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Kosinski Leads Sweep of Pepsi Meet - goducks.com

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DyeStatCOLLEGE.com   Apr 8th 2012, 2:19am
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April 7, 2012

 

Kosinski Leads Sweep of Pepsi Meet

Ducks win 16 events to take home both team titles.

 

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon’s men and women won 16 events to sweep the Pepsi Team Invitational Saturday before 5,402 fans at sunny Historic Hayward Field.

 

Highlighted by a record-setting performance from Alex Kosinski in the 5,000 meters, the top-ranked Duck women led nearly wire to wire to win with 221.5 points, followed by Washington with 157, No. 5 Texas A&M with 149.5 and UCLA with 135. Oregon’s total was the second-highest in the history of the Pepsi meet.

 

The No. 16 Duck men rallied from a deficit midway through and clinched the meet with a sweep in the 5,000 meters. Oregon finished with 204, followed by No. 6 Texas A&M with 190, Washington with 138 and UCLA with 134.

 

“It was a great meet for everyone, for all teams that participated,” said Oregon Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna. “It was a good start and I am happy with the way that we finished.”

 

In the men’s competition, Oregon and Texas A&M were tied at 129-129 following the 400 meters hurdles. The Ducks pulled ahead for good on the pole vault and then used a 1-2 finish from Trevor Dunbar and Chris Kwiatkowski in the 5,000 meters to lock up the meet. Dunbar won in 13:51.79, with Kwiatkowski next in 14:04.38.

 

Earlier, the first men’s field event of the afternoon proved to be one of the best, with Sam Crouser winning the javelin on his final throw. The redshirt freshman from Gresham, Ore., went 244-3/74.45m on his last attempt to beat A&M’s Sam Humphries, the national leader in the event, who had gone 240-2/73.21m on his third throw.

 

“It was really fun, after the first throw the crowd got into it,” said Crouser, “I was doing it for the crowd at that point, and for my parents and grandparents. I did get a little lucky on the last one, I’m really glad I pulled it off.”

 

Crouser’s mark was the fourth-longest in school history.

 

The men saw an impressive 1-2 finish in the 800 meters. Senior Travis Thompson moved up early and held on to win in 1:51.08 with Boru Guyota just behind of 1:51.09.

 

In the 1,500 meters, Elijah Greer set a personal best of 3:45.84 to edge Ryan Soberanis of Washington, who ran 3:46.94. Freshman Chad Noelle took third for the Ducks in 3:45.84.

 

“The plan was to stay relaxed. I positioned myself up,” said Greer. The wind was blowing in my face in the back end so I had to kick harder and kick stronger.

“Even if it wasn’t the most normal race strategy, winning always balances out mistakes. I also think it’s more about racing and not about time.”

 

Freshman Johnathan Cabral was a key point scorer for the men. He hurled himself to the tape to win an exciting 110 hurdles in a wind-aided 13.63, just ahead of A&M’s Wayne Davis, who timed 13.70. He then came back to take second in the 400 hurdles in 53.40.

 

Oregon scored their final points on the men’s side by winning the 4x400 meter relay. Bryan Harper, Thompson, Arthur Delaney and Greer crossed the line in 3:08.90, just ahead of the Aggies’ 3:08.98.

 

Brian Schaudt came up big in the field events for the Ducks. The senior from Philomath, Ore., won the triple jump with a leap of 50-8.25/15.45m and was the runner-up in the long jump in an all-conditions personal-best 24-0.25/7.32m.

 

The women were led by Kosinski’s impressive showing in the 5,000 meters. The senior from El Dorado Hills, Calif., and Texas A&M’s Natosha Rogers broke from the pack early and the two were way ahead of the field for the entire race. Kosinski then made her move on Rogers with 600 meters to go and closed with a fast final lap to win in 15:36.90. Rogers crossed in 15:45.80 to break the A&M school record.

 

“We had a plan going into it that we would have a quick pace,” said Kosinki. “So I was just waiting and I was feeling great.”

 

That was an outdoor personal-best by 21 seconds, and was the fastest 5K by a Duck in 24 years. Kosinski moved up to third on the UO all-time list behind only Kathy Hayes’ 15:23.03 in 1985 and Annette Hand’s 15:34.55 in 1988. Hayes was on hand to see Kosinski’s run as the 1985 NCAA championship team was honored at the start of the meet.

 

While Kosinski’s race capped the Ducks’ dominating performance, the women scored throughout the day.

 

In the sprints, sophomore English Gardner won the 200 meters in 23.24, while sophomore Phyllis Francis captured the 400 in 52.99.

 

Anne Kesselring led a big 1-2 Oregon sweep in the 800. The 2011 NCAA outdoor champion won in 2:05.46, just ahead of teammate Laura Roesler, who timed 2:05.83. Junior Becca Friday captured the 1,500 in 4:20.21.

 

Oregon also saw the debut of Kimber Mattox in the first running event of the day, the 3,000 meter steeplechase. The transfer from Willamette University won in 10:15.05, with Taylor Wallace second in 10:23.16. Mattox’s time was the third-fastest in school history.

 

Brianne Theisen also contributed to the win by taking second in the 100 hurdles in 13.21. That would have broken her own school record, save for a wind of plus-2.4.

 

The Ducks closed out the running events in style, breaking the meet record in the 4x400 meters in 3:35.04. The team of Phyllis Francis, Devin Gosberry, Chizoba Okodogbe and Laura Roesler ran the eighth-fastest time in school history.

 

“Across the board every women runner did their job today, they all ran spectacular,” said Lananna. “Our women’s distance runners were phenomenal and they helped carry our team.”

 

In the field, freshman Chancey Summers won the high jump at 5-9.25/1.76m and sophomore Laura Bobek won the discus at 159-8/48.68m.

 

“It’s a great day,” said the freshman from Estacada, Ore.” The sun is out and the stands are full. I came to win. I wanted to beat Texas A&M. I did not want to lose.”

 

There were four meet records set Saturday. Texas A&M’s Prezel Hardy set the meet record in the men’s 200 meters in 20.60. For the women, the Aggies’ team of LaKeidra Stewart, Olivia Ekpone, Dominique Duncan and Ashley Collier set the 4x100 relay record in 43.61, in addition to the Ducks’ in Kosinksi in the 5,000 and the 4x400 meter relay team.

 

-www.goducks.com-



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