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Oregon men's track and field is seeking its second consecutive NCAA track and field outdoor team championship this week when it hosts the four-day championship meet at Hayward Field.

The Ducks are without 2014 NCAA and U.S. outdoors 110-meter hurdles champion Devon Allen, who sustained a knee injury in January while playing in the Rose Bowl, and his absence eliminates any cushion they could have hoped for. Yet even without Allen the Ducks will have enough firepower to win by two points over Florida and repeat as national champions according to Track & Field News' latest form chart. But the publication also called this one of the tightest races it's seen, with just six points separating the top four teams in the form chart.

Here are five Duck men who could make or break UO's campaign to win a seventh, and second consecutive, outdoor national championship.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

To win a title, Oregon must overcome a hurdle: Devon Allen's injury

Oregon's Devon Allen, second from right, won't be healthy enough to defend his 110-meter hurdles NCAA title from a season ago, and the Ducks must make up his points somewhere if they want to repeat as team outdoor champions.

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Edward Cheserek

Edward Cheserek

Cheserek is picked to add to his already storied two-year Oregon career with projected victories in the 10,000 and 5,000 meters, which will be run Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Those who wish to upend Cheserek must stay close to him, then overcome his hellacious kick. It's been done before, but it's exceptionally difficult. At last year's NCAA outdoor meet, Lawi Lalang held off Cheserek's 53-second final lap in the 10,000 meters. In March, Montana State's Cristian Soratos came close to beating Cheserek in the NCAA indoor mile but this time the Duck dropped him with a sprint in the final lap. Cheserek scored 18 points at last year's outdoor championships by running personal bests of 13 minutes. 18.71 seconds in the 5K and 28:30.18 in the 10K.

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Jenkins is the best collegiate distance runner of anyone not named Cheserek, and the combination should net Oregon 36 total points this weekend if the form charts predict correctly.

Jenkins, who as a senior is two years older than his decorated teammate, is projected to finish second in the 5K and 10K. He holds the country's 17th-fastest time in the 5K (13 minutes, 45.33 seconds) and 26th-fastest 10K (29:04.08) but those rankings reflect more a runner who hasn't been asked to go all-out yet rather than his true placing among his peers.

His top-two finish can come across as all but assured depending on which distance-running forum you read, but it remains that Jenkins still must go out and pull off the double, which remains a not-so easy task.

Darron Cummings/AP Photo

Eric Jenkins

Oregon's Eric Jenkins (left) crosses the finish line in second place at last fall's NCAA Cross Country Championships.

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The reigning javelin champion is again picked to finish first and earn 10 critical points for the Ducks, who have only one other teammate -- Greg Skipper in the hammer -- projected to score in the field events.

Crouser's throw of 259 feet even on this outdoor season's opening weekend remains the second-best heave nationally, 8 feet and 7 inches behind Middle Tennessee State's John Ampomah. But Crouser has invaluable experience throwing in "clutch" situations, after taking third in 2013, winning last season's championship and becoming the only man in Pac-12 Conference history to win four consecutive league titles.

Crouser's top competition is thought to be Kentucky's Raymond Dykstra, who finished runner-up at the 2014 NCAA outdoor championships but has beaten Crouser once this year already, at the Pepsi Invitational.

Alex Gallardo/AP Photo

Sam Crouser

Oregon's Sam Crouser won the Pac-12 javelin on his final attempt in May.

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It was only a month ago that Cabral crossed the finish line at the Oregon Twilight and immediately grabbed the back of his right leg with an apparent hamstring issue. Cabral didn't race at the subsequent Pac-12 championships despite owning the conference's fastest 110-meter hurdle time of 13.71 seconds; in his absence, classmate Trevor Ferguson picked up the slack by finishing second. The injury was representative of Cabral's career as a whole, which has seen his star-making moments — he's a four-time All-America — equal his setbacks.

Though his star power in the hurdles was usurped last season by breakout star Devon Allen, Cabral has a chance to end his career on the right note. He's picked to finish fifth after a season's best 13.67 at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, which is the 19th-fastest time this season.

Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

Johnathan Cabral

Oregon's Johnathan Cabral is a four-time All-America.

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Marcus Chambers

Picked to finish fifth by Track & Field News, Chambers is the only sprinter expected to score points for the Ducks at the NCAA outdoor championships. His season best of 45.21 seconds, set while winning the Pac-12 title at UCLA in mid-May (see video), ranks sixth-fastest nationally.