4:04.01

1993, Shannon Lemora, 4:03.09

1994, Gordon Johnson, 4:00.23

1995, Gordon Johnson*, 3:41.38; Shannon Lemora*, 3:42.05; Daniel Das Neves*, 3:42.49

1996, Daniel Das Neves*, 3:44.01

1997, Ian Gillespie*, 3:44.84

1998, Ian Gillespie, 4:01.84

1999, Adam Goucher, 3:57.63

2000, Jason Pyrah, 3:57.63; Clyde Colenso, 3:58.49; Steve Fein, 3:59.35; Dan Browne, 3:59.71; Mike Miller, 3:59.86

2001, Mike Miller, 3:57.13

2002, Mike Miller, 4:02.26

2003, Nick Symmonds, 4:03.85

2004, Tom Brooks, 4:07.17
2005, Kyle Alcorn, 4:03.98

* Asterisk denotes 1,500

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Oregon Invitational Saturday High Performance Session Features Elite Mile, 110m Hurdles and Pole Vault Fields