Oregon Runners Make Final NCAA Qualifying Run

Texas clocked the fastest time of the day (9:31.27).

Andrew Wheating and Michael McGrath ran 800m and 1,200m legs on UO's distance medley relay Friday. Photo: goducks.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The University of Oregon men’s distance relay kicked off the final weekend of NCAA indoor track and field qualifying with its fourth NCAA provisional mark of the season Friday in the first day of the Alex Wilson Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame.

The Duck unit of juniors Michael McGrath (1,200m) and Marcus Dillon (400m), freshman Andrew Wheating (800m) and sophomore Galen Rupp (1,600m) ran a time of 9:39.43 that ranked 12th overall among the 25 teams that were evenly divided between the two races.

Oregon’s time in the Loftus Sports Facility Friday was its fourth in ‘07 under the NCAA provisional standard of 9:45.70, its third fastest ever, and the second fastest of the season.

Texas clocked the fastest time of the day (9:31.27) and was one of three teams that met the NCAA automatic standard (9:34.00) with Tennessee (second, 9:33.61) and Michigan (third, 9:33.99).

Last weekend in the Mountain Pacific Championships in Seattle, the unit of McGrath, Dillon, Wheating and freshman A.J. Acosta broke the school record with their third-place time of 9:37.95.

Earlier this year, the Ducks, also ran additional NCAA provisional marks of 9:41.64 and 9:42.06 that rank fourth and fifth in school history.

UO’s other top-five ranked mark all-time and its preseason record (9:39.75) earned its only NCAA invitation in school history.

Looking ahead to Saturday, the Ducks’ men’s 4x400m will return to Notre Dame’s oversized +300m track to try and score its third NCAA indoor trip in the event since 2004.

The Ducks' NCAA provisional season best of 3:09.92 currently ranks fifth nationally.

Race results and meet information are located at Notre Dame’s http://und.cstv.com website at the http://und.cstv.com/sports/c-track/stats/2006-2007/alexwilson.html URL address.

Several other Duck distance runners and field event performers will compete Sat., in the University of Washington’s Last Chance Qualifier with events running from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.

Results will be available online at the www.GoHuskies.com website.

On Monday evening, Oregon’s provisional qualifiers will find out if they will join their three teammates – Rupp (5,000m), Tommy Skipper (pole vault) and Rebekah Noble (800m) – who have automatically qualified for the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships, scheduled for Fri.-Sat., March 9th-10th at the University of Arkansas.

The two-day collegiate finale will feature 284 athletes in each of the men’s and women’s competitions, and invitations are based on athletes’ indoor season best marks.

Each NCAA individual event typically has between 10-12 relay entries and 12-20 entries in individual events, based on size limitations.

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