Logsdon, Watson & Harmon Post NCAA Marks in Seattle

Saturday, January 29

Seattle, Wash.

9 am

University of Oregon

UW Indoor Invite

Eric Logsdon, University of Oregon Track 2003

Logsdon, Watson & Harmon Post NCAA Marks in Seattle

01/29/05 | Track and Field

By: GoDucks.com

SEATTLE ? Three University of Oregon track and field athletes scored NCAA marks in the UW Invitational, Sat., Jan. 29 in the Dempsey Indoor Center at the University of Washington.

Redshirt senior Eric Logsdon locked up an NCAA automatic bid in the 3,000 (fourth, 7:54.29), and easily met the NCAA automatic standard of 7:56.00. The Canby, Ore., native trailed Olympian Adam Goucher of Nike (first, 7:50.58) and the BYU combo of Josh Rohatinsky (second, 7:51.28) and Bryan Lindsay (third, 7:53.90).

“I knew I was in good shape, and could be close to if not under 8:00,” Logsdon said. “The only plan was to be smart, run hard and try to cover all the breaks. It was nice to go out and be ready to race a 3K, and have some interval workouts under the belt. I came back from Christmas Break with a great base, and we've gotten on the track 5-6 times since then to help get some rhythm. Although it's indoors, it feels like an outdoor track since it's so big (307 meters), and maybe it's faster since there's no weather to contend with and the Mondo surface is hard. The only strange thing is not knowing exactly where you're at since the oval distance is unfamiliar.”

Logsdon missed Steve Fein's Oregon indoor school record (7:54.26, 1999) by only .04 seconds, and leaped ahead of Ryan Andrus (8:01.22, 2003) and Micah Davis (8:02.06, 1999) on the school indoor event list. The Canby, native also outdistanced his indoor personal best from the same oval last February (8:09.19) in the Pac-10 Invitational, while his outdoor best of 8:10.66 dates back to his win from the state meet in '00 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

“The rabbit took it out really fast through the first quarter, than slacked off a little,” Logsdon said. “The leaders went through the first mile around 4:11 or 4:12, and I was a little back at 4:14. As guys fell off, I just moved up and tried to stay with the lead pack. With between 900 and 600 to go, Goucher and Rohatinsky kind of broke away, and I wasn't able to cover it, and ended up being out-kicked at the very end by Lindsay.”

At the national level, Logsdon looks forward to his third NCAA track invite after All-America efforts in the 5,000 outdoors in 2003 (eighth, 13:59.00) and ?04 (seventh, 14:22.05). He is also a three-time NCAA vet in cross country and an All-American in 2002 (41st) and '03 (29th).

The Men of Oregon also netted an NCAA provisional mark from All-America senior Leonidas Watson in his long jump season debut (second, 24-6 1/2), trailing only Husky freshman Norris Frederick (first, 25-6 1/4). The second year Duck from St. Louis, Watson jumped his daily best on his fifth attempt and was less than five inches away on his first (24-1 3/4, 7.36m), fourth (24-3 3/4, 7.41m) and sixth attempts (24-6 1/4, 7.47m).

Watson's top mark of the day was five inches better than his season debut last year for the Ducks ? a season in which he later leaped an indoor school record in late February in Seattle (25-6 1/4) and add ninth in the NCAA indoor finale (25-2 1/2).

On the women's side, Duck redshirt senior Laura Harmon reeled off a noticeable best of her own in her indoor 5,000 debut (fourth, 16:29.17), and trailed BYU's Laura Turner (first, 16:16.77) and Chelsea Smith (second, 16:22.61) and Caitlin Chock of the Nike Oregon Project (third, 16:27.10). Harmon's clocking easily met the NCAA provisional mark of 16:45.00, and was less than 20 seconds off the NCAA automatic standard of 16:10.00.

“It was a good opener,” Harmon said, “but I also know that it's likely not fast enough to qualify for nationals, so I'll have to come back and run faster in two weeks, but that's OK. My openers haven't always gone that well, so this was a fun and positive springboard. I was hesitant about racing a 5K this early, and wasn't sure if I was ready, but I surprised myself.”

On Saturday, the Vancouver, Wash., native Harmon also eclipsed her overall and outdoor 5,000 best of 16:33.17 that dated back to the 2004 West Regional last May. Her last race for UO came in November in the NCAA Cross Country Championships as she took her first All-America honor (31^st) against the 255-runner field.

“We went out fairly conservatively the first lap, and the pace went back and forth,” Harmon said, “and ultimately I ran a lot by myself. They opened up a gap on me about 800 or 1000 in, then I closed it, then they opened it again, then I closed it back towards at the end. I felt fine afterwards and feel like there's a lot more there next time.”

Among the other Duck performances, the M&W squads combined for 14 Mountain Pacific Championships qualifying marks (six women, eight men).

Place-wise, the Duck men were led by a pair of runner-up efforts by Watson in the long jump and redshirt junior Paul Etter in the weight throw (57-8 1/4) ? the latter mark a two-foot improvement over Etter's '04 indoor best of 55-7.

Other Mountain Pacific qualifiers for the men included Watson in the 60 (eighth, 7.01), senior Nick Dalton in the mile (28th, 4:14.44), junior Jeff Lindsey in the high jump (fourth, 6-9 3/4), redshirt freshman Jacob Tolbert in the long jump (sixth, 22-3 3/4) and sophomore Brandon Tower in the weight throw (ninth, 51-1 3/4).

Three other men's distance runners ran noticeable indoor bests - redshirt freshman Kyle Alcorn in the 3,000 (14th, 8:13.71), and the duo of senior Brett Holts (sixth, 14:29.42) and redshirt freshman Alec Wall (ninth, 14:44.16) in the 5,000.

