Pepsi Invitational

Peter E.

April 10, 2010 - 4:53 PM

Greeted by an unexpected blue sky this morning, I was compelled to make it down to Hayward Field for the Pepsi Invitational track meet. The yearly event draws some pretty solid collegiate competition, and this year the Ducks hosted Missouri, Illinois, Washington, and Texas A&M. Both the Ducks' mens and womens teams are in the hunt again this year for national championships, and Texas A&M is perhaps our top challenger for those titles.

I made it to Hayward about halfway through the meet, but I got to watch a couple heats of the women's 800m, women's 200m, men's and women's 400m hurdles, women's 5,000m, and the men's and women's 4X400m relay. Throughout the meet, I saw a trend develop: A&M has the sprinters, and the Ducks have the distance runners.

On the women's side, Amber Purvis and Jordan Hasay really stood out. Purvis owned in the women's 100 and 200m, flying by the competition to win both events (an exception to my observation that the Ducks were better at longer distances). However, supporting my hypothesis, freshman Jordan Hasay crushed the competition, running 100m ahead of the pack for much of the race as she cruised to an easy victory in the 5,000m. It will definitely be fun to watch her mature over her years as a Duck (as if she isn't matured as an athlete already), and I wouldn't be surprised to hear her name in the Olympics in a few years.

On the men's side, the Oregon men made up for Texas A&M's dominating performances in the 100, 200, and 400m with Mac Fleet's victory in the 800m and Matt Centrowitz's victory in the 1500m. Then, of course, senior Ashton Eaton was a one man wrecking ball winning the 110m hurdles, long jump, and running the opening leg of the second place 4X400m relay team. Eaton, the world record holder in the decathlon, is fun to watch, to say the least.

Despite the tough competition from A&M, the Ducks were able to win both the men's and women's team competitions. It will definitely be a confidence booster for the Ducks headed into regional qualifying and the NCAA Championships (also hosted at Hayward Field). Between the beautiful weather, knowledgeable track and field fans, and the incredible venue, it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The Duck victory was just an added bonus.

Photo courtesy of Chris Pietsch of the Register Guard