For the next month, Marcus Chambers won’t worry about race times. He won’t worry about wins. He’s only concerned about building toward his plan.
The Oregon junior cruised to victory in the 400-meter dash at the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field Saturday afternoon with a time of 46.95 seconds.
He also ran the anchor leg for Oregon’s first-place 4×100 relay team. He received the baton with Oregon trailing Portland-based club Ultimate Speed Athletics by 20 meters. Chambers calmly tracked down former Oregon standout Russell Hornsby to lead the Ducks to a come from behind win.
In total, Chambers added two more wins to his already stacked resume. But his time in the 400 was slower than his time at the Pepsi Invitational last weekend, and Chambers still has yet to run anywhere near as fast as he did last season.
And yet Chambers is certain that he is right on course.
A two-time Pac-12 champion, Chambers sits in second on the school record board with a personal best of 44.95 seconds. He has the rest of the season to chase Mike Berry’s record of 44.75.
“I’m going to get it,” Chambers said. “It’s going to go down. I don’t know when it’s going to be, but I know I’m going to get it by the time I graduate.”
According to Chambers, if Berry’s record is to fall it won’t happen until there is a championship on the line. For the next month, he will focus strictly on game plan; improving race strategy and tightening up weaknesses.
The entry list for the 400 included former Olympian Ryan Bailey, but he was a late scratch. Instead, the crowd watched Chambers tinker and attempt to perfect the first 200 meters of his race — what he calls his weakest link in the event.
Prior to the meet, Oregon head coach Robert Johnson said that the Ducks would focus on running fast times during the Oregon Relays. But race times in April seem to be the last thing Chambers is worried about.
“For me, times are not a big thing,” Chambers said. “If you look at my times last year, I wasn’t running so called as ‘fast’ as all these other guys until postseason came. I’m just trying to focus on my race plan, trying to perfect it. I already know the times are going to come.”
