Ducks double up at invite.

Byline: Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

The Oregon men's sprint crew may be young and brand new to the program, but they're also fast learners.

They already understand how to set the tone for a track meet.

The UO foursome of Marcus Dillon, Ashton Eaton, Phillip Alexander and Jared Huske brought the Hayward Field crowd of 5,250 to life on Saturday by winning the 4x100 relay with a time of 40.47 seconds at the 18th annual Pepsi Team Invitational.

It was one of five Oregon victories on the day, and the Ducks used their season-best time in the relay as a springboard to capture the Pepsi men's team title with a total of 211 points, their 12th championship since the meet began in 1987.

Washington, which won the meet last year, settled for second place at 164, followed by Kansas State (133) and USC (118).

`We wanted to come out and surprise the Hayward crowd,' said Eaton, a freshman from Mountain View High School in Bend, who also won the long jump with a lifetime best of 24 feet, 5 inches.

They certainly did that in the relay with a West Regional qualifying mark.

Alexander, a junior transfer from Lane Community College, brought the Ducks from third to first with an impressive third leg, running the curve with speed and precision, to give Huske a comfortable lead on the anchor leg.

`We're young and we're new, but we wanted to let the crowd, and the rest of the country, know that we can run with anyone,' Alexander said. `Today, I think we did a little bit of that. It went well for us.'

Alexander, the former state champion in the 200 and 400 from McNary High School in Keizer, also took first place in the 100 with a wind-aided PR of 10.40. Eaton grabbed third with another PR of 10.51.

There were more Duck sprinters scoring big points in the 200 and 400.

Dillon, a junior transfer from LCC, was second in the 400 (47.11) and third in the 200 (21.44), and Alexander placed second in the 200 (21.07) and joined a trio of freshmen - Eaton, Chad Barlow and Zach Ancell - on the third-place 4x400 relay.

If you add Huske's two fourth-place performances in the 110 high hurdles and 400 intermediates, that's 75 points from six members of the largely unknown and certainly unheralded cast of UO sprinters.

`The sprinters all did a good job,' UO assistant coach Dan Steele said. `They exceeded the form chart, so you can't ask for any more than that. Phil is coming along great. ... The more he runs, and the more people he beats, the more confidence he's going to have. We're looking for big things later on in the season from him.

`I haven't seen any limits to what Ashton can do. He's a heck of an athlete and one of our rising young stars. We're very excited with the way he's been competing in the sprints and the long jump.'

In the 5,000, junior Galen Rupp looked fit and fresh as he sped to an easy win with a regional qualifying mark of 14:00.27. Rupp, who took the lead with seven laps remaining and never looked back, stayed relaxed despite swirling winds.

`Sometimes you felt the wind on one straightaway, and the next time you felt it on the other,' he said. `It was definitely a challenge, but we were just trying to get as many guys qualified as we could.'

Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott, a sophomore transfer from New Mexico, used a blistering last lap to also get under the regional 5K standard by just two seconds with a second-place time of 14:10.83.

`Right now, with the shape I'm in, it was a good performance,' Kiptoo-Biwott said. `It was not a great time, but it was important to get the qualifier so I can continue to train without worrying about regionals.'

The Ducks, who were competing without injured stars Tommy Skipper in the pole vault and Mike McGrath in the middle distances, picked up one final victory in the javelin from senior Ryan Brandel.

Although he was constantly flirting with the right sector line due to a tricky crosswind, Brandel was able to get the win with a throw of 218-9, more than 30 feet farther than runner-up Kyle Seiler of Kansas State.

Senior transfer Brian Richotte finished third in the hammer with a season-best mark of 212-10, which moved him up to No. 8 on the all-time UO list.

UO director of track and field Vin Lananna gave the Duck coaching staff a good portion of the credit for Saturday's triumph, as they paid close attention to the UO scoring potential throughout the meet, a detail which escaped them last season in their two-point loss to the Huskies.

However, he was most pleased with the enthusiasm shown by the crowd, which was the second-largest gathering for the Pepsi Team Invitational since 6,149 showed up for the inaugural event 20 years ago.

`What I saw today,' Lananna said, `which was very exciting for me, was the excitement back (at Hayward Field). The crowd was clapping during the men's and women's 5,000, and that was a really exciting thing to see. The fans were into what was going on, and once we run really fast, which we will, although it might not be on the timeline I would like it to be on ... this place will really be rocking.'

There were two meet records set on the men's side.

USC freshman Ahmad Rashad clocked 20.91 to win the 200, breaking the mark of 21.18 set by LSU's Slip Watkins in 1995.

The Trojans also broke the shot put record as reigning Pac-10 champion Noah Bryant won the event at 66-2 1/4 , well ahead of the record of 64-10 3/4 set by Nebraska's Kevin Coleman in 1992.