who?
An unknown walk-on the last two
years, Dacre Bowen is suddenly one
of the top four quartermilers in UO
history.
Bowen’s off and charging in ’76
By JEFF NIELSON
Of the Emerald
Every track program has athletes who have
been recruited — the guys who stand out in high
school or junior college and sign letters of intent to a
university in June with great hoopla.
But for a track coach, there's always that un
known factor — the walk-ons who can eventually
make a program stand out.
Dacre (rhymes with acre) Bowen, a junior
sprinter from Honolulu, Hawaii, is one such walk-on
who is doing a bit of standing out lately.
In this season's upset win over Washington in
Seattle, Bowen won the 400 meters in a career-best
47.4. Then, against a strong UCLA squad in Los
Angeles Saturday, Bowen had personal bests in two
events, the 400 meters, where his 46.7 upset win
over Benny Miles startled some people, and in the
anchor leg of the mile relay, where Bowen ran down
Miles in the stretch in 47.7 to help give the Ducks
another win in 3:14.8.
Bowen is now tied for third on the Oregon all
time 440 list.
What caused this sudden burst of speed? The
21-year-old international business major credits his
current success to work — just plain old training.
“The biggest difference between this year and
last is I just decided to do the work," said Bowen. “By
reading and doing research, I also got a better un
derstanding of my event.’’
Bowen came to Oregon in the fall of 1973, just as
concerned with the University’s business school as
with the track program. It's not that he didn't have
credentials — he was a Hawaii state champion who
set records in both the 100 and 220 yard dashes his
senior at Punahou High — it's just that he was more
concerned with getting an education.
When spring rolled around, though, Bowen was
off running and gained a spot on the team. After a
freshman year when his biggest accomplishment
was acting as pacesetter as Rick Wolhuter set his
world-record 880 mark of 1:44.1 and a sophomore
season that Bowen describes as "gaining strength
and experience,” he decided on more training, which
included doing modified half-mile workouts during
the winter.
Bowen isn't the only team member doing well.
The sprinter says the Ducks' good fortune this sea
son is due to "maturity."
"Most of us on the squad are juniors," said
Bowen, "and we re developing together. The whole
team is starting to mature. There’s more competition
between Denzil (Davis) and I this season.”
Bowen has no doubts about the team doing
better than it's fourth-place Pacific-8 finish last year.
“We could do very well in the Pac-8's this year,”
he said. "This Saturday's home meet with Washing
ton State will be our toughest meet of the season
because they're strong where we re strong.”
The Cougars whipped Oregon 94-69 in a dual
meet last year and edged the Ducks by a point in the
Pac-8 meet. But, then, that was a different Oregon
team. And a different Dacre Bowen.
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