spoils_—
Distance corps leads Ducks
f
Defending Pac-10 champion Rudy Chapa is again expected to win the 1,500, followed by Oregon
runners fora 1-2-3 punch in the event
Alberto Salazar is picked to lead an Oregon sweep of the 5,000 and double back for a 10,000 victory.
Oregon takes long
road to Pac-10 win
By JODY MURRAY
Of the Emerald
With a strong corp of distance
runners, Oregon hopes to take
the long road to the winner’s
circle today and Saturday at the
Pacific-10 Conference track
and field championships.
The Ducks outclass the rest of
the conference in the distance
events. It is not beyond pos
sibility for Oregon to go 1-2-3-4
in the 5,000, 1-2-3 in the 1,500
and 1-2 in the 10,000.
Oregon will need all the points
it can get at Stanford Universi
ty’s track to break out of what is
considered a three-way race
between the Ducks, UCLA and
Arizona State.
“I don’t know everything
about UCLA and Arizona State,
how healthy they are. But they
are the other two that are
expected to be the favorites,”
says Oregon coach Bill
Dellinger.
Last year, the Bruins cruised
to the championship with Ore
gon fighting off USC for second
place. The Trojans won’t be al
lowed to compete this year
because of academic violations.
Arizona State will get most of
their points from their blazing
sprint crew, led by Dwayne
Evans, Ron Brown and Howard
Henley. The Bruins’ strength is
spread a little more evenly, with
emphasis in the jumps and
hurdles.
UCLA received a blow earlier
this week, though, when
number-two sprinter Larry
Goldston quit the team. That will
hurt the defending champions
in the 400, where Goldston had
the Pac-10’s fourth-best time,
and the mile relay, which the
Bruins were favored to win.
While the Bruins and the Sun
Devils duke it out in the sprints,
the Ducks will try to load up in
the distances. In the 5,000,
Alberto Salazar leads the
conference in 13:34.5, followed
by teammates Rudy Chapa
(13:53.8), Jim Hill (13:53.8) and
Greg Erwin (13:57.7).
Only one non-Oregon athlete,
Arizona’s Don Janicki, has gone
under 14 minutes this year.
Erwin has the top mark in the
10,000 (28:58), but will probably
run second to Salazar, who has
a best of 27:49.3. Hill should
challenge Erwin for the runner
up spot.
Rudy Chapa won the
conference 1,500 title in 1979,
and seems to be returning to
form (3:44.8) just in time to be
the event favorite this year.
Chapa will be joined by Torstein
Brox (3:46.3) and Graydon Pih
laja (3:49.7) and Mike Friton
(3:44.9), who will attempt a dif
ficult double with the
steeplechase.
Oregon’s defending champ in
the 800, David Mack, hasn’t ap
proached the 1:47.2 he ran two
months ago in the LSU
Invitational. To retain the crown,
he will need to overcome
challenges from Cal’s Mike
White (1:48.2), Washington
State’s Sotirios Moutsanas
(1:48.5) and Washington’s Rob
Webster (1:48.7).
In the field events, Dean
Crouser’s 213-0 mark in the
discus is still the nation’s top
collegiate throw. But Cal
Berkeley’s Dave Porath should
put some pressure on the Ore
gon sophomore after throwing
209 last weekend at the Mo
desto Relays.
Porath leads the shot put field
at 64-8, followed by Oregon’s
Vince Goldsmith (63-1 OVi) and
Crouser (62-1 %).
Oregon’s Reidar Lorentzen,
the defending champ in the
javelin, comes into the Pac-10
meet behind Washington
State’s Laslo Babits, who sur
passed Lorentzen’s 265-0 toss
with a 265-5 effort last weekend.
Photos by Steve Dykes
Vince Goldsmith is expected to add needed points to the Oregon
total in the shot put.