UCLA defeats Oregon Showdown

Winning 12 of 19 events, the UCLA track team defeated Oregon, 100-63, Saturday in a showdown of unbeaten Pacific 10 teams.

The win was the Bruins’ first over Oregon here since 1977. And their 100 points were the most ever scored against an Oregon team. The previous high was 94, accomplished twice by Washington State.

Saturday’s meet, attended by 4,986, was held under sunny skies and in 74-degree weather at Hayward Field.

The Bruins, under new Coach Bob Larsen, are now 8-0 in dual meets. Several Bruins carried Larsen off the field after the final event and tossed him in the steeplechase pool.

The Bruins had gotten a big win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, which Jim Ortiz won in 9:02.29. Second was Oregon’s Dave Henry in 9:05.47.

“I think Jimmy winning the steeple gave us the biggest boost of the day,” Larsen said. “We needed to know it was our day after losing here for so many years.”

Rich Brownsberger scored another big win for UCLA, taking the 5,000-meter run in 14:18.02.

UCLA’s Steve Kerho set a meet record in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 13.70. The old mark of 13.78 was set by UCLA’s Greg Foster in 1978.

Oregon’s Kory Tarpenning cleared 18-4 3/4 in the pole vault to set both a school and meet record. The school record of 18-4 1/2 was set in 1980 by Tom Hintnaus, a graduate of Aviation High in Redondo Beach. The meet record was 18-3 1/2, set by UCLA’s Mike Tully in 1976.