The 5,426 Oregon track and field fans in attendance for the Pepsi Invitational on Saturday had likely penciled in a win for Edward Cheserek in the men’s 5,000-meter race.
They did not know that before the race, the Oregon coaching staff tried to keep Cheserek from competing, but the 13-time NCAA champion powered through. He did not have enough to win, finishing in 13 minutes 50.82 seconds for second place. It was only his second loss in eight races at Hayward Field.
Washington’s Colby Gilbert took the top spot with a 13:44.96-second performance.
“We had a little hiccup today with Cheserek, but kind of had an idea of that coming in,” Oregon coach Robert Johnson said. “He wanted to push through and run here for the fans.”
Gilbert stretched his lead in the final individual race of the meet with 200 meters to go. Cheserek shut it down and did not respond to Gilbert’s final 60-second lap.
“For the last lap, I knew he’s got a really explosive kick,” Gilbert said. “I was waiting for him to go … but he wasn’t there. By the time I hit the 100, I saw I had a huge gap, so I let up a little bit.”
Gilbert said before the final lap, he “tried to pound it and take as much out of him as I could.”
Cheserek’s Oregon teammate Jake Leingang finished third in 14:07.95. The Oregon men’s team tied with Penn State with 181.5 points.
Cheserek pushed past the coaches’ recommendations to sit out the race.
“Probably next time we’ll exercise veto power there no matter what. He’s been dinged up for the last …” Johnson paused. “We don’t talk about injuries. He’s pushing through.”
Oregon declined to make Cheserek available for a media interview.
Glbert’s surprising race was not enough to power the Huskies past the Ducks in the team rankings, however. Washington finished third with 168 points and USC placed fourth with 94 points.
Gilbert has raced Cheserek a few times, so he knows how dangerous his kick can be. But Gilbert didn’t minimize the impact of a win over reigning 5000-meter NCAA Indoor Champion.
“It shows that he has to be ready to run if he wants to race me,” Gilbert said.
