Oregon Track Looking Strong For MPSF
Photo: Zach Ancell Photography
As the indoor track and field season begins to come to a close, the Oregon Ducks appear poised to make a strong defense of their men’s and women’s championships from last year. Going into this weekend’s conference championship meet - Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) - at Washington’s Dempsey Indoor Facility, the men and women are ranked second and fifth in the nation, respectively. Head Coach Robert Johnson is confident in his team’s ability to compete in one of the biggest, and most competitive, meets of the year.Although this meet is the conference championship meet, it carries even larger implications for Oregon going into the NCAA Championships. The battle to decide the top sixteen qualifiers for the Indoor championship meet will ultimately be decided this weekend. Oregon’s distance medley relay (DMR) is the last team in at the number sixteen spot, and will likely need a big performance at MPSF in order to reach the championship meet on March 13th and 14th.The question of who will run the DMR for Oregon is a fascinating one. With such a deep distance squad this year, the options are abundant for Coach Johnson. Although the obvious answer for who should run the final leg, sophomore stud Edward Cheserek, Coach Johnson was quick to point out that the team has multiple athletes capable of running the sub four-minute mile it will likely take to pull off a victory, or more importantly assure them a spot in the championships. “Well you know we’ve got Daniel Winn and Will [Geoghegan] who have both run under four this year, so we’ve got some options there.”According to the heat sheets released for the event, Oregon is going to be stacking the 3000 meters with eight men entered in the first heat, and two in the second. The Ducks will be out in full force with the defending NCAA champion in the event, Edward Cheserek, as well as his partner in crime, Eric Jenkins. Johnny Gregorek, who has had an impressive season so far, will also look to bolster his resume for NCAA, and Will Geoghegan will complete the difficult double running both the mile and the 3000 meters.Whoever ends up running this weekend it will be a performance to remember as the Ducks turn into the homestretch of the indoor season, eyeing yet another NCAA title.
