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The Oregon men go into the NCAA West Region Championships at home this weekend fresh off their coronation as Pacific-10 Conference champions.
"It was a total surprise and I think everyone's really looking forward to regionals and nationals now," Oregon distance runner Chris Winter said. "I think we definitely surpassed what the bar was supposed to be, and I think our team is a really good nationals team.
"West Regionals is more about having the individuals qualify for nationals, so we're just trying to have as many people qualify as possible."
The Ducks won the championship in Palo Alto, Calif. two weekends ago due in large part to a clutch performance by their young 4x400m relay team at the end of the meet.
Going into the 4x400m that day, Oregon led Arizona State by a mere four points, with the top three teams separated by a slim nine-point margin.
The Ducks' relay team had to finish in the top five to clinch the title, and the four men rose to the occasion. Junior anchor Marcus Dillon passed Washington State on the backstretch and dove across the finish line only .01 seconds ahead of UCLA to give the Ducks fourth place in the relay and the championship title.
"I wanted that title. I wanted that ring," Dillon said. "I wanted that championship on my belt because I knew it was something that would always be there, no matter how old I get."
This weekend, Dillon will compete in three events. The New Orleans native has maintained all year that he has a knack for "doing big things at big meets," and he's out to prove that once again.
"It's too bad that I didn't qualify for my 200m, but doing the 400m, the 4x100m and the 4x400m is going to be very exciting," Dillon said. "I got the hard part out of the way now. This will be easier because it's coming down to the end of the season, and I've prepared for this from day one. It's eight weeks later now, and I'm ready to race."
The Ducks hope to have injured sprinter Phil Alexander back in time for this weekend. Alexander pulled out of the 4x400m relay at the Pac-10 Championships because of a slight hamstring injury, and freshman Zach Ancell ended up running in Alexander's place.
As of Monday afternoon, Oregon Director of Track and Field, Vin Lananna listed both Alexander and senior pole vaulter Tommy Skipper as "day-by-day."
Skipper surprised everyone at the Pac-10 championships by winning the title in his season debut after having missed almost the entire outdoor season due to a torn calf muscle sustained at the U.S. Indoor Track and Field Championships in February.
Skipper qualified for West Regionals at the Pac-10 Championships with a 17-10 1/2 mark.
But even if Skipper does not compete this weekend, the Ducks can count on junior distance runner Galen Rupp to get the Hayward Field crowd on its feet.
Rupp set an American collegiate record a month ago when he clocked a 27:33.48 at Stanford's Cardinal Invitational. Rupp currently tops the collegiate and U.S. season-best lists, and is seventh all-time among Americans.
He will compete in the 10,000m, and will lead a pack of Oregon runners in the 5,000m.
"We have a lot of guys in the 5,000m," Lananna said. "I remember - at one time when I was young - coming out here and watching meets here at Hayward Field and watching this parade of 5,000m (Oregon) runners. I hope this is one of the first marches in that parade of 5,000 meters.
"Hopefully the athletes will do a good job and hopefully Galen can be the grand marshal of that parade."
In the throwing events, the Ducks now sport two new Pac-10 champions in the lineup. Hammer thrower Brian Richotte threw a season-best 222-11 at the Pac-10 Championships, and is ranked eighth nationally.
Senior javelin thrower Ryan Brandel gave Oregon its ninth conference javelin title, and sits at fourth place in the national rankings with his 238-0 season-best.
"Not a lot of people expected us to do anything (at the Pac-10 Championships), so it's definitely a confidence booster coming into this week, and I'm confident we'll have just as good of performances as we did down there in California," Brandel said. "I'm going to take this weekend very seriously. It's my third regionals and in the past two I failed to advance to the final on to nationals, so I'm definitely taking this as a big meet."
sloh@dailyemerald.com
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