3/22/08 – Eugene, OR – A slightly cold, slightly blustery, but sunny day ushered in the outdoor track season at Hayward Field’s first meet of this Olympic year, the Oregon Preview. Team XO made its annual appearance and garnered four runner-up performances.

AK Ikuakor opened his first outdoor season in a Team XO jersey by taking second in both the 200 (21.58) and 400 meter (47.92) races finishing behind former teammates and current UO standout sprinters. He also anchored an XO 4x400 relay that placed second in 3:16.09 behind the Oregon Track Club Elite team. Other members of the relay squad were 800 meter specialists Jeff Fisher, Mark Wieczorek, and Joel Legare who all ran the 1500 finishing 2nd, 3rd, and 8th, respectively.

Melanie Hardy earned another XO runner-up finish with her 2:10.55 effort in the women’s 800. The women’s 3000 was loaded with XO talent as Nicole Feest, Kelly Fullerton, Magdalena Sandoval, and Joanna Murphy finished 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 13th respectively.

Bridget Johnson added 5th and 6th place finishes in the 100 hurdles and javelin to her win from the previous day at the Charles Bowles Classic at Willamette University in the long jump (16-8.5). Eric Dahl also earned a win at Willamette in the 100 (10.94) while Mike Kebbe took the runner-up spot in the 1500 in 3:57.07.

New faces for XO were Brandon Lopez, formerly of Portland State University, who took 4th in the 800 (1:52.13), Brendan Robinson, formerly of the University of Portland, who doubled in the 800 and 1500, Pat Johnson, also in the 1500, and Keegan Burnett who pole vaulted to 14-7¼.

The next opportunity for success will come in two weeks at the Stanford Invitational and the Willamette Invitational. Coverage for both will be available at RunnerSpace.com and results for this past weekend’s meets are linked below.

http://www.runnerspace.com/Oregon_Preview

http://www.runnerspace.com/CharlesBowlesClassic