Pepsi Dual Meet Quotes
Tanguy Pepiot, Oregon, First Place- Men's 3000m Steeplechase
On the race...
"It was great. I felt good during the first part. It was my first race of the season, so I just wanted to get a feeling for the competition. I enjoyed the crowd and the Eugene support."
"As far as how my performance goes, my time was a bit far from what I expected, but it was windy and it was my first steeplechase in April. The training is different and I need some time to fit into the competitions here, but I'm very confident for this season. I'm looking forward to the next competition at Stanford."
On his new environment and teammates...
"I want to thank my teammate Tim Costin. He did a good job today. He helped me through the race and he always has a great team spirit. That's different from France, because I used to train alone. I like this new city and new school and my new teammates very much."
Elvin Kibet, Arizona, First Place- Women's 5000m Run
On her victory...
"It felt really good. It's been awhile since I've run outdoors. Winning here at Oregon where track is amazing... it was really fun."
Megan Patrignelli, Oregon, First Place- Women's 3000m Steeplechase
On transitioning to the steeplechase...
"I think I am a steeplechaser, but I'm not just a steeplechaser. I want to be able to help the team in a lot of areas, but our team is so strong that this is probably the best spot for me to get points."
"Things could change, but the focus all year has been that I'm' going to run the steeple all spring."
On her performance...
"That 3k was, I'm pretty sure, my first flat 3k ever. I'm really excited and I definitely think I could go under 10 at Nationals. That'd be huge for me and the team."
Greg Skipper, Oregon, First Place-Men's Hammer Throw
On his win...
"Today was awesome. I'm excited about it but I'm more excited about what's to come."
On his performance...
"This week has been the hardest since fall. We really hit it hard. I wasn't expecting 70. We made some techical adjustments and I think something just clicked this week...The speed was there. I'm really happy with how training went this week."
On the series overall...
"It's good. I've had six PRs. Nothing under 68. It feels good to break 70."
Jillian Weir, Oregon, First Place-Women's Hammer Throw
On her performance...
"Today was another good day. I feel good. I want to feel great but it was good to win and get those five team points to take first place. I've been consistent around that 200 mark so I'm defintiely looking to get so jumps in my performances."
Mac Fleet, Oregon, First Place- 1500m Run
On the race...
"This is three for three for me at dual meets. That's not bad. It's fun and I love this meet."
"There was a decent headwind coming into the final stretch, so I just waited until I was inside 80 meters, then went. I'm happy to get the W and I didn't have to work harder than I wanted to this early in the season."
On beating Arizona's Lawi Lalang...
"It's just about getting the W, but it's always going to be difficult getting it going up against a caliber athlete like that."
"I'm sure he's in a similar training cycle as I am coming off the NCAAs, it's not like we've had a lot of training yet. All the hard stuff starts next week. I got the regional mark, so I'm satisfied and happy. That was the main goal for the day."
Lawi Lalang, Arizona, Second Place- Men's 1500
On the race...
"I did not come up with a strategy coming into this race...it was just apart of the training. We have a plan of starting the season in May."
On Mac Fleet's kick at the end to win the race...
"I knew even before the race he was going to be just sitting behind until the end. I knew his strategy. I was expecting it."
On his plan to compete in multiple events...
"The way it's looking right now, it's either going to be a double or I'm just going to focus on one event."
Sarah Penney, Oregon, First Place- Women's 1500m Run
On edging out her sister Kate Penney...
"She was more fit than I thought. I saw her on the jumbotron coming around the last 200 and I just though, 'My younger sister cannot beat me.' So, I kicked it into high gear and started drifting away, but it was a good race."
On competing against her sister Kate Penney...
"In high school, we were pretty competitive living in the same house, but now that we're at different schools, there's less banter. Before the race we said, 'Let the fastest girl win,' then we ended the race with a hug."
"Being able to go to two great PAC-12 schools and to race against her at Hayward Field... this is the best competition we've ever had. We've been talkiing about how excited we were looking forward to this the past couple of weeks."
On the race conditions...
"It was a little windy, but I honestly wish it would've dumped rain so that the Arizona people wouldn't know what to do. This is definitely Duck weather."
On the meet...
"I think our team is closer than ever this year. Even though there are so many individual events, it's great to work as a team and work to win a meet."
