Track Teams Look Forward to Busiest Weekend of Indoor Action
EUGENE ? The Duck men’s and women’s track and field teams look forward to their biggest weekend of indoor activity, and split duty between three meets this weekend.
The Men of Oregon head to the Iowa State Classic, in Ames, Iowa, Fri.-Sat., Feb. 13-14, the UO women’s squad and additional men’s individuals return to Seattle for the Pac-10 Invitational, Sat., Feb. 14, and senior Abby Andrus will make her season multi-event debut in the Bronco Pentathlon in Nampa, Idaho, Friday, Feb.13.
The Iowa State Classic begins Friday at 3:30 p.m. and concludes at 7 pm Central Time, then resumes Saturday at 10:15 a.m. and ends at 6:30 p.m. The Pac-10 Invitational opens Saturday morning with the first field event at 9 am, running events follow at 10:45 am, and the final event is over at 4:45 pm. The Boise-state hosted pentathlon begins at 4 pm Friday, and should be over no later than 8 pm that evening.
The tentative travel parties include 24 men bound for Ames and eight more set for Seattle, 26 women slated for Seattle, and one woman headed to Idaho.
Among those traveling, the Iowa State group includes three All-Americans (Jason Hartmann, 10,000; Eric Logsdon, 5,000; Trevor Woods, pole vault) and four more NCAA veterans from 2003 (Brandon Holliday, 400 hurdles, 4x400; Eric Mitchum, 110 hurdles; Matt Scherer, 400, 4x400; and Travis Anderson, 4x400) and one Pac-10 champion (Holliday, 400 hurdles) and two runners-up (Hartmann, 10,000; Mitchum, 110 hurdles).
The Seattle travel party features a pair of All-Americans in Elisa Cumley (javelin) and Mary Etter (discus), and three other NCAA veterans - Amanda Brown (triple jump), Kirsten Larwin (pole vault) and Magdalena Sandoval (cros country). Andrus was also an NCAA heptathlon participant last season and makes her 2004 indoor season debut.
Tentative UO men’s entries for Iowa State include sprinters and 4x400 relay members Travis Anderson, Roderick Dotts, Brandon Holliday and Matt Scherer, hurdlers AK Ikwuakor and Eric Mitchum, middle distance runners Jeff DeWolf (800), Ryan Flaherty (800) and Mike McGrath (800), distance runners Ryan Andrus (5,000), Jason Hartmann (5,000), Eric Logsdon (3,000) and Noel Paulson (mile), high jumpers Jeff Lindsey and Teddy Davis, pole vaulters David Moore, Tommy Skipper and Trevor Woods, horizontal jumper Leon Watson (LJ, TJ, 60), and decathletes Gabriel LeMay (LJ, PV), Ryan Voge (HJ, LJ) and Andy Young (LJ, PV).
Tentative women’s entries for the Pac-10 Invitational included sprinters Sophie Abildtrup (200), Elisa Crumley (60), Michelle Donovan (800), C’Rel McAllister (400), Kayla Mellott (400) and Amanda Santana (400), middle distance runners Taylor Bryant (mile), Eri Macdonald (800) and Sara Schaaf (800), distance runners Eleanor Gordon (5K), Laura Harmon (3K) and Magdalena Sandoval (3K), pole vaulters Emily Enders, Kirsten Larwin and Hannah Moore, jumpers Amanda Brown (LJ, TJ), Clarice Hayward-Lee (TJ), Rachael Kriz (HJ) and Maegan Traver (TJ), and throwers Whitney Gum (SP, WT), Mary Etter (SP, WT), Bree Fuqua (SP), Jill Hoxmeier (WT), Katie Kersh (WT) and Megan Kriz (WT).
Men tentatively making the Seattle trip include sprinters Scott Lamb (400) and Caleb Rexius (60), hurdler Sol Rexius (60H), high jumpers Bobby Owen and Joseph Reiter, and throwers Paul Etter (WT) and Brandon Tower (SP, WT).
More upcoming meet information and post-race results for this weekend’s contests are available at the www.cyclones.com (Iowa State), www.gohuskies.com (Washington) and www.broncosports.com (Boise State) websites. Results from last weekend’s meet in Nampa, Idaho was posted at the www.BroncoSports.com website.
On this weekend’s collegiate qualifying lists, several Ducks rank top 25 nationally. Freshman pole vault Tommy Skipper led the national list for the second straight week and rewrote his personal best with a school record of 18-8 3/4 last weekend. Sophomore Matt Scherer stands 10th nationally in the 400 with his indoor school record and NCAA provisional mark from last weekend in Nampa, Idaho (46.76), and is also a part of the 4x400 relay that ran an indoor school record and is tied for sixth nationally (3:09.13). Fellow sophomore Eric Mitchum ranks 25th in the 60 hurdles with his season debut and NCAA provisional qualifier (7.91) last Saturday.
Altogether last weekend, the Men of Oregon scored one NCAA automatic mark and three other NCAA provisional marks in the United Heritage Invitational in Nampa, Idaho (near Boise) against many of the nation’s top athletes from LSU, Stanford, UCLA and Washington. Among other highlights, junior Derek Strubel posted an indoor triple jump personal best (50-4) by six inches, and missed the UO all-time combined indoor/outdoor top-10 list by 5 1/4 inches. Redshirt junior Leonidas Watson paced long jump action (third, 23-10) and was just shy of clearing 50 feet in the triple jump (sixth, 49-10). Other Mountain Pacific qualifiers included sophomore AK Ikwuakor (60 hurdles, seventh-final, 8.59, 8.41-prelim), juniors Noel Paulson (800, 15th, 1:55.84) and sophomore Jeff Lindsey (high jump, second, 6-10 1/4).
