The performance by the Oregon track and field athletes this weekend has me exhausted. I found several things to be near beyond belief, beginning with Devon Allen winning the hurdles national championship after the terrible ACL injury he had to overcome. What an athlete! The King Ches performed another near impossible task by winning three distance events in two days (he really deserves the Bowerman Trophy this year).
While all Ducks can revel in the superiority that Oregon showed over some great SEC teams, it is already time to ponder the upcoming Outdoor track season. In an interview that he gave yesterday, I think that coach Johnson made it pretty clear that most of the Oregon team will be taking a short break, focus on schoolwork and then start into another "building" phase of training with the aim to peak again for NCAA finals. It seems to me that quite a few of those who represented Oregon at the Indoor championships competed in as many as four or five meets this Winter and could use a short break. I doubt we will see them in much competition until around the end of April.
Some Ducks, however, may well begin competing in the late March meets. We may see the emergence of the multi-eventers (Ashlee Moore, Liam Henshaw), and the big-guy throwers (Danielson, John Nizic, Jhett Janis, Cullen Prena, Amir Patterson, and Drake Brennan) at some of these early Outdoor meets. It will be interesting to see how guys like Drake Brennan (all 6' 8" and 280 pounds of him) develops in his first outdoor season at Oregon.
To put it in perspective, it appears that the cupboard is full and the coaches, as always, seem to have a master plan to develop the young athletes, while peaking the contenders for the big meets at the end of the season....the GOLDEN AGE continues, and the glitter has more shine than ever. Let's just sit back and enjoy the two new National Championships for awhile, then strap ourselves back into our seats for the great Spring/Summer ahead at Hayward Field. GO Ducks!
