Small contingent shines at meets

April 2, 2005 – Willamette University provides meets that are relatively close to home XO athletes who travel from both the Eugene and the Portland areas and consequently are well attended by Team XO.

A sprint double in the 100 and 200 meters by Eric Dahl landed success in both races with third and sixth place finishes respectively. Dahl plans on testing himself in the same double at next weekend’s Oregon Mini-meet.

Back from the World Cross Country Championships and preparing to open his track season, Paul Kezes opted to rabbit both the men’s mile and 5000 meter races. A gutsy performance by Nick Symmonds (3:47.04) of Willamette where he went around Kezes early in the race proves he is close to his next breakthrough. “At first he was like, ‘Good pace, good pace, keep it goin,’ and next thing he was flyin’ around me!” said Kezes of Symmonds in the 1500. Kezes work in the 5000 was better used and produced eleven runners under the 15:00 mark.

Also in the 5000, James Longoria ran to a very impressive 21st place finish in a field of 72 runners. The race took Longoria just 15:16 to complete to start his outdoor campaign on the right foot.

Max King also turns to the track scene after an impressive run at the U.S. 8k Road Nationals where he finished 5th in a field packed with America’s top distance runners. Running his first steeplechase of the year, King ran away from the competition to win in 8:54, well off his personal record, but impressive as he ran most of the race alone.

Turning to the field events, it was more good news for XO high jumper Kyley Johnson who once again cleared the 7-0 barrier. He had three good attempts at the U.S. Outdoor Nationals qualifying mark but will have to wait for another day to clear the height. Johnson certainly seems to have all tools needed to get there and looks to be on his way to breaking through to the national level!

Long jumper Colin McArthur picked up his third win in as many competitions with a jump of 23-7.25. After jumping just three inches better two weeks ago at the Oregon Preview with a 4.3 m/s tailwind (well over the allowable limit of 2.5 m/s) this mark looks solid and proves what will undoubtedly be an exciting year for the long jumper.

Notes: XO Hammer specialist, Justin Carvalho, threw at Clark Community College this weekend and landed a winning throw of 214’.


Kevin Ullman