Pac-10 Championships Spotlight: Ashton Eaton
Although the track season has just started, Oregon’s Ashton Eaton has already established himself as the 2009 NCAA Indoor Champion in the heptathlon and he’s pointing to another victorious season.
But it wasn’t just a title for the ambitious junior Duck ? Eaton set indoor personal bests in the pole vault and the 60 meter hurdles.
Defending NCAA decathlon and heptathlon champion Ashton Eaton.
Eaton will compete in the long jump, 400 meters, 110 meter hurdles and the 4x400 relay in the outdoor season, as well as his main event ? the decathlon.
Eaton has competed at venues around the nation for the past three years. But he knows of one unique place.
“Hayward Field is the best place to compete,” he said. “It has a different kind of energy. And I really mean it.”
Eaton has already set ambitious goals for this season. He wants to keep his NCAA and Pac-10 titles from last year.
“I want to win Pac-10s and nationals again,” Eaton said. “I have been working hard and I will do my best to succeed. It would be especially sweet to win Pac-10s here at Hayward. I can’t even imagine what that would feel like.”
Before entering college, Eaton was a star at the high school level. In addition to track, he was a running back for the football team at Mountain View High School in Bend.
“My senior year, I thought I would play college football at a smaller school,” Eaton remembered. “But I decided not to because of my size. I am not very big compared to most football players.”
Once he focused on track, coming to the University of Oregon was an obvious choice.
“I visited other schools, but I didn’t like them that much,” he admits.
Eaton also mentioned the proximity of Eugene as another important factor in his decision.
“My mom lives only two hours away from me,” Eaton explained. “She gets to come and cheer me. I enjoy being close to home.”
Eaton currently holds the second-best decathlon point total in Oregon track and field history, but as a freshman he knew very little about the sport he was going to master.
“I didn’t pick the decathlon,” Eaton said. “In high school, I did jumps and sprints. It was my coach who referred me to Coach Dan Steele for the decathlon.”
But before competing, Eaton had to familiarize himself with the 10 events he would come to excel in.
“Pole vault was the scariest one at the time, I think, said Eaton. “I remember I did the pole vault for the first time on my birthday during my freshman year,” Eaton said. “I practiced in the sand. The higher I went, the scarier it was, because I didn’t know what to do.”
But shortly thereafter, competing in his first decathlon was his watershed moment.
“It was in Arizona my freshman year and I did terribly,” he recalled. “I didn’t even score 7,000 points. I pole vaulted 13 feet and threw the javelin maybe 20 meters, which is awful. It started thunder-storming and there was a huge delay, but I still had fun.”
Much has changed since then. Eaton has broken multiple records in all of his disciplines, which led to an invitation to the Olympic Trials last summer.
“When I think of it now, I remember how tired I was. But it was a wonderful experience to compete with the best athletes in the nation.”
Eaton finished fifth overall and scored a career-best 8,122 points. He was the youngest decathlon performer and the only college student among the top American athletes at the Trials.
He also remembers the victory lap at Hayward Field, the team spirit at his home track and thousands of fans cheering the Ducks.
“The winners came over and grabbed all of the decathletes to run a victory lap together,” he said. “Although I didn’t win and get go to Beijing, I was very close. As athletes, we have much respect for each other and we know how much work it takes. I’ll never forget everyone at Hayward Field cheering for us and making us feel special.”
by Weronika Budak, Oregon Media Services
