by Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Behind a 1-2-3 finish in the 3,000 meters, the Men of Oregon track and field team brought home its second straight NCAA Indoor team title Saturday with 74 points at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

Eric Jenkins followed his win in the 5,000 meters Friday by capturing the 3,000 on Saturday in 7:58.81. Jenkins won with a kick in the homestretch that pushed him past teammate Edward Cheserek, who won the mile earlier in the day. Will Geoghegan was third, giving Oregon 24 team points in the event, after the Ducks entered the event needing 11 to clinch the title over Florida.

"You can't say enough about those guys," UO coach Robert Johnson said. "To be able to finish it off the way they did in the 3k is absolutely outstanding."

The Oregon women saw their streak of team titles end at five, despite exceeding last year's winning total with 46.5 points to trail only host Arkansas. Jenna Prandini followed her long jump title Friday by finishing second in the 200 meters and fourth in the 60 on Saturday; her 23 points made her the high-point scorer in the meet, while Cheserek led male competitors with 20.5, just ahead of Jenkins' 20.

"I think we showed we're scrappy and we can fight," Prandini said. "We're not going to roll over and die when we face competition. I think we did really well at this meet, and we're going to get better as time goes on."

The Men of Oregon led the team race entering Saturday, on the strength of Jenkins' victory in the 5,000 and another in the distance medley relay during Friday's opening session. The Ducks had entrants in only two events Saturday, but it was an historic group — five in the 3,000 meters, matching the meet record, and three more in the mile.

After anchoring the winning DMR a day earlier, Cheserek ran another scalding mile Saturday, winning in 3:57.94. Johnny Gregorek was fourth in 4:04.30, and Daniel Winn was sixth in 4:04.44.

About two hours later, Cheserek was leading the 3,000 until the homestretch, when he appeared to ease up a bit and Jenkins passed him for the win. "This guy's had a hell of a day, let alone weekend," Jenkins said while standing next to Cheserek after the meet. "That mile was something special, something pretty crazy. I knew I had to help the team out."

The trio of Jenkins, Cheserek and Geoghegan became the fourth set of male teammates in the history of the NCAA Indoor meet to sweep the top three spots. Senior Parker Stinson, in his final race for Oregon, finished just off the podium in ninth.

While the Men of Oregon got 70 of 74 points in the middle distances, the UO women scratched and clawed for points in varying events over the course of the weekend.

Saturday began with sophomore Brittany Mann setting a school record in the shot put with a mark of 55 feet, 11 1/4 inches in the preliminary rounds. As the last round began that mark was good for eighth place, but Mann uncorked an effort of 57-1 to rocket up to third.

"That pumped everybody up," said Jasmine Todd, who would go on to finish third in the 60 meters, in 7.22 seconds. "That adrenaline just carried over into the 60, the mile, the hurdles, throughout the day."

Prandini finished just behind Todd in the 60, in 7.24, and was second in the 200 in 22.74. Freshman Ariana Washington was sixth in the 200 in her first championship meet, in 23.07.

Prandini said of her races Saturday that "both of them I could have executed a little better," but her 23 points were the most at the championship meet among all male and female competitors. And though the UO women saw their streak of titles end, they outscored last year's team that included such stars as Laura Roesler and Phyllis Francis .

"One of the (opposing) coaches said, 'We thought you were wounded ducks when you came in here, no pun intended,'" Johnson said. "For the women to come in here and fight like they did today, a valiant effort — nobody in the country thought we'd be standing out here with a second-place trophy."

The women beat the form chart with a point or two here and there throughout Saturday, beginning with Mann in the shot put. Freshman Nikki Hiltz got things started on the track in the mile when she outraced Villanova's Stephanie Schappert for eighth place, and a point for the team.

Hiltz made her final push in the third turn of the banked indoor oval. "I made my move right by the Oregon team," she said. "So I just got this wave of energy."

That level of support helped carry Sasha Wallace to fifth in the 60 hurdles in 8.23, after her fall in the event a year earlier. Now the Ducks will use it to recharge for the spring season, in which both teams again will be in the hunt for NCAA titles.

"There's a lot of people out there practicing hard, getting ready for outdoors," Prandini said. "I think there's a lot more to come."