By Jesse Sowa
Albany Democrat-Herald | Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:00 am
EUGENE - For many University of Oregon track and field athletes, a long NCAA season just wrapped up.
Now it's time to back to Hayward Field for another big meet.
More than 25 past, current and future Ducks will compete in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin a four-day run on Thursday.
The meet includes the senior and junior national championships, with more than 1,700 athletes competing.
Oregon could be well represented at next month's world championships, with the top three finishers in the national meet gaining berths.
Leading the way are Ashton Eaton, Galen Rupp, Andrew Wheating and Rachel Yurkovich, all NCAA champions at the national meet two weeks ago.
"When you wrap up the NCAAs you have that feeling that your season is done," said Wheating, who won the NCAA 800 meters to help the Oregon men finish runner-up in the team race. "You kind have got to get your mind back on track, and your season is never done until the cross country season starts up. As far as I'm concerned, I've got plenty of meets left."
Wheating, a 2008 Olympian in the 800, competed at the NCAA meet despite a calf injury.
Wheating and Oregon coach Vin Lananna will decide today whether Wheating will compete in the 800 or 1,500, which both open with preliminaries on Thursday.
"It gets better every day," Wheating said Monday of his calf. "The doctors didn't think I'd be walking at this point. Everything is fine. I'm running around. Everything feels almost 100 percent."
Eaton won his second straight NCAA decathlon title after taking fifth in Olympic Trials in 2008.
Eaton, a junior from Bend, has been named the Pacific-10 Conference, NCAA West Regional and NCAA national field athlete of the year for 2009.
He won the NCAA decathlon crown this spring with a personal-best 8,241 points in the 10-event competition.
He expects to need to score 8,200 to qualify for the world meet, which will be held next month in Berlin.
Eaton said his improved score and experience competing in big meets are to his advantage.
"They're both getting better," he said. "I think I'm more of a contender for a top-three finish than last year."
Another feather in Eaton's cap is the fact that he's scored more points in the running events in a decathlon - 100, 400 and 1,500 and 110 high hurdles - than any decathlete ever.
And Eaton said he has yet to reach his peak in those races.
"It's kind of cool because I know I can go faster," he said. "Obviously those are my strong points. Now that I've got those, I've got to work on getting points somewhere else."
Rupp, a senior from Portland, won 5,000 and 10,000 NCAA titles this spring and was named the conference, West Regional and national track athlete of the year.
A 14-time All-American, Rupp finished second in the 10,000 at the Olympic Trials in 2008 and competed in the Olympics.
Yurkovich, a junior from Newberg, won her second straight NCAA javelin title with a Pac-10 record toss of 195-7.
She finished third in the Trials last year.
"Every meet is a big meet," Lananna said. "Sure, there's the emotional side of the NCAAs, but I think the men and women expected to compete for spots in the world championships will be ready to compete this weekend."