Skipper, Inico & Scherer Score NCAA Marks at Boise State

Friday, January 28

Boise, Idaho

6pm / 11am PT

University of Oregon

Athletes.com Invite/Multi Events

Tommy Skipper & Mark Vanderville, 2004 Oregon Track & Field

Skipper, Inico & Scherer Score NCAA Marks at Boise State

01/29/05 | Track and Field

By: GoDucks.com

NAMPA, Idaho ? An eight-man unit from the University of Oregon men's track and field team combined for three NCAA marks Saturday in second and final day action in the Athletes.com Invitational, hosted by Boise State at Jacksons Track in the Idaho Sports Center.

In the pole vault, sophomore and returning NCAA indoor pole vault runner-up Tommy Skipper cleared his second-highest career indoor mark to win with a final clearance of 18-6 1/2 (5.65m). The Sandy, Ore., native opened with a second-attempt make at his opening height of 18-0 1/2 (5.50m), converted 18-6 1/2 (5.6m) on his second try, then missed three attempts at 19-0 1/4 (5.80m).

”I was pleased to come in and compete right away,” Skipper said, “but technically, I made too many mistakes. The plan was to make all three bars in that progression, but it didn't work out at 5.80m - although the first attempt was close. I was over it by probably 3-6 inches, but brushed it on the way down. My hips were over, but I got it with my chest. Now we have to go home and hit a hard training cycle, since we don't compete for two weeks.”

Skipper easily met the NCAA automatic standard of 18-0 1/2 (5.50m), while only six vaulters in the world have gone higher so far in '05 (including one American post-collegian - last year's NCAA indoor champion Brad Walker (19-1 1/2, 5.83m)). The school indoor record holder Skipper already entered the weekend atop the collegiate qualifying list with his season debut (17-10 1/2, 5.40m) two weeks ago in Seattle, then improved to 18-4 1/2 (5.65m) in a Pole Vault Summit exhibition last weekend in Reno.

Links to the world and NCAA qualifying lists are available on the www.GoDucks.com website track and field main page, in the ?statistics' dropdown at the top center part of the screen.

Saturday's trip to the Jacksons Track also brought back fond memories for the Duck who upped the school indoor record to 18-8 3/4 (5.71m) almost a year earlier on the same track in the United Heritage lnvitational (2/7/04).

“This is a great venue to jump at,” Skipper said. “It reminds me a lot of the runway for NCAA's in Fayetteville (Ark.), and both are among the best in the nation, at least from what I've jumped on. “

Also in the men's pole vault Saturday, redshirt junior Jon Derby no-heighted with misses at his opening bar of 16-0 3/4 (4.90m). The North Bend, Ore., native unveiled a full run-up and new pole for the first time in '05, and ranks second on the team with his season opener and indoor best of 16-7 1/4 (5.06m) two weeks ago.

“Jon did his best dealing with a lot of new things,” Oregon pole vault coach Mark Vanderville said. “Tommy had a great shot at 19 feet, but barely knocked it off on his way down. His last attempt was pretty good, too, but he dropped his legs a little too soon and hit the bar on the way up.”

On the track, seniors Kedar Inico and junior Matt Scherer placed first and second in the 400 in times of 46.95 and 47.04, respectively. The duo easily met the NCAA provisional mark (47.25), and were less than a second off the automatic mark (46.05) for banked, 200-meter tracks.

Inico's time Saturday also moved him to second all-time indoors for UO, ahead of former Duck All-American Simon Kimata (47.39, 2002), while Scherer already led the list with his indoor record from last year (46.40). Heading into the weekend, Inico was already sighted on the NCAA provisional list in the 200 (13^th, 21.19) with his season debut last Saturday in the Hilton Inn & Suites Classic in Nampa.

