Though it is certainly not the same type of meet as the Penn Relays, many Oregon athletes will be competing in Corvallis this weekend. OSU head coach, Kelly Sullivan is really stepping up the High Performance meet this year. I believe the distance races (1,500 to 10K) all will be run on Friday, starting at 6 PM. Lots of Ducks will be running, along with some professionals and athletes from all over. Some notable ducks will be Tanner Anderson (still running unattached) in the 1500 meter race, along with Chris Brewer, Brett Willyard, and Matt Maton (also unattached). In addition...get this...Cory Primm and Moi Martinez from Eugene. The Women's 1500 will have Lilli Burdon and Kimber Mattox from Eugene. The men's 5K will feature ducks, Bryan Fernandez and Kyle Levermore. Sara Baxter will join ex-Oregon great Nicole Blood in the women's 5K.
The Saturday portion of this meet will include all three Oregon steeplers (Jackson Darland, Kyle Levermore and Chris Mulverhill in the 3K. Brianna Nerud will represent in the Women's section of the 3K, along with Eugene's Mel Newberry.
Going to the sprint portion on Saturday, Oregon's Travonn White, Chris Sourapas and Tatum Taylor will join pros Ryan Bailey, Joe Morris and Arthur Delaney. In the 200, Delaney and Bailey will be joined with Jack Galpin, Sourapas and Chris Stubbs of Eugene. Danielle Barbian, Alisha Rowlee and Madelyn Varela. Get this...Barbian will double back in the 200 with Jenna Prandini and Ashton Purvis.
Included in the 400 hurdles will be Ben Thiel on the men's side and Khadejah Jackson on the women's side. Both Brad Laubacher and Ben Milligan will be looking for higher jumps now that the season is getting serious. Austin White, T.J. Brassil and big Drake Brennan will be throwing the shot, as will Brittany Mann and Itohan Aikhionbare. In the men's Discus, we can look for likely new season PR's from both Drake Brennan and Cullen Prena. Prena and Madeline Middlebrooks with be heaving the hammer. Finally, and here are a few pleasant surprises, John Nizich and Jackson Van Vuren will be throwing the spear, along with Annie Whitfield and Liz Brenner.
This meet definitely has the possibility of being worth driving over to, or down to. It would be great to see lots of duck support to go along with all the athletes who will be there.