Oregon St. red-shirt freshman WR Obum Gwacham got the Beavers 3 points at the Pac-12 Track and Field Championship meet being held this weekend at Hayward Field in Eugene. Gwacham placed 6th in the high jump, clearing 7'1 1/2". One of the vagaries of scoring of the high jump has to do with tie-breaking, and it really came into play Saturday, as Gwacham and 4 others all cleared the same height, with only winner Nick Ross from Arizona going higher, winning by clearing 7'2 1/2". Second thru sixth were sorted based on fewest misses, and then fewest misses at the highest height cleared, and so on.
So though Gwacham got over each height up to the elevation that was second best, he had more misses along the way. Gwacham still advanced to the NCAA Regionals, though.
The other members of the Beaver football team out for track were all in sprints, and none advanced to Sunday's finals. Junior WR Marcus Wheaton placed 18th in the 100 meters, with a time of 10.72, the same as freshman WR Brandin Cooks, who finished 19th. The difference was Wheaton's time was actually 10.711, while Cooks clocked at 10.718.
Junior CB Keynan Parker placed 23rd in the field of 27, with a time of 10.86. The winners of the 4 Saturday heats plus the 4 best times from the rest will contest the final today.
The 3 joined with redshirt freshman Malcolm Marable in the 4x100 meter relay as well, and placed 7th overall in the field of 10 (the 2 new members of the Conference did not field relay teams) to pick up another point. Arizona St. won with a time of 39.77.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com