Young Nabs NCAA Mark in Texas Relays

AUSTIN, Texas ? University of Oregon redshirt junior Andy Young wrapped up his decathlon season debut Thursday with a ninth-place and NCAA provisional score of 7,016 points in the Texas Relays decathlon, held at the University of Texas Mike A. Myers Stadium.

The Newberg, Ore., native Young climbed five places in the second-day standings and recorded the following marks ? 15.80 in the 110 hurdles (w:1.7), 116-4 in the discus, 15-7 in the pole vault, 170-6 in the javelin and 4:17.34 in the 1,500.

He won the 1,500 by almost 15 seconds over former Duck NCAA champion Santiago Lorenzo (second, 4:32.31), and ranked seventh in the javelin, and 11^th in the 110 hurdles and discus, and second in the pole vault that saw only one vaulter clear 16 feet (Donovan Kilmartin, 16-6 3/4).

Among Young's second day marks, his 1,500 time was a decathlon best by almost five seconds over his 4:21.11 clocking from the 2004 NCAA Championships (also held in Austin), and his javelin was only four inches off his personal best (170-10) from his toss in the 2003 Texas Relays decathlon.

“I'm really proud how Andy finished both today and yesterday,” Oregon assistant coach Bill Lawson said. “Every event had ridiculous wind conditions, but he dealt with the headwind in the pole vault and hung tough, was within a foot of his javelin PR, and then topped it off with an outstanding 1,500 run in swirling wind conditions. The crowd was amazed when he went out by himself with a 65-second first quarter, then came back with 72- and 73-second laps, all on his own. We came here hoping to score a little higher, but considering the conditions for the 10 events, we have nothing to be upset about.”

Since he topped the 7,000-point NCAA provisional mark Thursday, Young notched his fifth provisional mark the past three years. He notched his current best in the 2004 Pac-10 Champs in Tucson, Ariz., (third, 7,372), and also topped 7,300 points in the 2004 NCAA Champs in Austin (13^th, 7,302).

Overall in the event, the sophomore Texas duo of Trey Hardee and Donovan Kilmartin maintained their first-day positions and took first and second with 7,839 and 7,650 points, respectively. UConn senior Will Thomas (third, 7,552) also topped the NCAA automatic standard of 7,500 points, and Lorenzo followed in fourth place(7,493).

Young entered Thursday in 14^th place with a first-day total of 3,406 points, and battled strong spring gales to post marks of 11.88 in the 100 (w:-2.3), 21-1 in the long jump, 36-0 in the shot put, 6-2 1/4 in the high jump and 50.41 in the 400. Among those results, his shot put was only seven inches off his decathlon PR (36-7) which he threw in both the NCAA's in Austin and Pac-10's in Tucson in '04, and he missed three attempts at tying his high jump best of 6-3 1/2 that he cleared in the early season Mike Maynard Combined Events meet in Tucson in March, 2004.

Complete meet results from the decathlon and other events are available at the www.TexasSports.com website.

The remainder of the Duck men's decathletes and women's heptathletes will likely make their season multi-event debuts at home in the Oregon Invitational. The multi-events will be staged Thursday-Friday, April 21-22 at Hayward Field, and more meet info is located at the following URL address:

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4364&SPID=243&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=35410

Looking to this weekend, the UO men's and women's teams remain at home to compete in the 16^th Annual Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward Field in Eugene.

Indiana, Missouri and Washington will compete in the four-way scored meet, and the first field event is at noon, the first running event is at 2:40 pm, and the meet ends at 5 pm.

This weekend's Pepsi Team Invite also offers a Bi-Mart Family Ticket Deal ? if spectators show a Bi-Mart membership card at entry, they can pay $10 for two adults and unlimited kids. Normal single-meet ticket prices are $6 for reserved, $5 for adult general admission (GA), $3 for children and senior citizen GA, and $2 per person for group rates. Season tickets are available by calling (541) 346-4461 locally or 1-800-WEB-FOOT. The ticket office in the Bowerman Building on the northwest side of the track on 15th Avenue will open at 11 am.

Local post-high school track and field athletes can also compete in a free mini-meet that morning at Hayward Field from 9-11 am, and more info on the mini meet is located at the following URL address:

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4679&SPID=243&DB_OEM_ID=500&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=34006

- www.GoDucks.com -

University of Oregon Athletics

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