EUGENE -- The NCAA's Division I regional track meets begin Thursday in Austin, Texas and Greensboro, N.C., and Oregon coach Robert Johnson refused get drawn into a discussion of their worth yesterday when he met with media.
Vin Lananna, who preceded Johnson as coach and remains an associate athletic director at Oregon,
, or Preliminary Rounds as the NCAA calls them.
Given the opportunity to chime in, Johnson begged off.
"Those are the cards we've been dealt," he said. "We'll do whatever it is they say we have to do."
There are no team scores or individual event winners in the regional meets. The competition merely winnows the field for the NCAA Championships, June 5-8 at Hayward Field.
For athletes at powerhouse programs such as Oregon, the object is to expend the minimum effort necessary to advance.
UO javelin thrower Sam Crouser, for instance, said he hoped to take just three of his six allotted throws.
If the Ducks make major news at the West Regional, it will be because one of their big guns fails to qualify. It happened in 2010 in Austin when sprinter
from the NCAA Championships.
Distance runner Parker Stinson recalled what assistant Andy Powell told the team two years ago.
"He said, 'All you get out of regionals are losers,'" said Stinson, who plans to double in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. "You are probably one of the biggest losers if you win, because you went too hard."
That is especially true for somebody like Stinson, who ran a 10,000 two weeks ago at the Pac-12 Championships, has to run another 10,000 to qualify in the regional, and then a third 10,000 in a fourth-week span at the NCAA meet proper.
Setting a blistering pace in Austin won't help him win in two weeks when the order of finish actually means something.
"I'll try to sit in about eighth place," Stinson said. "Maybe move up a little bit or just stay around there to be safe."
All he needs is a top 12 finish to advance. No wonder few people want to pay watch this thing. Lananna believed the NCAA fields should picked from season performance lists.
Johnson stayed out of the controversy.
"Sure there are difficulties, but everybody shares and faces those same difficulties," Johnson said. "It's almost like all your body of work from the season doesn't matter. But it's no different than the other sports in their championship seasons. It reminds me of basketball. Win and advance or lose and go home. It's very similar to that."
Here is
for the NCAA West Regional, and here the
and
for the meet.
OK, more links:
Ali Worthen
My track notebook for this morning's Oregonian: Former Marshfield star
at the NCAA Division II heptathlon title.
The R-G's track notebook: Tendon
in Austria.
Ex-Duck
for the World Track & Field Championships.
UO
season go to English Gardner, Jordan Hasay, Elijah Greer, Anne Kesselring, Phyllis Francis, Laura Roesler, Sam Crouser, Johnathan Cabral, Dakotah Keys, Becca Friday, Greg Skipper, Mac Fleet, Jenna Prandini, Trevor Dunbar, Alexi Pappas, Jillian Weir, Parker Stinson, Trevor Ferguson and strength coach Jim Radcliffe.
Bleacher Report columnist
entering the West Regional, and doesn't think a UO sweep of the NCAA Championships is beyond the realm of possibility.
Cabral and Hasay
in his look at the regionals for The Chill Zone.
Treniere Moser tells the Daily Relay that
for her.
Dathan Ritzenhein
at Oxy.
Brent Vaughn and Deena Kastor
International Team Challenge.
Tirunesh Dibaba
for the Prefontaine Classic.
Training
for Kara Patterson.
The experts from LetsRun.com
, and give shouts out to Moser and Mary Cain in "The Week That Was In Running."
LetsRun.com's
the Adidas Grand Prix.
Complete
the Beijing IWC.
Video of
in Beijing.
Track & Field News is out with updated lists of U.S.
and U.S.
for the World Track & Field Championships.
Morgan Gonzales
, and gives it a thumbs up.
Unsponsored no longer,
with Asics.
Amid all the furor over high school junior Mary Cain's performance at the Oxy High Performance meet,
won the race.
Spikes Magazine's
at last week's competition.
Oscar Pistorius
this year.
Running Times
Emma Coburn.
The Oregon
at Hayward this weekend. Just a personal observation here, the people who like the idea of putting all six classifications in Eugene in a three-day period probably aren't ones who have to find a parking place somewhere within a square mile of Hayward on Thursday and Friday. The OSAA honchos? They have parking passes.
Four
for the NCAA Division III Championships.
The
in the NCAA Division III rankings.
Pacific's
for the Division III Championships.
The
from LetsRun.com.
Runner's World's
of racing news.
The
roundup.
RunBlogRun's
about track & field and running.
The
from Track & Field News.
The
Addicted to Quack.
-- Ken Goe