The only event thus far for the Oregon men in the Pac-10 Championships has been the 4x100m relay, where Vernell Warren, Ashton Eaton, Matt Butcher and Chad Barlow finished fourth in their heat in 40.65. USC won the heat in 40.07, but an Arizona State relay team holds the top time of 39.99. The men do make the eight-team final for the 4x100m relays, which takes place at 1:07 p.m. tomorrow.
JAVELIN: Alex Wolff, Cyrus Hostetler and Britton Nelson somehow were all placed in the same heat for the men’s javelin finals. Wolff fouls on his first throw. USC’s Corey White uncorks his first throw 248 feet, 5 inches; he competed in the 2008 U.S. Track and Field Trials in Beijing, so he will certainly push Hostetler, whose throw of 272-5 from the Pepsi Team Invitational is second-best in the world. Hostetler throws 233-7, a pedestrian first attempt.
Wolff outdoes Hostetler’s first throw with his second attempt, recording a distance of 235-5, a new personal best by just over a foot. Hostetler fails to improve on his second throw; Wolff fails to improve on his third throw. White exhibits an interesting tendency to get a lot of air underneath his javelin, but he does not improve on his initial throw. Hostetler falls forward after his third attempt and fouls; could he be trying a little too hard?
Hostetler’s fourth throw in this finals is an unimpressive 213-5. Wolff follows with a throw of 215-3. Nelson steps on the line and fouls.
The last time Hostetler hit the runway after releasing a throw, he fouled. This time, he unleashes a throw of 236-1, second-best in the competition thus far. It’s debatable as to whether or not anyone will top Corey White’s first throw. Wolff again fails to improve; White’s fifth throw doesn’t come close.
The crowd is loud for Hostetler’s sixth and final throw, and it’s a beauty. The video board catches him smiling; no doubt that he got everything to go right for him with this one. He seizes the lead from Corey White with a distance of 250-5; the crowd erupts. Wolff receives a similar ovation on the runway, but he fouls to the right and will likely finish in third place. White uncorks another high, beautiful throw on his final attempt, but it just isn’t enough to top Hostetler at 243-1. Hostetler is your second Pac-10 champion thus far for the men of Oregon.
Oregon receives 17 points from the event: 10 from Hostetler (1st), 6 from Wolff (3rd) and 1 from Britton Nelson (8th).
POLE VAULT:
MEN’S 1,500m: In the first heat of the men’s 1,500m, Oregon’s Jordan McNamara and Andrew Wheating face a talented field that includes Stanford’s Garrett Heath; indeed, all three Stanford runners (like with the women in the 1,500m trials) push to the front of the pack, holding each other’s pace. Wheating makes his signature kick while McNamara is caught in the pack; Wheating finishes second to Heath (3:43.00) in 3:43.06; McNamara finishes fifth in 3:43.36.
The second heat is loaded, with Oregon’s Matt Centrowitz, J.K. Withers and Galen Rupp against Washington’s Austin Abbott, UCLA’s Marlon Patterson and Stanford’s Elliott Heath, Garrett’s brother. Rupp, who was in seventh place after 200m, bolts to the front of the pack with Centrowitz, heading 1-2 into the finish line. Rupp wins in 3:46.05; Centrowitz runs 3:46.26, and J.K. Withers finishes sixth in 3:47.75.
The men’s final takes place tomorrow at 1:25 p.m.
HAMMER THROW: Every point matters in the Pac-10 Championships, and Oregon just got three of them courtesy of Jordan Stray, whose third hammer throw of 200 feet, 11 inches was good enough for sixth place. Stray had fouled on his first two attempts and was in danger of failing to qualify for the final before making his sixth-place throw. He ended up fouling on four of six attempts.
MEN’S 110m HURDLES: Oregon’s Eric Hersey finishes third in the second heat with a time of 14.31, just .03 seconds off his regional qualifying mark set at the Oregon Twilight. He does become the last qualifier for the event final (1:45 p.m. tomorrow), so he could become a nice surprise for the Ducks, who might not have considered that extra point.
MEN’S 400m: Both Ashton Eaton and Chad Barlow qualified for the final in the event, to be held at 2:02 p.m. tomorrow.
MEN’S 800m: Travis Thompson of Oregon, entered into the second heat, stayed with the leaders early in the race. Finding himself squeezed into a pack, Thompson darted out of it, but not before Cal’s Sebastian Sam passed him on the outside for second place. USC’s Blake Shaw won the race in 1:50.80; Sam finished in 1:50.91, and Thompson claimed third in 1:51.43.
Oregon’s Andrew Wheating started his race in the back of the pack, starting his kick with 250 meters to go. He finished his kick after the Bowerman Curve, cruising into second place (1:51.32) behind Washington State’s Luke Lemenager (1:51.13).
MEN’S 3,000m STEEPLECHASE: Oregon’s Chris Winter, the prohibitive favorite entering the weekend, took a lead with 4 laps remaining and steadily widened it. He takes the Pac-10 championship and requisite 10 points in the event in 8:51.46. Winter is the first Oregon steeplechase champion since Micah Davis in 1999.
MEN’S LONG JUMP: Not only did Oregon junior Ashton Eaton pick up his 10 points for winning the decathlon, he stands an excellent shot at picking up another 10 for the Ducks in the long jump as the event favorite. Teammate Vernell Warren, however, is expected to make in-roads in this event.
Eaton’s first jump takes him 25 feet even for first place, and that’s without hitting the board. Warren flies 24 feet, 0.75 inches on his second attempt. In his second attempt, and with a thunderous ovation from the crowd, Eaton jumped 25 feet, 6 inches, a personal best and the 10th-best leap in school history. Warren slightly overshoots the board and fouls in his attempt following Eaton’s jump.
Though Eaton didn’t appear to like his third jump, he still leaped 25 feet, 6.75 inches, breaking his newest personal best.
Warren moved into fourth place on his fourth attempt, a jump of 24 feet, 9 inches, from fifth place.
Lest we forget that this is not just Ashton Eaton’s world, Arizona’s Luis Rivera-Morales makes a huge statement jump, leaping 26 feet even — fourth-best in the nation this year — and bumping Eaton to second place. Eaton, looking to answer, comes up with a non-improvement of 24 feet, 5.75 inches. Rivera-Morales then upped it to 26 feet, 3 inches, second-best among collegians this year.
Eaton, in his very next attempt, responds with a jump of 25 feet, 4.5 inches that wows the crowd but does not affect the standings.
Warren’s final attempt goes for 24 feet, 11 inches; it’s a personal best, but he needed an additional inch to challenge for third place.
Eaton gets one last attempt at Rivera-Morales, and he ends up running through it, giving Rivera-Morales the win.
MEN’S 400m HURDLES: Washington State hurdler and reigning NCAA champion Jeshua Anderson cruised to victory in his heat, winning in 50.73. Oregon’s Marshall Ackley placed third in the heat with a time of 52.28. Ackley is Oregon’s only runner qualified for the final in the event, however, as David Klech finished a very disappointing fourth in his heat in 52.80, looking strained in doing so.
MEN’S 10,000m: Oregon figures to score big in this race, with Galen Rupp, Luke Puskedra, Shadrack Biwott, Diego Mercado and Danny Mercado all threats to score.
Check back with this thread all weekend for continuous updates.