EUGENE, Ore. ? USC withstood a furious charge from Oregon that featured wins in the 400 meters, 110 meter hurdles and the 4x100 meter relay to win the 2006 Pacific-10 Conference men’s track and field championship on Sunday’s last event, the 4x400 meter relay. Meanwhile, Arizona State’s women made their first day lead stand up thanks to a dominating 5,000 meter race as the Sun Devils won their first ever women’s Pac-10 track and field crown in front of 7,060 at sunny Hayward Field.
The Trojans held off Oregon in the men’s team race 140-133.5. Arizona was third with 122 points thanks to the dazzling performance of distance star Robert Cheseret. Washington was fourth with 99 points, followed by UCLA (97.5), Arizona State (76), Stanford (60), California (53) and Washington State (37).
The Sun Devils watched their lead in the women’s race shrink throughout the afternoon until the 5,000 where ASU garnered 23 points, providing a big enough cushion to withstand Stanford’s wins in the triple jump and the 4x400 meter relay. In that 5,000, the Sun Devils got a first from Victoria Jackson (16:09.73), a third from Amy Hastings (16:32.82), a fifth out of Jenna Kingma (16:45.82), a seventh from Brooke Bennett (17:02.01) and an eighth from Corey Randall (17:06.90).
ASU amassed 154 points to edge Stanford’s 151.5. USC was third (112), followed by UCLA (103), Oregon (97), California (76.5), Washington (41), Washington State (40), Arizona (37) and Oregon State (4).
The Oregon men collected wins in the 400 meters, the 110 meters hurdles, and the 4x100 meter relay to remain in contention in a three-team battle for the team lead. First day leader Arizona held onto its lead until the 800 meters, when both Oregon and USC surged past the Wildcats.
USC used a 1-2 finish in the 800 from Duane Solomon (1:48.03) and Raphael Asafo-Agyei (1:49.07) to forge the lead. The Trojans backed that with wins in the high jump from Jesse Williams (7 feet, 4.5 inches) and a double from Philip Francis in the 100 (10.25) and 200 (20.39) before winning the 4x400 meter relay (3:05.74).
The day got off to a raucous start with Oregon’s come-from-behind win in the 4x100 relay. Derrick Jones, running the third leg, closed the gap on leaders Arizona State and USC, and then anchor Jordan Kent ran down the Trojans’ Roy Alugbue to nip him by .08. The Ducks snapped the tape in 39.74 to win their first ever Pac-10 4x100 meter relay title. Richard Del Rincon led off and Matt Scherer took the second leg in what turned out to be the fourth-best relay time in school history. USC placed second in 39.82, while Arizona State was third in 39.98.
The hurdle events were a key to Oregon’s success. Eric Mitchum first won the 110 meter event in a season-best 13.56 and added a fourth in the 400 hurdles (51.99). Senior Akobundu Ikwuakor added points in both events with a third-place finish in the 110 hurdles (14.00) and a fifth in the 400 hurdles (52.08).
Scherer, a senior, used a strong final half of the race to win the 400 meters in a PR 45.19. It was the second-fastest time ever in the event by a Duck, surpassed only by Otis Davis’ 45.07 in 1960. Scherer also finished fourth in the 200 meters (20.93).
Del Rincon, a senior, also put on a solid farewell performance for the home crowd. In addition to the relays, he took second in the 100 meters (10.41) and third in the 200 (20.86).
The Trojan and Duck men were able to overcome a remarkable performance by Robert Cheseret of Arizona. Cheseret completed a rare distance triple by winning the 1,500 meters (3:41.88) and 5,000 meters (13:47.50) on Sunday. That came on the heels of Cheseret’s victory in the 10,000 meters on Saturday. He also earned his record eighth career Pac-10 distance title in the 5,000. Oregon’s Galen Rupp finished third in Saturday’s 5,000 (14:00.94).
Meanwhile, the Oregon women carried the momentum over from a strong Saturday to finish fifth, earning the Ducks best showing since taking fifth in 1999. Their 97 points represented the most scored by the Oregon women since scoring 144 points in a second-place finish in 1996.
Events key to that finish were the 800 meters and the hammer throw. Rebekah Noble became Oregon’s first women’s 800 meter champion, running a 2:05.81 to edge Alysia Johnson of California (2:06.85). Senior Sara Schaaf finished third for the Ducks in 2:07.88.
Hammer throwers Britney Henry and Brittany Hinchcliffe both earned points in the event. Henry took fourth at 210 feet, 3 inches, while Hinchcliffe was sixth at 206 feet, 1 inch.
The Oregon women also got a third-place finish from Amber McGown in the 1,500 meters in a season-best 4:19.00 that was good for six points. Sophomore Kasey Harwood ran a PR in the 400 meter hurdles and finished third in a time of 1:00.05.
Some of the other second day highlights included:
* Chelsea Johnson of UCLA setting a collegiate record in the women’s pole vault, clearing a height of 15 feet, 1 inch.
* USC going 1-2 in the women’s 100 meter hurdles, with Virginia Powell running a world-best time of 12.64. Teammate Candice Davis took second at 13.28.
* The Duck women earning points in both relays. Oregon was fifth in the 4x100 relay (3:42.21) and earned couple of unexpected points in the women’s 4x100 simply by successfully completing the race; only seven teams advanced out of Saturday’s prelims.
* Oregon’s Mike McGrath running a PR 3:44.70 to finish fifth in the men’s 1,500 meters. McGrath also pointed in the 800 by finishing fifth (1:51.28).
* The Ducks Jeff Lindsey hitting a PR in the high jump (6 feet, 6.75 inches) to tie for fifth.
* Lauren Jordan wrapping up her Oregon career by finishing sixth in the triple jump (41 feet, 2.5 inches). The senior scored a combined 18 Pac-10 points for the Ducks.
* The Duck men’s 4x100 meter team (Travis Anderson, Scherer, Ikwuakor and Kent) running a season-best 3:06.75 and finishing second. That time was the 10th-fastest all-time at Oregon. Kent also took seventh in the 200 (21.15).
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