Oregon track and field wrapped up the Oregon Relays Saturday afternoon at Historic Hayward Field, with multiple Ducks enjoying successful performances in the final day.
Oregon’s Marcus Chambers was excited to be racing in a men’s 400 meters field that included Charles Jock. Jock is a middle-distance runner who represented the United States in the 2011 World Championships. He is currently running for Nike OTC Elite.
“I’ve never raced him before, but I know who he is and all the great things he’s done on the track,” Chambers said of Jock. “I was just excited to have some competition.”
Chambers was placed in lane four while Jock was in lane five.
At the gun Jock got off to a quick start with his long strides, though Chambers was able to make up the stagger with about 150 meters to go. By the final straightaway he had pulled away, cruising to the victory. His final time was 46.47, while Jock crossed in 48.14.
“Just to be critiquing by race, my backstretch could have been a little better,” Chambers said. “Overall it was a good race.”
Jock’s specialty is the 800, so he didn’t come in with high expectations.
“As a 800 runner against 400 guys, most of the time you aren’t going to win,” Jock said.
Oregon’s Annie Leblanc put in another strong performance, competing in both the women’s 800 and the 4×400 relays. She won the 800 with a time of 2:04.49 and helped her team win the relay in 3:42.51.
“She probably gets the performer of the meet award in what she was able to do there,” Oregon head coach Robert Johnson said. “We are really pleased with where her training is going.”
Oregon senior Trevor Ferguson also had a good follow up by winning the men’s 110 hurdles. He crossed the line at 14.28 after easily clearing the last few hurdles.
The men’s pole vault turned into a duel between a pair of Ducks — junior Matt Hidalgo and freshman Cole Walsh. Both were jumping well, and as they went on the crowd began to get behind them.
They both failed to pass at 17-5, settling for a final mark of 17-1. Since Hidalgo had fewer fails the previous mark, he was awarded the tiebreaker.
Oregon record holder Brittany Mann won the women’s shot put after launching it on her first attempt of the outdoor season. She threw it 54-9.25 to claim the victory.
Click here for an entire list of results.
The next meet on the schedule for the Ducks will be a trip to compete in The 121st Penn Relays in Philadelphia. The meet is a three-day affair beginning on Thursday.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur