By Mark Wang
Briyahna DesRosiers went out well and led just about wire to wire, winning the women’s 400 meters at the Pepsi invitational Saturday afternoon at Hayward Field in a time of 54.02. But she was unsatisfied.
DesRosiers, a transfer student from Texas A&M representing the Ducks on the track for the first time, called the race “icky” and said she knew she could have done better. She was pleased how she was able to get out and run well, but said she wished she had been able to finish better. On a 10-point scale, she rated it a six and said if conditions had been better, she would have run faster.
Conditions on the track were not ideal as it had been raining during much of the day, and even though the rain had died down the wind was still blowing at 20 mph, making the race difficult. Some gusts were as hard as 49 mph.
“You have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst,” she said when asked how to prepare to run in conditions like those.
She added that the weather was to be expected since Oregon is known for its weather. DesRosiers said that it had been nearly five or six years since she had run in weather like that, so it was like starting over again.
The race for second through fourth in this race was very tight with a .65 differential between the athletes. DesRosiers won in convincing fashion, however, beating Stephanie Cho of Washington State by over two seconds.
The competition for the team title at the meet however was not so tight as Oregon won the meet with a total of 185 points. BYU and Washington State tied for second with 152 and Washington had 112.
DesRosiers said that there weren’t home meets at Texas A&M because the new track stadium has been getting built. She said it was nice to see Oregon alumni and everyone out watching, adding that it was a very homey feeling.
DesRosiers said that the next time she will be racing will be at the Mt. Sac Relays. This meet runs from April 19-21 in Torrence, California.
