University of Oregon
NCAA Championships
Rupp, Eaton Claim NCAA Titles
06/12/09 | Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Galen Rupp and Ashton Eaton won NCAA titles in the 10,000 meters and the decathlon, respectively, to lead Men of Oregon into first place with 20 points following the second day of the 2009 NCAA Track and Field Championships.
The women of Oregon also made some noise Thursday at John McDonnell Field by collecting eight points on a third-place finish from Jamesha Youngblood in the long jump and a seventh-place showing from Mattie Bridgmon in the 10,000 meters.
The men had a six-point lead on host Arkansas early in the competition.
Florida led the women's race with 13 points, followed by Florida State with 12, Providence with 10 and Oregon, Brigham Young, San Diego State and Arizona State tied for fourth with eight points.
"Obviously at any championships there are some obstacles you have to overcome, but I think we had a lot of positive things happen for the men and I'm confident in their ability to come out firing on all cylinders tomorrow," said Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna. "On the women's side, we came here with the goal of competing for a trophy and we scored some good points today and we have some good points still left out there to compete for."
After already running a semifinal heat in the 5,000 meters in the wee hours of Thursday morning, Rupp won his first outdoor NCAA title, and his fifth overall, by winning the men's 10,000 meters in 28:21.45 Thursday night. He held his position in third place behind Shawn Forrest of Arkansas and Sam Chelenga of Liberty for much of the race, until pulling away for the victory with 600 meters remaining and scoring Oregon's first 10 points of the Championships.
Rupp's final lap was clocked at 2:00 flat.
"It really feels good to finally get an outdoor title and score 10 point for the team," said Rupp.
Rupp added to his 2008 cross country title and his indoor 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters and distance medley relay crowns.
Also in the 10,000, Luke Puskedra was 11th in 29:20.18, earning All-America honors, while Danny Mercado took 14th in 29:22.54.
Meanwhile, in a decathlon that stretched nearly nine hours on Thursday, Eaton became the first Duck to win back-to-back NCAA titles in the event. He scored a personal-best 8,241 points and won by nearly 200 points. Mateo Sossah of North Carolina was second with 8,044 points and Moritz Cleve of Kansas State was third with 7,937 points.
"It felt great," said Eaton. "I'm proud of my teammates; I'm proud to be a multi. That was like a nine hour day today."
On a decathlon second day that began at 2:30 locally and concluded after 11, Eaton set the tone from the beginning, tying the NCAA Championships' record in 110 hurdles by running 13.85. That was a personal-best that also ranked seventh all-time at Oregon.
He then earned a PR in the discus with a throw of 134-11, nearly a four-foot personal best, before clearing the pole vault bar at 14-5.25.
He just missed a PR in the javelin with a throw of 175-11 and wrapped up the title by running 40:20.75 in the 1,500 meters.
"I'm very proud of Ashton," said associate director of track and field Dan Steele. "It was a tough, long two days."
Marshall Ackley continued his assault on his personal records in the decathlon and wound up earning All-America honors.
In the 110 hurdles, he ran a decathlon PR 14.93. He then just missed a PR in the discus with a toss of 122-0. The junior from Nyssa, Ore., made it seven PR's in eight events with a clearance of 15-9 in the pole vault. Ackley closed with a throw of 168-2 in the javelin and a time of 4:29.72 to score a personal-best 7,470 points and place 12th.
Sophomore Jamesha Youngblood got the Oregon women on the scoreboard in the long jump. She tied Florida State's Kimberly Williams and San Diego State's Karoline Koehler for the longest jump of the day, 21-5.5. Williams was declared the winner based on her second-best effort, while Koehler took second and Youngblood third on the same criteria.
Still, Youngblood snapped the school's long jump record for the second day in a row in earning her first career outdoor All-America award.
"I would to have loved to win, but I wanted to at least prove that I am a competitor and that I can compete," said the San Pablo, Calif., who is also entered in Friday's triple jump.
Youngblood, who was seeded 12th in the long jump coming into the NCAA Championships, became the first Duck woman to score in the long jump at the NCAA Championships. She is only the second UO woman to earn All-America honors in the event, joining Julie Goodrich, who was ninth in 1988.
In the women's 10,000 meters, Mattie Bridgmon put on a gutsy performance to finish seventh in 34:18.20 to collect two points for the team.
"I just went in the race knowing that I needed to get every point I could for the team," said the junior from Laramie, Wyo. "That was kind of my goal.
"I wanted to start conservatively and see what I could do the last half of the race. With 5K to go I felt really good and I could see that people were starting to come back to me."
The Duck women also received a pair of solid performances in the opening day of the heptathlon.
Brianne Theisen was in fourth with 3,574 points. Nia Ali of USC led with 3,663 points, followed by Liz Roehrig of Minnesota with 3,651 points and Bettie Wade of Michigan with 3,601 points. After Theisen, Marrissa Harris of Mississippi State was fifth with 3,483 points and Oregon's Kalindra McFadden was sixth with 3,428 points.
Theisen established heptathlon personal bests in the 100 hurdles, running 13.72, and the shot put with a nine-inch PR of 39-9.25. She also ran 24:10 in the 200 meters and cleared 5-8.75 in the high jump.
"I'm happy with my first day overall," said the sophomore from Humboldt, Sask. "Two (heptathlon) PR's and running really good into a head wind.
"It's nice to be in a really, really strong field."
McFadden had a big PR in the shot put, throwing 42-9.25. The senior from Bozeman, Mont., also matched her personal-best in the 200 meters, running 24.62, was just off her PR in the hurdles, running 14:05, and cleared 5-5.25 in the high jump.
In preliminary action, junior Andrew Wheating ran a season-best 1:46.21 to win his heat on the 800 meters and advance to Saturday's final.
"This race was a lot faster tonight, said Wheating. "I had a sneaky suspicion it was going to be quicker (than yesterday), but at the same time, it worked out pretty well."
Junior Jordan McNamara ran a season-best 3:42.09 to advance on time to Saturday's final of the men's 1,500 meters. Freshman Matthew Centrowitz, battling a foot injury, was ninth in his heat in 3:53.19.
Zoe Buckman ran a season-best 2:04.68 in the women's 800 meters, but was sixth in her heat and did not advance.
Alexandra Kosinski was fourth in her heat of the women's 1,500 meters in 4:19.02 and despite being just a half-second off her season best, did not move on to the final.
In the women's discus, senior Lucy Cridland had a top throw of 163-6 and finished 14th overall, but did not advance.
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