Oregon has a very good shot of winning its third Pac-10 title in a row, fourth in the past five years and fifth in the last seven years. 

100 - Marcus Duncan of Arizona State is the top returner and Ahmad Rashad of USC was the 2007 Pac-10 champion so this could be a great battle if Rashad is back to form.  Senior Justin Woods of Washington State is a consistently high performer at this level and has plenty of experience at the NCAA level.  This event is wide open

200 - This year senior Jordan Boase of Washington is doubling along with his specialty, the 400 meters.  He will be challenged by double 2007 Pac-10 champion Ahmad Rashad of USC but is likely to get a double of his own.

400 - Senior Jordan Boase should get his first two individual titles after dealing with '07 World Championship competitor Lionel Larry of USC year.  2008 World junior and NCAA 400 hurdle champion Joshua Anderson of Washington State will attempt to defeat the Washington school record holder.  Duck juniors Chad Barlow and Ashton Eaton will likely lead the rest of the competitors on their home turf. 

800 - Olympian Andrew Wheating of Oregon will likely hold off top collegiate freshman Mason McHenry of Arizona State and NCAA veterans Cory Primm of UCLA and Nectaly Barbosa of Arizona State.

1500 - This could be an incredible race if the competitors push the pace.  Five of the top nine NCAA outdoor marks are represented by the top seeds in this competition.  19 year old top seed Matthew Centrowitz jr will attempt to follow his NCAA leading win from the Payton Jordan Invite with a PAc-10 championship.  Teammate and Olympian Andrew Wheating and NCAA veterans Garret Heath of Stanford, Michael Coe of Cal, Austin Abbott of Washington, and Brandon Bethke of Arizona State will challenge for what should be spectacular.  10,000 meter Olympian and Oregon indoor school record holder in the mile Galen Rupp is entered but he is likely to run the 5k and 10k. 

Steeplechase - Oregon senior Chris Winter is a strong favorite to get his first Pac-10 championship after finishing behind ASU NCAA champions Aaron Aguayo and Kyle Alcorn.  Last year he made his first NCAA championships and reached the final.  Now is his chance to get a win.  Stanford's Chris Mocko and John Sullivan are closest on the list. 

5,000 - Senior Olympian Galen Rupp will attempt to repeat his 2007 double with tougher competition.  Good thing his speed has improved and he has four NCAA titles already from this year.  Transfer Brandon Bethke of Arizona State crushed the old school record by 10 seconds and freshman Chris Derrick of Stanford broke Rupp's American junior record.   All three runners are at least expected to double.  Depending on how tired Rupp and his competitors are this could be a great race. 

10,000 - To end the first night Oregon will attempt to accrue a large number of points in this race.  This mass of points have led to two consecutive Pac-10 team championships.  Five of the top six seeds are Ducks and led by Rupp.  To derail the Ducks chances teams will have to try to break this up but Rupp, senior Shadrack Biwott, and Luke Puskedra are the only NCAA automatic qualifiers, so it will be difficult.

100 hurdles - Stanford senior and 2008 NCAA semifinalist Myles Bradley is almost a lock but anything can happen when barriers are in front of you.  Sophomore Oscar Spurlock of USC has made a big step up this year but will have to take another one to beat Bradley.

400 hurdles - Sophomore world junior and NCAA champ Jeshua Anderson of Washington State is back and everyone will be fighting for second.  Teammate Barry Leavitt and  Cal's Jake Hanson have NCAA experience and will face super-frosh Amaechi Morton of Stanford and finally healthy sophomore super-prep David Klech of Oregon in the fight for second.

4x100 relay - USC has a number of very good runners, UCLA has some good runners and ASU is trying to pass well enough to win here.  We will see after the stick makes it around the track. 

4x400 relay - Every year teams come into the conference meet and obliterate their season bests.  USC and Arizona State always have great runners.  ASU and USC have won the last ten Pac-10 championships and ASU won last year.  It is likely not to change.

HJ - Ed Wright of Cal had won two in-a-row but now that he has graduated he will likely be succeeded by the emergence of Trent Arrivey of Washington State who is the collegiate leader.  Manjula Wijesekara of USC and Taylor Hobson of UCLA are a step ahead of the rest of the competition for second.

Pole Vault - Sophomore Scott Roth redshirted last year and recovered his freshman form by almost (short .02m) equaling his 2007 pr that he set indoors.  In the difficult wind conditions of Hayward Field there is never a solid favorite and he will be joined by fellow Huskies Ryan Vu and Jared O'Conner.  Nick Mossberg of Arizona and any one of the five quality UCLA vaulters could also win this. 

Long Jump - Two NCAA scoring seniors left and it has left a void at the top of the conference.  Junior Ashton Eaton jumped into it during the dual with UCLA and beat Taylor Hobson's personal best in the process.  Senior Luis Rivera-Morales of Arizona was third at this meet last year behind those two aforementioned seniors and consistently jumps well so this should be a great competition. 

Triple Jump - If Rivera-Morales doesn't get his first PAc-10 title in Saturday's long jump he will likely get it here and possibly get a school record in the process but he will be strongly challenged by the rapidly developing senior Aven Wright of USC and NCAA competitor Jonathan Clark of UCLA.

Shot Put - Junior Ryan Whiting and Senior Zach Lloyd are former high school leaders and have prs over 69 feet.  Lloyd won the Pac-10 last year but Whiting finished 2nd ahead of Lloyd's fourth at the NCAA championships.  Indoors Whiting won his second straight title and Whiting was third.  They are two of the top talents at the meet and may be future Olympians. 

Discus Throw - Before the season five of the top nine returning collegians were from the Pac-10.  Due to injuries that has been reduced to four of the top seven throwers this year but it should still be great competition.  Daniel Shaerer of Stanford (199-3) leads the group and is second nationally, just 3/4 of an inch further than Whiting and nine inches ahead of Cal senior Martin Maric.  Junior Jason Lewis of Arizona State has joined this elite group this year and is less than 7 feet behind.  It should be a tough competition.

Hammer Throw - Junior Jason Lewis of Arizona State has improved 27 feet this year (223-7) and is now one of the top collegiate hammer throwers.  He will have to beat 2008 NCAA fourth place finisher Boldizsar Kocsor of UCLA.  Junior Zack Midles has improved significantly this year and will have to some more to contend for a title.

Javelin Throw - Former world leader but still collegiate and US leader Cyrus Hostetler of Oregon (272-10) will have a tough competition with NCAA runner-up and defending champ Corey White of USC who has also pr'd this year (272-2)

There will be many interesting battles among top level competition including the 400, 1500, 5,000, 10,000, pole vault, shot put, hammer throw and javelin throw.  Competitors in each of these events are among just a few NCAA favorites. 

Predictions - Oregon 153, USC 104, ASU 103, Stanford 100