University of Oregon
NCAA Indoor Championships
Women Roll to First NCAA Title; Eaton Sets World Record
03/14/10 | Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? The Women of Oregon won their first NCAA Indoor Track and Field national title, while Ashton Eaton set the world record in the heptathlon, Saturday at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Brianne Theisen ignited the women's victory by winning the pentathlon in the day's first event and then women's 4x400 meter relay team put the cherry on top by winning the last event in 3:32.97. In between, a bevy of Ducks contributed as Oregon accumulated 61 points and won by 25 over Tennessee. The Lady Vols had 36 with Louisiana State third at 35 and Florida fourth with 33.
“We got things started off with a win in the pentathlon which was huge for us and it just kept rolling from there and closed it out with style by winning the relay,” said assistant coach Robert Johnson of the women's victory.
For the first time since 1987, a University of Oregon women's team won a national title. It's only the fourth women's NCAA championship in school history, joining cross country in 1983 and 1987, and outdoor track and field in 1985.
Other point scorers for the women Saturday included Melissa Gergel ? second in the pole vault, Keshia Baker ? second in the 400 meters, Jordan Hasay ? fourth in the mile, Nicole Blood ? fifth in the 3,000 meters and Anne Kesselring ? sixth in the mile.
Likewise, Eaton set the stage for the men to tie for second with Texas A&M. Florida won the meet with 57 points. Oregon and Texas A&M were tied at 44, Louisiana State was fourth with 42 points and Arkansas was fifth with 38.
The men also saw contributions from Andrew Wheating ? second in the 800 meters, Mac Fleet ? second in the mile, A.J. Acosta ? fourth in the mile, and the 4x400 meter relay team, which ran sixth.
After building a commanding day one lead, Eaton began his assault on Dan O'Brien's 1993 world and American record of 6,474 points from the get go.
The senior from Bend, Ore., set a meet record in winning the 60 meter hurdles in 7.77 seconds. That mark was a personal best and also ranked No. 2 all-time on the UO indoor list. He then jumped to a heptathlon personal best in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 16-8.75 feet (5.10 meters).
Through six events, Eaton accumulated 5,542 points, and needed to run 2:34.58 in the 1,000 meters ? a PR by 3.5 seconds ? to break O'Brien's record. He made that with time to spare, clocking a six-second personal best 1,000 meters of 2:32.67, for a final heptathlon total of 6,499 points.
“Going into the last event, I didn't think I was going to have what it took to get it,” said Eaton, who won his fourth NCAA individual title (2008 & 2009 decathlon, 2009 & 2010 heptathlon). “Four seconds in the 1,000 is a lot.
“With three laps to go, I felt awesome. I thought, ?I can do this'.”
Eaton surpassed O'Brien's mark by 25 points and shattered his own college and school record by 243 points. In all, Eaton set heptathlon personal bests in all seven events, and had lifetime bests in four of the seven ? 60 meters, high jump, 60 meter hurdles and 1,000 meters.
Mateo Sossah of North Carolina was second with 5,886 points and Michael Morrison of California was third with 5,826 points.
Just minutes after Eaton's record, Theisen set the women's run to a national title in motion with a record-setting win in the heptathlon.
She established heptathlon personal bests in four of the five events in rolling to victory with 4,396 points. The sophomore from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, ran fourth in the 60 meters hurdles in 8.44 and cleared 5-8.5 in the high jump ? her only non-PR mark of the day, though she still tied for second in the event.
She then took the lead in the competition with a big PR in the shot put, 41-6 (12.65 meters), which was a foot better than her previous best. She had only one legal mark in the long jump, going 19-11.5 on her second attempt, before bringing home the title with a time of 2:15.58 in the 800 meters.
“I was so excited about that (shot put),” said Theisen, who also won the 2009 NCAA outdoor heptathlon. “As everyone knows, I'm not a really good shot put thrower so having that foot-PR was awesome.
“As soon as it left my hand I thought, 'oh this is going to be huge,' because it felt so good.”
Theisen broke her own school record by 75 points as her score ranked fourth all-time among collegians. Kiani Proft of Maryland was second with 4,242 points, with Sandy Fortner of New Mexico third with 4,156 points.
Theisen became just the second Duck woman to win an NCAA indoor title, joining Melody Fairchild, who captured the 1996 3,000 meter title.
The women backed up Theisen's win with a pair of strong second place runs.
Baker took second in the 400 meters in a school-record 51.63, and Gergel established a huge PR in the pole vault, taking second at 14-7.25, a school record.
Hasay and Kesselring scored in the mile, with Hasay running fourth in 4:38.29 and Kesselring coming in sixth in 4:40.39. Nicole Blood, who suffered a nasty fall in the 5,000 meters Friday night, capped the individual scoring for the women with a fifth-place showing in the 3,000 meters in a season-best 9:11.23.
The most fun of the night might have been watching the Ducks fend off Louisiana State for the 4x400 meter title. Jamesha Youngblood led off and Oregon surged to the lead on Baker's second leg. Michele Williams held position before Amber Purvis ran the anchor and held off LSU's LaTavia Thomas to win in 3:32.97, which was also a school record.
“It was exciting,” said Purvis. “I looked at (Thomas) in the video screen and saw her coming so then I just gave it all I had in the end.”
It was the first Oregon women's relay win at the NCAA meet of any kind - indoors or outdoors. The Ducks 1980 mile relay of Melanie Batiste, Rhonda Massey, Leann Warren and Grace Bakari won the AIAW championship at Hayward Field.
The men also captured big points in the mile. Mac Fleet was second in 4:01.63, while senior A.J. Acosta was fourth in 4:02.27.
Fleet, a freshman from San Diego, Calif., lurked in the back of the field for the first six laps until making his move with 600 meters remaining. He threw out a big kick to jump all the way from ninth to second.
“The race plan was to stay as calm as possible though one K and then try to make a move along the outside,” said Fleet.
Also for the men, senior Andrew Wheating finished second in the 800 meters in 1:48.40 and the 4x400 meter relay team of Matt Butcher, Eaton, Travis Thompson and Chad Barlow grabbed sixth in 3:08.42.
“I think we had a phenomenal, phenomenal performance,” said assistant coach Andy Powell of the men's performance. “Talking with Vin Lananna before the meet, 40 points was a goal and we scored 44 and tied for second, which was a very good result for us.”
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