On the women's side, Harmon's fourth-place effort was the UO women's highest on the day, followed by the 4x400 effort by seniors Michelle Donovan and Kayla Mellott, sophomore Amanda Santana and redshirt junior Sara Schaaf (fifth, 3:56.08).

Individuals that earned Mountain Pacific invites included three 800 entries ? Schaaf (11^th, indoor PR 2:11.86), freshman Kasey Harwood (14^th, 2:13.10) and Donovan (25^th, 2:16.54) ? Harmon in the 5K, redshirt junior transfer Mandi Fitz-Gustafson (3,000, 17^th, 10:13.58), and junior transfer Lauryn Jordan (high jump, 13^th, 5-3 3/4).

Complete meet results are located at the www.GoHuskies.com website.

Looking ahead, several members of the Duck heptathlon and decathlon corps make their multi-event season debuts in the McDonald's Collegiate in the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho, Fri.-Sat., Feb. 4-5, and the men's sprint unit may head to the Mountain T's Invitational, at Flagstaff, Ariz., Sat., Feb. 5. More meet info is located at the University of Idaho's www.uiathletics.com and Northern Arizona University's www.NAUathletics.com websites.

Final Results

University of Washington Invitational

Dempsey Indoor Center

University of Washington

Seattle, Wash.

Saturday, Jan. 29, 2005

NOTE: Complete results are available at the www.GoHuskies.com website.

Women's Results

60 ? Final ? 1, Virginia Powell, USC, 7.37. Prelims ? 1, Ashley Lodree, Washington, 7.53. 27, Elisa Crumley, Oregon, 8.19.

200 ? 1, Brianna Lynn, CSUN, 24.33. 22, Irie Searcy, Oregon, 26.19. 30, Ashley Bridenbeck, Oregon, 27.12.

400 ? 1, Alison Erzinger, Oklahoma State, 54.84.

800 ? 1, Sasha Spencer, Nike, 2:06.63. 11, Sara Schaaf, Oregon, 2:11.86. 14, Kasey Harwood, Oregon, 2:13.10. 25, Michelle Donovan, Oregon, 2:16.54. 32, Amanda Santana, 2:21.34. 33, Kayla Mellott, Oregon, 2:22.83.

1,000 ? Julia Howard, SFU, 2:48.96.

Mile ? 1, Ashley Couper, Nike Farm Team, 4:45.31.

3,000 ? 1, Renee Metivier, Colorado, 9:14.23. 17, Mandi Fitz-Gustafson, Oregon, 10:13.58.

5,000 ? 1, Laura Turner, BYU, 16:16.77. 2, Chelsea Smith, BYU, 16:22.61. 3, Caitlin Chock, Nike Oregon Project, 16:27.10. 4, Laura Harmon, Oregon, 16:29.17.

60 Hurdles ? Final ? 1, Michelle Perry, Nike, 8.11. 9, Lauryn Jordan, Oregon, 9.27. Prelims ? 1, Michelle Perry, Nike, 8.17. 9, Lauryn Jordan, Oregon, 9.26. 16, Roslyn Lundeen, Oregon, 9.62.

High Jump ? 1, Sharon Day, Cal Poly, 6-1 1/4. 13, Lauryn Jordan, Oregon, 5-3 3/4.

Pole Vault ? 1, Kate Soma, Washington, 13-9 1/4. 11, Hannah Moore, Unat., 11-8.

Long Jump ? 1, Amy Menlove, BYU, 20-5 1/4. 11, Roslyn Lundeen, Oregon, 16-5.

Triple Jump ? 1, Kamila Rywelska, BYU, 42-10 1/4. 7, Maegan Traver, Oregon, 36-7. F - Clarice Hawyard-Lee, Oregon.

Shot Put ? 1, Briona Reynolds, UCLA, 50-9 1/2. 7, Lauryn Jordan, Oregon, 42-4. 12, Roslyn Lundeen, 40-7 3/4.

Weight Throw ? 1, Cari Soong, Team XO, 63-10 1/2. 11, Katie Kersh, Oregon, 47-5.

4x400 ? 1, North Dakota State, 3:47.33. 5, Oregon (Donovan, Mellott, Santana, Schaaf), 3:56.08.

Distance Medley Relay ? 1, Oklahoma State, 11:59.96.

Pentathlon ? 1, Liis Berendsen, BYU, 3,848.

Men's Results

60 ? Final ? 1, Davaon Spence, Washington, 6.89. 8, Leonidas Watson, Oregon, 7.01. Prelims ? 1, Damien Smith, Unat., 7.88. 7, Leonidas Watson, Oregon, 7.01.

200 ? 1, Damien Smith, Unat., 21.64.

400 ? Craig Everhart, UCLA, 46.48.

800 ? 1, Nick Thornton, UCLA, 1:48.72.

1,000 ? 1, Ryan Brown, Washington, 2:27.73.

Mile ? 1, Chris Estwanik, Nike Farm Team, 4:01.98. 28, Nick Dalton, Oregon, 4:14.44.

3,000 ? 1, Adam Goucher, Nike Oregon Project, 7:50.58. 2, Josh Rohatinsky, BYU, 7:51.28. 3, Bryan Lindsay, BYU, 7:53.90. 4, Eric Logsdon, Oregon, 7:54.29.

5,000 ? 1, Robert Cheseret, Arizona, 13:51.04. 2, Mindi Pukstas, Unat., 13:52.78. 3, Obed Mutanya, Arizona, 13:53.93. 6, Brett Holts, Oregon, 14:29.42. 9, Alec Wall, Oregon, 14:44.16.