The quartet of juniors Travis Anderson and Richard DelRincon, Inico and Scherer returned at meet's end to add a win in the 4x400 (3:11.05), for the second time in as many weeks. The unit missed the NCAA provisional standard (3:10.40) by less than a second, and UO sprints coach Dan Steele clocked unofficial splits of 48.5 for Anderson, 49.1 for DelRincon, 46.9 for Inico and 46.3 for Scherer.

Junior and 60 hurdle school record holder Eric Mitchum posted his second win as many days (7.95), and was again just shy of the NCAA provisional mark (7.91) after he won the prelims Friday in the same time (7.95).

In the 60, DelRincon also claimed the tape (first, 6.87), and was .15 seconds from the NCAA provisional mark of 6.72 seconds. The first-year transfer from Grossmont Junior College already ranks second all-time for UO in the event behind two-time 60 All-American Samie Parker (6.62).

In the middle distances, senior Roderick Dotts posted his first win in the 800 for UO (1:54.58) in his second career race at the distance for the Ducks.

Compete results from the Athletes.com Invitational are on the track and field schedule link at Boise State's www.BroncoSports.com website.

Also on Saturday, many other Oregon men and women will compete at the UW Indoor Invitational in Seattle, Wash. More meet info is at the www.GoHuskies.com website, as well as results, eventually.

Looking ahead, the Duck men's sprint crew heads to the Mountain T's Invitational at Flagstaff, Ariz., Sat., Feb. 4, while the pole vault corps may take the week off from competition. Several men's and women's multi-event athletes are slated to compete in Moscow, Idaho at the McDonald's Collegiate Invitational, Fri.-Sat., Feb. 3-4.

“The sprinters have looked good so far,” Oregon assistant coach Dan Steele said, “and are looking forward to a higher level of competition the next few weeks. We're hoping to take it up a notch next weekend in Flagstaff, and they'll definitely take on some of the top collegians at Iowa State in two weeks.”

FINAL RESULTS

Athletes.com Invitational

Jacksons Track ? Idaho Sports Center

Boise State University

Nampa, Idaho

* NOTE: Compete Results Available at www.BroncoSports.com

60 ? Final ? 1, Richard DelRincon, Oregon, 6.87. 2, Corey Nelson, Bronco TC, 6.88. 3, Wopamo Osaisai, Stanford, 6.90.

60 Hurdles ? Final ? 1, Eric Mitchum, Oregon, 7.95. 2, Daniel Cook, Arizona, 8.23. 3, Sterling Small, Boise State, 8.26.

200 ? 1, Andre Summers, Boise State, 22.39. 2, TJ Tolman, Boise State, 22.45. 3, Jon Moore, UC Riverside, 22.76.

400 ? 1, Kedar Inico, Oregon, 46.95. 2, Matt Scherer, Oregon, 47.04. 3, Curtis Goehring, Stanford, 48.33.

800 ? 1, Roderick Dotts, Oregon, 1:54.86. 2, Cody Eaton, Boise State, 1:56.69. 3, Joel Cota, UC Riverside, 1:57.19.

Mile ? 1, Forest Braden, Boise State, 4:09.99. 2, Ulices Pina, UC Riverside, 4:23.60. 3, Rueben Espinoza, UC Riverside, 4:25.28.

3,000 ? 1, David Fluckiger, Albertson, 8:44.38. 2, Brian Crowl, Eastside TC, 8:49.04. 3, Ben Gall, Crusader TC, 9:00.95.

4x400 -1, Oregon (Anderson, DelRincon, Inico, Scherer), 3:11.05. 2, Stanford, 3:13.95. 3, UC Davis, 3:21.13.

High Jump ? 1, Alex Marbley, CS Northridge, 7-0 1/2. 2, Roger White, Boise Tate, 6-6 3/4. 3, Jason Romero, CS Northridge, 6-6 3/4.

Pole Vault ? 1, Tommy Skipper, Oregon, 18-6 1/2. 2, Paul Litchfield, Pocatello TC, 17-6 1/2. 3, Ben Allen, Pocatello TC, 17-0 3/4. NH ? Jon Derby, Oregon.