NCAA Track and Field: Ducks repeat as men’s champs; De Grasse sweeps sprints

EUGENE, Ore. – Canadian Andre De Grasse of USC swept the sprints with a pair of exceedingly fast, if wind-aided, times and host Oregon won its second straight men’s team title Friday at the revamped NCAA outdoor track and field championships.

In a span of 55 minutes in the meet’s compacted schedule, De Grasse won the 100 in 9.75 seconds and the 200 in 19.58.

His 200 time was the fastest by a collegiate runner under any conditions.

Marquis Denby of Texas A&M dominated the triple jump, winning with a wind-aided 58 feet, 1 1/4 inches.

Denby also won the long jump on Wednesday, his second straight victory in the two events.

Oregon entered its final event, the 5,000, needing three points. The Ducks got 22 in a 1-2-4 finish – Edward Cheserek and Eric Jenkins going first and second, as they did in the 10,000 two days earlier.

Oregon scored 85 points. Florida was a distant second with 56 and Arkansas third with 53.

“We thought heading into the day that if we could get to 70-plus that would be kind of enough to make sure we were happy at the end,” Ducks coach Robert Johnson said, “and we just got on a roll there.”

It was the second time, and first in 50 years, that Oregon won the men’s crown two years in a row. The Ducks, despite their storied track history, hadn’t done it since 1964-65.

“When you start to compare anything with what we’ve done in the past with what we’re doing in the present is pretty special,” Johnson said. “It’s a pretty special place as far as history and tradition and legacy goes.”

Under the new meet format, the men and women are competing on alternate days. The women will finish today. Oregon led the women’s team race after Thursday’s competition.

The Oregon men and women never have won the NCAA championship in the same year. The Ducks haven’t won the women’s title since 1985.