Oregon daily emerald., May 10, 1999, Page 9, Image 9

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Men emit strong effort in loss
Oregon gets several
season-best performances
in Saturday’s defeat
By Allison Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
In a way, the Pepsi Invitational
was the best day of track and field
for Oregon’s men’s team.
Will Driessen and Nat Johnson
had season bests in their individ
ual events and led Oregon to vic
tory in the 4x400-meter relay.
John Bello improved his person
al best in the shot put, and Rian In
grim tossed the hammer 3 1/2 feet
farther than ever before. Piotr Bu
ciarski was everywhere, tying the
meet record in the pole vault (18
1/2), winning the long jump and
running a season-best 42.09 sec
onds in his leg of the 4x100.
In all, the men’s team recorded
10 season bests Saturday, but as a
team the Ducks couldn’t keep up
with Nebraska or Washington.
The Cornhuskers left Hayward
Field with the victory (157 points)
followed by the Huskies (133
1/2). Oregon, which won the
event last season, was a distant
third with 1011/2 points.
“I don’t really understand it,”
Driessen said. “I would have
hoped that we would have a bet
ter showing.”
But Oregon did in fact have a
respectable showing.
Driessen edged Nebraska’s Guy
Emry in the 400 hurdles and fin
ished with his fastest time of the
season (52.73). In the 4x400 relay,
Driessen anchored the Ducks to a
victory (3 minutes, 13.35 sec
onds).
“My goal was to run a hell of a
lot faster [in the hurdles],”
Driessen said. “I came up on the
first hurdle with my off leg, but
going into the last 200 meters I
was fine. I just pumped.”
But without its All-Americans—
Matthew and Micah Davis, as well
as Steve Fein — Oregon simply
didn’t have enough to showcase.
Fein competed at the Cardinal
Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., on
Friday and provisionally quali
fied for the NCAA Champi
onships in the 5,000 (13:43.40).
Despite the absentees, head
coach Martin Smith said he was
pleased with the efforts of the team.
Johnson finished first in the
400 and was just shy of his per
sonal record (47.89). And in Ore
gon’s final race of the day, the
4x400, Johnson closed in on
Washington before handing the
baton to Driessen.
“I wanted to come out and run
a personal record and win,” John
son said after accomplishing both
in the 400. “This is a team meet,
and it’s nice to get a win out of it
— both personally and for the
team.”
Buciarski echoed Johnson’s
sentiments after winning the pole
vault and the long jump (23-7
1/4).
“I wanted to win,” Buciarski
said, “but I knew that it would
count for the team as well.”
Senior Chris Thomas scored for
Oregon in the javelin, finishing
second behind Washington’s
Justin St. Clair, with a personal
best throw of 217-2. Teammate
Shawn Rasmor finished fourth
(213-2) , while sophomore Ryan
Keith finished seventh (197-9).
“All I can do is ask for effort,”
Smith said. “Nebraska has a very
good track team.”
Nebraska won eight events, in
cluding the steeplechase and both
the 100 and 200. While Oregon
missed Micah Davis in the
steeplechase, Rob Aubrey scored
for the Ducks in the event, finish
ing second behind Jim Vance.
Also scoring for Oregon was In
gram, who was second in the
hammer (184-1) behind Nebras
ka’s Scott Warren (197-8). Bello
finished fifth in the shot put (53
1), out of scoring range, but with a
personal record, nonetheless.
It’s not what Oregon had
planned, but the fans cheered at
every victory lap, regardless of
whether it was an Oregon athlete.
And it was one more step toward
the Pacific-10 Conference meet,
where the Ducks will have their
top athletes competing.
Oregon has its final home meet
of the season Saturday — the non
scoring Oregon Twilight.
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