The �unofficial� track season for Oregon�s De�Anthony Thomas actually began about five yards short of the goal line on his game-opening kickoff return for a touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl.
That was when the running back for the UO football team decided to dip his head and lean across the goal line as if he was breaking the tape at the finish line of a 100-meter race.
On Saturday, Thomas made it official.
Despite a cold and drizzly afternoon at the Oregon Preview, he dazzled a crowd of 4,402 at Hayward Field with three victories as the Ducks kicked off the 2013 outdoor track and field season.
There was also an American record in the 2,000-meter steeplechase by Oregon Track Club Elite�s Bridget Franek, and the Ducks� Liz Brenner made her track and field debut in the javelin, her fourth varsity sport at Oregon.
Thomas opened by anchoring the 4x100-meter relay to a meet record of 40.35 seconds. He teamed with two other football players � Dior Mathis and B.J. Kelley � plus Arthur Delaney to break the mark of 40.46 set by Oregon in 1992.
For an encore, Thomas easily won the 100 with an all-conditions personal best of 10.31. He was aided by a tailwind of 2.1 meters per second, just above the legal limit of 2.0, or he would have moved into the seventh spot on the all-time UO list.
Thomas closed out his day with another dominant performance in the 200. He hit the tape in 21.17, followed by Mathis at 21.30.
Will Thomas and his football buddies be able to run track this year and still take care of their spring football responsibilities?
UO track and field coach Robert Johnson took note of Thomas� times under less than ideal conditions with little or no practice in a season-opening meet in mid-March.
Brenner, the second-team all-American outside hitter for the NCAA runner-up volleyball team who also has played basketball and softball at Oregon, wasn�t too thrilled with her third-place finish in the javelin at 141 feet, 5 inches.
However, it was her first time competing in that event since she was a senior at Jesuit High School in 2011. She had two practices leading up to the Preview.
Franek broke the U.S. record in the 2,000 steeplechase at 6:19.09, eclipsing the old mark of 6:20.66 set by Carrie Messner in 2007. The OTC Elite also got wins from Julia Lucas in the women�s 3,000 (9:21.91), Hassan Mead in the men�s 3,000 (7:58.43), and Ben Blankenship in the mile (3:48.57).
As for the Ducks, sophomore Johnathan Cabral set a meet record in the 110 high hurdles (13.68) and junior Laura Bobek moved up to No. 5 on the all-time list in the discus with a lifetime best of 172-6.
Freshman Alyssa Monteverde swept the 100 hurdles (14.05) and 400 hurdles (64.83); freshman Greg Skipper won the hammer with a 6-foot PR at 210-10; Delaney won the men�s 400 (47.84); junior English Gardner won the women�s 400 (54.31) and junior Parker Stinson bounced back from knee tendinitis to take second in the 3,000 (8:02.32).
Alexa Efraimson, a high school sophomore from Camas, Wash., won the women�s 1,500 with a fast time of 4:19.54, and UO alum Britney Henry took the hammer throw at 206-7. Oregon State�s Michele Turney set a school record in the triple jump by finishing second at 38-6?1/4.