University of Oregon
NCAA Championships
Quick Study Theisen Leads Women's NCAA Surge
03/12/11 | Track and Field
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Maybe you can study too hard.
Brianne Theisen overcame a "study injury" to win her second straight NCAA pentathlon title Friday at Gilliam Indoor Stadium.
The junior from Humboldt, Sask., scored 4,540 points to win handily, grabbing scores of records in the process, and set the women in motion as the top-ranked Ducks go for their second straight NCAA indoor crown. With Jamesha Youngblood and Amber Purvis also scoring on day one, Oregon led with 26 points, followed by Tennessee with 16, Louisiana State with 13 and Texas A&M, Texas and Indiana State with 12.
"You've got to get through the first day to have a good second day," said Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna. "Brianne was great, Jamesha Youngblood came through and Amber was really good."
In spite of a sore back brought on by a marathon study session, Theisen set championship meet, collegiate, Gilliam Indoor Stadium and University Oregon records with her personal-best pentathlon total of 4,540 points.
"For the past couple of weeks, I've been having this weird thing with my back," said Theisen. "And I've just been kind of managing it.
"The reason my back started to flare up again is because I sat in Starbucks for 11 hours and did homework with one of my groups for my business management class," she said. The next day it was really stiff."
Theisen opened the day by setting a combined events personal best in the 60 meter hurdles, running 8.35 seconds. That matched her overall PR and school record set at the 2011 MPSF Championships. The time was good for 1,050 points and was second overall behind Chelsea Carter of West Virginia, who went 8.29.
Theisen was exceptionally impressive in the high jump where she made five straight first attempt clearances to set a pentathlon personal best at 6-0.5/1.84m. That mark did three noteworthy things - set the collegiate pentathlon high jump record, set the NCAA Championships pentathlon high jump mark and broke the Oregon indoor school high jump record that Theisen previously shared with Laurel Roberts. She missed at three attempts at 6-1.5, but still moved into the overall pentathlon lead for good.
Theisen then struggled with her next two events, throwing 40-7.5/12.38m in the shot put and going 19-6.75/5.96m in the long jump.
She then closed with an all-conditions PR in the 800 meters, running 2:11.82. Her score was just 10 points shy of the Canadian national record (4,550, Jill Ross-Giffen, 1982).
"I really didn't feel any pain until that last 200," said Theisen. "So it was a painful race, but it was good."
And better than an 11-hour study session.
Jamesha Youngblood had an impressive series in the long jump to finish third and score six team points. She went 20-2.25/6.15m on her final attempt in the preliminaries to advance to the final round. In the finals, she improved to 20-3.75/6.19m on her fourth attempt and 20-6.5/6.26m on jump number five before hitting a season-best 20-11.75/6.39m on her final leap.
"I guess I do good work under pressure," said Youngblood. "I'm hoping I can break that pattern outdoors."
After erasing her own school record in the preliminaries, Amber Purvis took seventh in the finals in 23.26 to pick up another two team points for the Ducks. The junior from Hercules, Calif., ran 23:17 in the preliminaries to break her own 2010 school record of 23.21.
Oregon also saw a gutsy performance in a runner-up finish by the women's distance medley relay team that ran a school-record 10:52.90. The runners for Oregon were Anne Kesselring (3:20.52), Chizoba Okodogbe (53.88), Becca Friday (2:08.05) and Jordan Hasay (4:30.47). The Ducks led for much of the race before Villanova went ahead on the final lap to win in 10:52.52, though Oregon still claimed eight team points.
The Oregon women were also successful in the mile and the 60 meters.
In the 60 meters, Purvis broke her own school record by running 7.20 in the preliminaries. She was second in her heat and had the third-fastest time overall of the eight runners who moved on to Saturday's final.
All three Ducks advanced in the mile. Hasay cruised to the final by winning her heat in 4:39.41. She eased to the lead with 300 meters remaining and coasted home. In the second heat, Zoe Buckman held the lead for most of the race as both she and Kesselring advanced to Saturday's final. Buckman won in a personal best 4:35.47 (third in school history), with Kesselring third in 4:36.41.
"It was a great day for our team," said Hasay. "It will fun having all three of us in the final."
Also for the women, Laura Roesler was fifth in her heat of the 800 meters and did not advance to the finals.
For the men, David Klech finished strong in the heptathlon with a combined events personal best clearance at 6-11/2.11m in the high jump. That moved him up to ninth in the overall standings after day one with 3,183 points.
The senior from San Ramon, Calif., also set a personal best with a shot put of 35-0.5/10,68m and went 24-1/7.34m in the long jump and opened by running 7.08 in the 60 meters.
Luke Puskedra was 14th in the men's 5,000 meters in 14:02.26.
Elijah Greer was seventh in his heat of the men's 800 meters in 1:54.48 and did not advance.
Mac Fleet finished eighth in the preliminaries of the men's mile in 4:08.16 and did not advance.
The men's distance medley relay was in position to challenge for the win at the final exchange before anchor leg Matthew Centrowitz got stepped on and lost a shoe on the first turn. He had to stop and put the shoe back on and the Ducks were 10th in 9:48.00.
"It was too bad because we were in a really good position, but that's how it goes sometimes," said Lananna.
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