In the eyes of UO coach Robert Johnson, the Men of Oregon mostly held form Wednesday to open the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships — which doesn't sound overwhelming, until you consider that "form" included two individual titles.

The day began with points from hammer thrower Greg Skipper, but over the next couple of hours the Ducks didn't see many on the bubble to score break through. The program's momentum changed in a rousing stretch of about 10 minutes late in the day, putting Oregon in strong contention for its second straight team title when the men's portion of the meet concludes Friday.

As twilight neared at Hayward Field, Sam Crouser was finishing off his second consecutive javelin title. Meanwhile, on the track, Edward Cheserek led teammate Eric Jenkins through a 1-2 finish in the 10,000 meters. Those finishes weren't unexpected — but they also weren't easy.

"It's tough to do — even though it's predicted and you're expected, it's still pressure," Jenkins said. "We need these points. It's a big relief."

The event titles for Crouser and Cheserek, plus Jenkins' second and a third-place by Skipper, gave Oregon 34 team points. Dakotah Keys enters Thursday in prime position to add points in the decathlon, the only men's competition prior to Friday under a new format that splits up the bulk of the men's and women's events.

Cheserek and Jenkins will be back in action Friday in the 5,000 meters, joining a handful of teammates in other events. The Ducks will try to hold off the talented sprinters from Florida, who loom in second with 16 points.

"Today wasn't the main concern," Jenkins said. "Friday's going to be a tough race, a tough day, and the most important one. We're just trying to get recovered and ready for that 5k."

For much of Wednesday's 10k, the pace was accommodating. Cheserek was fifth and Jenkins was ninth about 3,000 meters in, before the pace slowed and the field condensed. Midway through the race, Craig Lutz of Texas tried to enforce a more honest pace, with Jason Witt of BYU and Cheserek going with him.

"I was just waiting for someone to come push it, and then sit back," said Cheserek, a sophomore who won his seventh NCAA individual title. "I wasn't worried about leading the race. Just waiting for somebody to take it."

That trio gapped the field a bit, but Jenkins reeled them in and made the lead group a quartet. With three laps to go, he took the lead followed by Cheserek, and they held those positions until Cheserek kicked to the front with about 100 to go. He won in 28:58.92, followed by Jenkins in 28:59.13.

At about the same time, Crouser was wrapping up the javelin. He took a commanding lead on his third throw, of 256 feet, 4 inches. As it turned out, the only man to better that was Crouser himself, who threw 259-9 on his fifth throw for the winning mark.

Crouser's third attempt followed a massive throw easily beyond 80 meters — his winning effort was 79.19 — that was disallowed when he chopped his steps and just barely scratched. Rather than be disheartened by the non-counting mark, Crouser said he gained some confidence.

"If you foul a big one, you know you can throw a big one," he said. "It's different if you foul one way out of bounds, something like that. But it was barely anything. I knew I had it in me, and I just had to move my steps back a little bit."

Crouser was the second UO thrower to provide team points Wednesday, after Skipper improved on consecutive NCAA Outdoor fourth-place finishes by taking third in the hammer. He threw a personal best 233-9, the junior finishing behind only two seniors.

"With the week of practice leading up, I felt really good," Skipper said. "I knew there was something in the tank, and was able to find it. I'm just really happy to start the team off this way. ... Hopefully this gets momentum going."

For the next few hours, that wasn't necessarily the case. Johnathan Cabral andMarcus Chambers advanced to finals in the 110 hurdles and 400 meters, respectively. But several Ducks missed advancing to event finals by just a place or two — Tanguy Pepiot in the 3,000 steeplechase, Arthur Delaney in the 200,Trevor Ferguson and Nate Moore in the long jump.

Most form charts didn't project big points in those events, but every point is crucial with an NCAA title on the line, and would have been gladly welcomed.

An exception was the 1,500 meters. The Ducks were cautiously optimistic they could qualify all three of their runners, and the trio of Daniel Winn, Johnny Gregorek and Blake Haney obliged. Winn took second in a bumpy first heat, in 3:45.78, before Haney and Gregorek went 2-3 in the faster second heat. Each recorded a PR, with Haney crossing in 3:40.81 and Gregorek following in 3:40.89.