Haley Crouser, Oregon, First Place-Women's Javelin
On today's competition compared to her first...
"It's better. It's not where I want to be but it's definitely improving. It's my first win at Hayward field as a Duck so it's definitely something special. There's lot of room for improvement but I'm happy with how it's going."
On her last throw...
"It was nice to get a better one. it's been frustrating lately working through some stuff so it was nice to see improvement."
On her health...
"Last year was kind of a rough year. One thing after another kept happening, but so far so good. In the beginning of the year, we worked a lot on developing my body so I wouldn't get hurt as much and I think it really paid off."
Jenna Prandini, Oregon
On the 4x100 relay...
"The start wasn't very good, but I just had to run a good race after that."
"We have a lot of work to do in the 4x100 and there's plenty of room for improvement. Hopefully we'll get it right in our next relay."
On the long jump...
"It was my first jump and we haven't really practiced much. We're training pretty hard right now, and getting some jumps in felt good."
"I'd be happy with jumping anything over 21. I want to get out of the 20s, but it's a work in progress. Hopefully I can start putting everything together on the runway."
On her team...
"Our team has so much depth. I'm really excited for the end of the season. There are so many girls that can do huge things, and I'm just happy to be a part of that."
Laura Roesler, Oregon, First Place- Women's 800m
On aiming for a time...
"I know Coach Johnson was really wanting to see if I could get under that two minute barrier today. I obviously wanted to get it, but I didn't want to be stuck on the time. If I got stuck on it, then I'd just be setting myself up for failure."
On the conditions...
"The weather was not a factor, in my opinion. This was a good day for track & field and I didn't think it was a big deal. It might be a little cold for the Arizona folks, but for us, we're totally happy."
On racing with former teammate Anne Kesselring...
"She executed perfectly, and without Anne there, I would've been pretty much racing alone. She was a huge help today."
Cullen Prena, Unattached, First Place-Men's Shot Put
On the competition...
"It was a solid competition. Arizona showed up ready compete. Unfortuneatly the weather wasn't up to their standards. I felt good going in. I got all my fair throws unlike last week."
On why he chose Oregon...
"Really what made me come out here is that it's a great track atmosphere...Just the passion from the fans here is just wonderful."
On preparing for world juniors this summer...
"That's something that has been on my map for a while. I think it's a huge advantage being a collegiate athlete now."
On when he'll drop down the weight in his training...
"Probably not until the last few weeks of the season. The biggest thing is to just keep pounding and pounding throughout the season and just as I'm getting ready to peak, which will be at nationals, I'll drop down the training."
Sasha Wallace, Oregon, First Place-Women's 100 hurdles and First Place-Women's Triple Jump
On the triple jump...
"It was the fastest triple jump competition of my life. I have't really triple jumped since the second meet of indoors so it was kind of just to see where I was at. There is definitely room for improvement. I'm just having fun and getting back at it for outdoor."
On the 100 hurdles...
"I wanted to make it as clean of a race as possible. I'm trying to eliminate me pushing out my first six hurdles. I want to go out six to 10. We've been training for the stamina to stay up for the race."
On the world juniors...
"This will be my last year to compete as a junior so of course I'm going to try to do my best to make the team and try to win like every other athlete."
Robert Johnson, Oregon Head Coach
On the team's performance...
"Good overall performances for us today. Mac Fleet came back and nipped off Lawi at the end, and Laura Roesler had a nice little solo effort, too. We're still putting in the work everyday of every week."
On Laura Roesler...
"She was little bit fatigued coming into this, so I cut a deal with her. I said if she went out there and put in a good effort, then we'd take tomorrow off. She's been worked pretty hard this week, and that was the compromise we made. She'll take tomorrow off, then we'll get back to work on Monday."
On competing against Arizona...
"Fred Harvey is a competitor just like anybody else. For him to come here and put his team on the line, that means a lot. We like this type of competition format. I think we'll continue to do these dual meets, because it's a good precursor to the championship meets."
On strategizing for a dual meet...
"Even with how great today's competition went, there were definitely some holes evident in our team. When you have 21 events and 12 scholarships, you're going to have to do some walk-on stuff. That's going to have a bit of a lole in the caliber of performance."
