Oregon Men, Minnesota Women Win Pepsi Invitational

The Ducks' women weren't quite as fortunate as they fell one point short in the team race won by Minnesota's 193 points to Oregon's 192.

A.J. Acosta ran a career-best 13:57.81 in winning the 5,000 meters at Saturday's Pepsi Team Invitational. Photo courtesy: goducks.com

EUGENE, Ore. - University of Oregon sophomore A.J. Acosta posted a personal record in the 5,000 meters while senior Phil Alexander recorded wins in the 200 and 400 meters to lead the Ducks' men to victory in the four-team Pepsi Invitational Saturday afternoon at Hayward Field in front of a crowd of 5,212.

The Ducks captured wins in 12 of the 19 men's events, including sweeping the top two finishes in five events, to account for 230 points. Penn State finished second with 150 points, followed by Minnesota (140.5) and Washington (125.5).

The Ducks' women weren't quite as fortunate as they fell one point short in the team race won by Minnesota's 193 points to Oregon's 192. Penn State scored 181 points, with Washington accumulating 78.

A two-hour telecast of the meet will air throughout the state on Comcast (Channel 37) at 9 p.m. Sunday (April 6) and will be replayed at 8 p.m. Monday.

Acosta posted his first Hayward Field victory as a collegian, winning the 5,000 in 13:57.81, which was almost 13 seconds under his previous personal best, and just over 14 seconds under the NCAA West Region qualifying standard. The third-place finisher in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships mile run trailed Minnesota's Hassan Mead on the north curve before overcoming him down the final stretch. Mead placed second with a time of 13:57.87.

Acosta's winning time would be good for the second-fastest mark in the country when compared to the nation's best collegiate marks posted headed into this weekend.

Alexander, who had previously posted regional qualifying standards in the 100 and 200 meters, recorded a third qualifying mark with a personal-best 47.13 in the men's 400 before returning later to set a Pepsi Invitational record in wnning the 200 with a PR of 20.74. That was in addition to the Keizer senior running the third leg on the winning 4x100 relay and the second leg on the victorious 4x400 quartet.

Alexander finished as the Ducks' lone double winner of the day, with Oregon adding 16 regional qualifying entries to their total.

Sophomore Nicole Blood accounted for two of them as she snapped a four-year old personal best in the 1,500 with a second-place finish of 4:20.86. She returned approximately two hours later to lead the Ducks' 1-3-4 dominance in the event in winning the 5,000 with a PR of 16:16.58. She was followed by Sarah Pearson's third-place finish in 16:42.35, with Zoe Nelson finishing fourth in 16:49.40.

Freshman Alexandra Kosinski continued to look impressive as she bettered her personal best in winning the 1,500 in 4:19.88.

Also setting meet records were Minnesota's Ruby Radocai, as she handed Oregon's Rachel Yurkovich her first runner-up finish at Hayward Field. Radocai not only bettered Yurkovich in the women's javelin, 187-feet, 6-inches to 183-11, it was Yurkovich' former meet record that she surpassed, with the Newberg junior posting a mark of 174-4 last season.

The remaining meet record that fell was in the women's 3,000 steeplechase, with the Golden Gophers' Jamie Cheever eclipsing Oregon's Dana Buchanan former mark set in 2006. Cheever won Saturday in a time of 10:11.33.

Other double winners included Washington's Norris Frederick in the men's high jump and long jump, Penn State's Aleesha Barber in the women's 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles, and the Nittany Lions' Shana Cox, who won the women's 200 and 400 meters.

The Ducks take next Saturday off from competition before returning April 19. The men will host UCLA in their first dual-meet matchup since 1984, while the women will travel to the Mt. SAC Relays.

Source: goducks.com

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