Can Ducks soar to old heights in Pac-10 meet?

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

It has been more than a dozen years since the Oregon men's track and field team emerged from a Pac-10 Conference meet with the team title.

The Ducks came close a year ago, finishing second to Stanford. It was Oregon's biggest move toward the top since taking the silver medal at the Pac-10 showdown in 1996.

"We're a better team than a year ago," said Martin Smith, the UO coach. "But the conference is better, too."

Southern California has slipped into the driver's seat, wielding a balanced and powerful team for the two-day meet that begins today at USC in Los Angeles.

"If the Trojans hold form, they can win it," said John Auka, a veteran Track & Field News correspondent whose form chart prepared for The Register-Guard has USC finishing first with 149 points.

"They are the home team, and that - among other things - gives them a a slight edge."

Oregon, Stanford - which has won back-to-back conference championships - and UCLA are expected to exchange punches with the Trojans once the fight begins this afternoon with the pole vault at 1 p.m.

Southern California also is favored to win the Pac-10 women's meet, dethroning UCLA, which defeated the Trojans by three points last year and two points in 2001 while stringing together six consecutive league titles.

The UO women are attempting to continue the climb up from ninth-, eighth- and sixth-place finishes in 2000, 2001 and 2002, respectively.

"On paper, we could finish fifth," coach Tom Heinonen said of the meet that begins with the women's hammer at 10 a.m. "But what's on paper doesn't always mean a whole lot."

What must the Ducks do to prevail in the men's meet?

"Any of those first four teams, if they get hot or somebody else falls down, can win," said Auka, whose form chart projects Oregon to finish in a tie for second with UCLA, each with 126 points, with Stanford fourth with 125.

"USC is depending on the big doubles. So is Stanford. Oregon's young guys need to do some scoring."

The Ducks fly into the Pac-10 bash with a meet-leading 19 points, thanks to first-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes by Santiago Lorenzo, Jason Slye and Andy Young, respectively, in last weekend's decathlon.

"They're off to a good start," Auka said. "A lot of what happens in these meets is the result of momentum. Somebody gets it going and it builds."

The Ducks can win in Los Angeles. They have done it before, in 1986 when the conference meet was staged at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum near the USC campus.

Oregon has two defending Pac-10 champions - senior Adam Kriz in the hammer throw and junior Brandon Holliday in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

John Stiegeler, who won the Pac-10 and NCAA javelin competitions in 2001 but was sidelined last season by a knee injury, also returns. Lorenzo also is entered in the 400 hurdles and the long jump.

Holliday's chances to repeat will be challenged, first by three other athletes who rank ahead of him in the event this season, and second by injuries sustained in an altercation last weekend. Holliday, though in the lineup for the Ducks, sustained a broken nose during an incident involving UO football player Keith Lewis, UO officials have confirmed.

Also, Oregon freshman Jordan Kent, while entered in the 100 and 200, is not scheduled to compete in the long jump, an event in which Auka originally projected him to finish at least fifth.

"That hurts Oregon to not have him long jump," Auka said.

But Smith said the decision to keep Kent out of the long jump - he ranked eighth in the conference, had jumped 24- 3/4 this season and has a PR of 25-1 1/4 - was an easy one.

"Clearly, I think Jordan has the ability to score in the long jump, but if he does the long jump, can he do the 100?" Smith said. "The best way to maximize his ability to do well in the meet and in terms of point production is to take him out of the long jump. The event is very hard on the body."

Oregon junior Jason Hartmann is among the favorites in the 10,000 (and should score in the 5,000), as are sophomore Brett Holts in the steeplechase, Stiegeler and junior Adam Jenkins in the javelin and Kriz in the hammer. Trevor Woods, a junior, is expected to finish in the top four of the pole vault. Foluso Akinradewo, a senior who was second in the triple jump last year, could duplicate that performance. Terry Ellis, a senior, can score in the 110 hurdles.

The Ducks will need some scoring from their young athletes. Freshman Eric Mitchum is a contender in the high hurdles, and the Ducks need points from athletes like freshman Ryan Flaherty in the 800, freshman Chad Clason in the high jump, and sophomores Eric Logsdon in the 5,000, Derek Strubel in the triple jump and Noel Paulson in the 1,500.

For the Oregon women, Becky Holliday, a senior and UO record-holder in the women's pole vault (14-5 1/2 ), is the lone event leader for the Ducks entering the meet.

Others with scoring potential for Oregon are Niki McEwen (pole vault), Mary Etter (discus), Janette Davis (400), Eri Macdonald (800), Amanda Brown (triple jump), Jordan Sauvage (hammer) and Jenny Brogdon (high jump) - all seniors - and sophomore javelin throwers Rosalyn Lundeen and Elisa Crumley.

PAC-10 EVENT SCHEDULE

Today's finals

10 a.m. - Women's hammer. 11 a.m. - Women's long jump. 1 p.m. - Men's pole vault; Women's high jump. 1:30 p.m. - Women's javelin. 1:45 p.m. - Men's shot put. 3 p.m. - Men's long jump. 4 p.m. - Women's steeplechase. 4:25 p.m. - Men's steeplechase. 4:30 p.m. - Men's javelin. 4:45 p.m. - Women's shot put. 5:50 p.m. - Women's 10,000. 6:40 p.m. - Men's 10,000.

Today's preliminaries

1 p.m. - Women's 4x100. 1:10 p.m. - Men's 4x100. 1:25 p.m. - Women's 1,500. 1:40 p.m. - Men's 1,500. 1:55 p.m. - Women's 100 hurdles. 2:15 p.m. - Men's 110 hurdles. 2:30 p.m. - Women's 400. 2:45 p.m. - Men's 400. 3 p.m. - Women's 100. 3:15 p.m. - Men's 100. 3:30 p.m. - Women's 800. 3:45 p.m. - Men's 800. 4:55 p.m. - Women's 400 hurdles. 5:05 p.m. - Men's 400 hurdles. 5:20 p.m. - Women's 200. 5:35 p.m. - Men's 200.