The Duck women did not compete last weekend, with their most recent showing in Nampa, Idaho two weekends ago in the Bodybuilding.com Invite. For the second straight meet senior Amanda Brown claimed a pair of wins in the long jump (19-0 3/4) and triple jump (40-4) - and both were indoor personal bests. Other UO women’s winners included junior transfers Sofie Abildtrup (200, 24.39) and Bree Fuqua (shot put, 49-5), and redshirt sophomore Haripurkh Khalsa (3,000, 10:18.22). Fuqua’s mark was 5 1/2 inches shy of the NCAA provisional standard (49-10 1/2) and met the Pac-10 qualifying mark. The Poulson, Mont., native Fuqua ranks sixth all-time for the Ducks in only her second meet since her transfer from Wisconsin. Abildtrup was .39 seconds shy of the NCAA provisional mark (24.00) in her Duck debut, and also only .24 seconds shy of the Duck all-time top-10 list (Kelly Blair is 10th at 24.15). Other Pac-10 qualifiers included pole vaulters Kirsten Larwin (second, 12-5 1/2) and Emily Enders (fourth, indoor best 12-5 1/2), triple jumper Clarice Hayward-Lee (second, indoor best 39-5 3/4) and shot putter Whitney Gum (fifth, indoor best 43-10 3/4).
Sizing up this year’s teams, the Duck men and women return after 13th and 17th-place finishes in the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and first and seventh-place Pac-10 Conference finishes, respectively.
The Duck men return nine NCAA qualifiers and a 4x400 relay from last year’s NCAA outdoor finale, including three All-Americans (Jason Hartmann, 10K, fourth; Trevor Woods, pole vault, eighth; Eric Logsdon, 5K, eighth), to go along with two Pac-10 champions (Brandon Holliday, 400 hurdles; Adam Jenkins, javelin). Seven Duck men are ranked top-10 in UO history - Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, second, 13.75), Jason Hartmann (10,000, third, 28:31.96), Trevor Woods (pole vault, fourth, 18-0 1/2), Jordan Kent (200, sixth, 20.99; 100, eighth, 10.46), Matt Scherer (400, sixth, 46.47), Brandon Holliday (400 hurdles, seventh, 50.73) and Adam Jenkins (javelin, eighth, 222-4).
The Duck women return three All-Americans in 2003 - javelin throwers Sarah Malone (javelin-2001, 7th), Roslyn Lundeen (javelin-2002, 7th, 2003, 8th) and Elisa Crumley (javelin-2002, 13th), and two other NCAA veterans from last season - senior Kirsten Larwin (indoor pole vault, 10th) and Abby Andrus (heptathlon, 18th). Current Ducks on the all-time top-10 lists include Sarah Malone (javelin, first, 179-2), Elisa Crumley (javelin, second, 169-7), Kirsten (Riley) Larwin (pole vault, third, 13-3 1/2), Amanda Brown (triple jump, fourth, 40-9 1/2), Mary Etter (shot put, fourth, 49-1 1/4), Abby Andrus (heptathlon, fifth, 5,303; 400 hurdles, sixth, 59.90; 100 hurdles, seventh, 14.00), Eri Macdonald (800, seventh, 2:06.37), Hannah Moore (pole vault, seventh, 12-6 1/4), Jill Hoxmeier (hammer, eighth, 162-6), and Kayla Mellott (400 hurdles, ninth, 61.30).
Top Duck women’s newcomers in 2004 include junior sprinter Sofie Abildtrup from Fredericksburg, Denmark (PRs - 100 - 11.84 (1999); 200 - 24.02 (1999); 400 - 54.16 (2002)), freshman pole vaulter Emily Enders from Everett, Wash. (12-7), junior shot putter and Wisconsin transfer Bree Fuqua (51-5 1/2), and freshman hurdler Amanda Santana (300H 43.95).
Top men’s newcomers include sophomore hurdler and Colorado transfer AK Ikwuakor (110H 14.10, 400H 51.99), junior middle distance runner and Barton CC transfer Roderick Dotts (800 1:48.41), freshman miler Mike McGrath (1:48.56, 1,500 3:47.5, mile 4:05.28), junior jumper and St. Louis CC transfer Leon Watson (LJ 25-8, TJ 53-0), freshman pole vaulter Tommy Skipper (pole vault 18-3), junior thrower and Clackamas CC thrower Paul Etter from Everett Wash. (HT 199-3, DT 153-5, SP 48-4).
The 2004 season marks the unification the men’s and women’s programs after former women’s coach Tom Heinonen retired last June after his 27th season at the helm. Martin Smith returns for his sixth season in charge of the men’s program and will oversee the women’s program for the first time. The rest of the Duck women’s staff is composed of first-year assistant coaches Rock Light (sprints, hurdles, jumps, heptathlon), Marnie Mason (distances) and Lance Deal (throws). The men’s staff is composed of Bill Lawson (jumps, decathlon, fourth year), Dan Steele (sprints, hurdles, relays, second year), and Deal (throws, second year).
Looking ahead, the Duck squads do not compete the following weekend (2/21-22) before returning to Seattle for their quasi-indoor league finale, the Mountain Pacific Championships (29-29). The Ducks will take on teams from the Big West, Pacific-10 and West Coast Conferences, and more meet info is at the www.gohuskies.com and www.mpsports.org websites.
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