University of Oregon
Mountain Pacific Championships
Centrowitz, Kosinski Lead Ducks at MPSF Championships
03/01/09 | Track and Field
SEATTLE, Wash. -- Alexandra Kosinski finished third in the 3,000 meters and fourth in the mile, and the 4x400 meter relay team won in a school-record time to lead the Oregon women's track and field team to a second-place finish Saturday at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships at the Dempsey Indoor Facility.
Stanford won the women's title with 115 points, with Oregon scoring 91.5 points for its best ever showing at the MPSF meet. Arizona State was third with 78 points, while UCLA (75.5) and Washington (72.5) rounded out the top five.
"I think the women have taken several steps forward this indoor season," said associate head coach Dan Steele. "They have learned how to compete and are not afraid to mix it up with the best teams in the country. They are really making things very interesting and entertaining right now."
The Men of Oregon used 21 points in the 3,000 meters, led by a win from Matthew Centrowitz, to finish fourth.
"The entire staff is thrilled with the way the kids competed," said Steele. "It was a good way to end the regular season of competition. We continue to put up good, consistent marks."
Oregon won the women's 4x400 meter relay in a school record 3:36.52, beating the mark of 3:37.48 set in 2007. The record-setting relay team, which consisted of Jamesha Youngblood, Leah Worthen, Amber Purvis and Keshia Baker, also ran the second-fastest time in the nation and an NCAA provisional time on Saturday.
"The women's 4-by-4 was terrific," said Steele. "They took it from the gun and didn't let back. It was close early in Jamesha's leg, but that was it. Amber Purvis blew people away on the anchor leg. It was a great performance for a freshman in her first 400 of the season. (The school record time) is a really strong effort."
Only Penn State, at 3:36.10, has run faster 4x400 meter relay than the Ducks this indoor season.
Kosinski ran a personal-best 9:11.24, which was an NCAA Indoor Championships automatic qualifying-time in the 3,000 meters, to finish behind Laurynne Chetelat of Stanford (9:08.15) and Marie Lawrence of Washington (9:08.50). Kosinski's time was the third-fastest in school history.
The sophomore from El Dorado Hills, Calif., also scored five team points in the mile with her fourth place finish in 4:42.16.
The Duck women totalled 12 points in the 3,000 meters as junior Nicole Blood ran a season-best 9:17.28 to finish fifth and Mattie Bridgmon ran 9:30.71 to finish eighth, joining Kosinski. Blood's time was an NCAA provisional qualifier.
In the women's 60 meters Purvis ran 7.38 to finish third, just a fraction of a second behind California's Cherrelle Garrett, who also clocked a 7.38. Arizona State's Charonda Williams won the 60 meters in a stadium record 7.31. Sophomore Mandy White picked up another two points in the 60 meters with her seventh-place finish in 7.58.
Also for the women, freshman Brianne Theisen tied for fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 5-8.5. Freshman Lindsay Pearson placed fifth in the 60 meter hurdles in 8.79, tying her personal best. Junior Rita Santibanez threw a season-best 45-0.25 to pick up a point with an eighth-place finish in the shot put.
The women's point total also included a win by Kalindra McFadden in the pentathlon on Friday.
"Kalindra was one of the thrills of the indoor season," said Steele. "She's struggled with injuries for couple of seasons and it was great to see her get the win and put up a really good number that hopefully will get her to the NCAA Championships."
The men's highlights included Centrowitz's win in the 3,000 meters in a personal-best 7:55.90. That was also the No. 3 all-time 3,000 meter time at Oregon and a personal best by more than 17 seconds. Freshman Luke Puskedra was third in 7:58.42, while senior Scott Wall was fourth in a personal-best 7:59.27. All three ran NCAA provisional times.
In a close race, UCLA took the men's title with 83.5 points, followed by California and Washington State tied for second with 78.5 points. Oregon was just a half-point back in fourth (78) with Arizona State (76.5) and Washington (75) all within 10 points of first place.
In his first varsity action of the indoor season, junior A.J. Acosta took second in the mile, running an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 4:01.89.
Senior Galen Rupp ran a personal-best 1:49.87 to finish fifth in the 800 meters. Rupp improved his NCAA provisional time by nearly two seconds and also ran the No. 4 indoor time in school history.
The men's 4x400 meter relay team -- Ashton Eaton, David Klech, Travis Thompson and Chad Barlow -- ran a season-best and NCAA provisional time of 3:10.40 in a third-place finish.
Eaton also placed sixth in the high jump, clearing 6-8.75. Freshman Danny Staats picked up a point in the same event with a clearance of 6-6.75.
Junior Marshall Ackley had a big second day in the heptathlon to score a career-best 5,209 points and finish fourth. Ackley, from Nyssa, Ore., won the 1,000 meters in 2:40.74 on Saturday and was second in the pole vault (15-7) and sixth in the 60 meters (8.56).
Junior Colin Witter-Tilton jumped a season-best 16-11.5 in the pole vault, which was tied with five others for the best clearance of the day, but he got the sixth-place points based on misses.
Also for the men, junior Chad Barlow took seventh in the 400 meters in 47.73. Sophomore Eric Hersey placed seventh in the 60 meter hurdles in 8.24. Freshman Brian Schaudt collected two points for his seventh-place finish in the triple jump (47-5.25).
"We accomplished a lot of the things we wanted to accomplish this weekend and we still have some choices to make on some other things in terms of sending people to last-chance meets next week," said Steele. "Regardless, we feel pretty good about who we have qualified for the national meet."
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