The Ducks missed out on some other chances to bust the experts' form charts, but the trio in the 1,500 has a chance to do that come Friday.

"We're all about winning this team title," Gregorek said. "It's just an opportunity to get a lot of points, and we're all excited to get out there and finish as high as we can."

by Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

Entering the final day of men's competition in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the Ducks had the ultimate ace in the hole. Or make that aces: Edward Cheserek, Eric Jenkins and Will Geoghegan in Friday's penultimate event at Hayward Field, the 5,000 meters.

Whatever happened the rest of the day, Oregon knew it could count on big points from that trio.

What the Ducks didn't know was that, as it turned out, they wouldn't need them.

Cheserek, Jenkins and Geoghegan nearly repeated their 1-2-3 finish from the NCAA Indoor 3,000, running 1-2-4 on Friday. That gave the Ducks 23 points — in a meet they won by 29 over their closest competition. Thanks to surprising second-place finishes by Johnathan Cabral in the 110 hurdles and Marcus Chambers in the 400, Oregon had the team title all but wrapped up before the 5,000 even began.

"Great day for the Ducks," said UO coach Robert Johnson, who celebrated the Men of Oregon's second straight NCAA Outdoor title, and seventh overall. "Great day to be a Duck. Great day, all Duckies. Unbelievable performance."

Nursing a first-day lead but wary of potential SEC spoilers Florida, Arkansas, Texas A&M and LSU, the host Ducks saw nearly everything go as well as expected or better. None of the competition could get on a roll the way Oregon did.

The Ducks' series of pleasant surprises began in the 1,500, as freshman Blake Haney took third. On track to redshirt midway through this season, the freshman instead capped a meteoric rise by running 3:55.12 for six points toward the team score; he became just the fourth freshman since 1999 to finish third or better in the 1,500.

Two events later, Cabral followed up Devon Allen's national title in the 110 hurdles last season by taking second, parlaying an exceptional start into a wind-aided time of 13.22. And two events after that, Chambers stayed relaxed through the windy back stretch, then unleashed a furious kick to finish second in the 400 in 45.59.

"Blake had a great race — I was excited for him," Chambers said. "And then Cabral came out and took second, ran great. That just gave me more energy for my race. We're all just doing what we can, feeding off each other."

Chambers was one of five Ducks who scored for the UO national title teams both indoors and outdoors this season. But this week's effort was much more balanced. The indoor title came largely due to Oregon's distance runners; the same can't be said of the contributions outdoors.

"We don't want to always rely on Edward Cheserek and Eric Jenkins," Chambers said. "They're great runners, we all know that. But we want to show people that other people on our team can score, too."

By the time the 5,000 runners were toeing the line for the start, only Arkansas remained a threat. The Razorbacks trailed Oregon by 18 points, with the potential to get 10 in each of the last two races.

Conceivably the Ducks could have come out of the 5,000 with no points, and thus Arkansas remained mathematically alive.

Less than 15 minutes later, those hopes were dead. Cheserek won in 13:48.67, Jenkins was second in 13:48.92 — repeating their 1-2 finish in the 10,000 on Wednesday — and Geoghegan was fourth in 13:49.35.

The duo of Cheserek and Jenkins capped a remarkable year-plus in which they helped lead Oregon to two NCAA Outdoor titles and one indoors, combining on 10 individual titles in the process if cross country is included.

"The training (together), really, it's everything," said Jenkins, a senior who ran his last collegiate race. "So when you go into races, it almost feels like another day — especially since it's a home. Coming into the last lap, when it gets tough and you see your teammates around — I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again, you just get a sense of relaxation."

The 23 points from the 5k gave Oregon 85 for the meet — three fewer than their NCAA record set a year earlier.

Cheserek's double this week in the 5,000 and 10,000 gave him eight career individual titles — one more than the great Steve Prefontaine.

"I think it's amazing," said Cheserek, who scored for all four of Oregon's title teams over the last two years — two each indoor and outdoor. "I'm trying to write my name, to be a legend like him one day."

That day may come sooner rather than later. But Friday was about the Men of Oregon as a team, and form chart-busting efforts by the likes of Cabral and Chambers that made it a runaway for the Ducks in the NCAA Championships.