Oregon’s Luis Peralta overcame a calf strain to earn what should be a qualifying standard for the NCAA regionals on his last chance by winning the men’s 800 meters Friday at the Oregon Twilight Meet in 1 minute, 49.12 seconds, .03 ahead of former Duck Cole Hocker.
Peralta said he knew if he was with Hocker, who made the Olympic final at 1,500 meters, he was going to run something fast. Peralta needed to run a time that will be among the top 48 in the west half of the country to qualify for the NCAA West Regional meet.
Hocker led the first part of the race. Peralta said he felt that Hocker pulled him through the race.
“He made me really work for the second lap,” Peralta said.
In the final 100 meters, Peralta pulled even with Hocker, and the two hit the finish line side by side. Peralta outleaned Hocker.
He discovered yesterday he would be running this race, and he said that “it was either race or my season was over.”
Peralta strained his calf two weeks ago; while the injury has not prevented him from running races, it has limited his full potential. He hasn’t been training often and has remained focused on cross-training such as biking and underwater running. He focuses on “easy 30-minute” workouts.
“I hate biking, I’m not gonna lie,” he said.
After the race, Peralta said his calf felt “a little bit good” and better than it did last week.
In addition to his calf, Peralta strained his hamstring and soleus during the indoor season. “I’ve had a rough season,” he said. Although Peralta was happy with his results, he said his true main goal was to be “back at 100 percent and healthy again.”
