University of Oregon
MPSF Championships
Women?s DMR Win Highlights First Day at MPSF Championships
02/27/10 | Track and Field
SEATTLE, Wash. ? Oregon's distance medley relay team won the final race of the night to lead the Oregon women to third place following Friday's first night of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships at the Dempsey Indoor Facility.
Through six events, Stanford led with 56 points, followed by Arizona State with 36, Oregon with 31 and California with 23. The men were ninth with 11.5 points after six events. UCLA led with 52.5 points.
The women's distance medley relay team of Anne Kesselring, Camilla Dencer, Chloe Steinbeck and Nicole Blood finished in 11:17.71 to clip California by :02.
Claire Michel got the Duck women on the scoreboard with a third-place finish in the 5,000 meters. She ran a personal-best 16:28.03 to post an NCAA provisional qualifying time.
Keshia Baker took third in the 200 meters in 24.12, with Mandy White fourth in 24.23.
Jamesha Youngblood took eighth in the 200 in 24.56 and sixth in the long jump with a leap of 19-9.75.
Senior Erin Funkhouser established a PR in the pentathlon with 3,456 points in a ninth place finish.
Funkhouser opened the pentathlon with a personal best 9.34 in the 60 meter hurdles. She just missed a PR in the long jump, going 17-2, before hitting another pentathlon PR in the 800 meters, finishing fourth in 2:17.10.
For the men, the pole vault proved to be a successful first day event. Ashton Eaton established an all-conditions PR with a clearance at 17-3 that was good for a tie for fourth place. Eaton's mark was also an NCAA provisional qualifier. Senior Brian McGinty and freshman Austin Ouderkirk tied for 10th by clearing the bar at 16-3.25.
The men also got points from Jordan Stray's sixth-place finish in the weight throw (61-0) and Vernell Warren's seventh-place showing in the long jump (23-6.25). The men were also seventh in the distance medley relay (9:53.68).
After the first day of the heptathlon, Aaron McVein was third with 2,965 points, while Marshall Ackley was sixth with 2,859 points.
Ackley, a senior from Nyssa, Ore., opened the heptathlon with personal bests in three of the four events. He ran 7.19 in the 60 meters (fourth), jumped 22-0.25 in the long jump (fifth) and had a mark of 40-0 in the shot put (seventh).
McVein, a senior from Eugene, Ore., posted an all-conditions personal best in the shot put with a throw of 40-0.5 (fifth). He also matched his heptathlon best in the high jump with a clearance at 6-7, which was tied for second-best overall.
In preliminary action Friday, Brianne Theisen, Amber Purvis, Mandy White and Lyndsay Pearson all advanced.
Theisen and Pearson moved on to Saturday's final in the women's 60 meter hurdles. Theisen won her heat in 8.47 seconds, just .01 off her school record, while Pearson clocked 8.52 in finishing right behind Theisen. That time moved the sophomore from Santa Barbara, Calif., to No. 2 all-time on the Oregon career list.
In the women's 60 meters, Purvis won her heat in 7.37 to breeze in the finals, while White established a personal best, 7.45, in winning her heat to advance. White remained second all-time in the 60 meters at Oregon.
Players Mentioned
