Skipper Breaks Duck Pole Vault Record
NAMPA, Idaho - In the Oregon track and field team’s second straight trip to Jacksons Track near Boise, several Duck men added NCAA qualifying marks, while the women took a weekend off from competition.
Freshman Tommy Skipper topped the field by almost seven inches Saturday (first, 18-8 3/4, 5.71m), and his NCAA automatic mark broke the school pole vault record of 18-6 1/2 set outdoors in 1985 by eventual Olympian and NCAA runner-up Kory Tarpenning. Skipper’s former indoor best of 18-0 1/2 came last Saturday in Idaho, and he also rewrote his overall best of 18-3 that came outdoors last June in the Golden West Invitational.
"I was definitely surprised how it went today," Skipper said. "Idaho is a great place to jump. It’s an awesome indoor facility with a great runway. Some things came together - things that I and coach have been working on together in practice. I was also fortunate to have my family there cheering me on."
The Sandy, Ore., native entered the meet already ranked first among collegians nationally with last week’s 18-0 1/2 indoor best from the Bodybuilding.com Invite, and went head to head with returning NCAA champion and Washington senior Brad Walker for the second time this season. The Husky senior won their first meeting in the Husky Preview on January 17, when he cleared 17-4 1/2, and Skipper debuted as a Duck at 16-10 3/4.
Walker ended up second (18-1) for his highest legal qualifying mark of the year after clearing 18-4 1/2 in an exhibition in early January. LSU senior Daniel Trosclair cleared two personal bests to finish third at the same height (18-1) yet will likely fall at least one spot on the national collegiate qualifying list after he ranked second last week. UCLA grabbed fourth, fifth and sixth places courtesy of the All-America duo of Pat Luke (17-1), Yoo Kim (16-7 1/4) and fellow Bruin Mike Landers (sixth, 16-7 1/4).
"The field was great and everybody was pumped up to try and go high," Skipper said. "You have to be ready and do your best with guys that talented around, especially someone like Brad. I just tried to focus on the things we do in practice every day. Today was great, but I want to keep in improving, and not just jump high early in the season. I want to clear good marks consistently - that’s the most important thing and I have a lot to work on. I need to continue to have good practices, train smartly and stay healthy, and everything will come together on its own."
Two other Duck individuals and the 4x400 relay also came away with NCAA provisional marks against strong fields that included additional NCAA-caliber individuals from LSU, Stanford, UCLA and Washington.
Sophomore Eric Mitchum made his season debut in the 60 hurdles, and ran an NCAA provisional mark of 7.91 to win the final over UCLA’s Anthony Golston (second, 7.97). Mitchum also topped the field in the prelims (7.94), and both clockings were under the 7.95 NCAA provisional qualifying standard, and shy of his personal best of 7.86 from last year’s Last Chance Qualifier. Coming into this weekend, only 17 hurdlers have run faster in 2004, with the nation’s top time at 7.66.
Sophomore and Colorado transfer AK Ikwuakor also made his hurdles debut for the Ducks and advanced to the final (seventh, 8.59), after he clocked his daily best in the prelims (seventh, 8.41).
In the 400, sophomore Matt Scherer ran an indoor personal best by almost 1 1/2 seconds in his season debut and easily won his section (46.76) by .79 seconds. Scherer’s third-fastest mark overall (including outdoor times from 2003) easily met the NCAA indoor provisional standard (47.25), and was less than a quarter-second shy of the automatic mark (46.55), with only seven runners going faster so far in 2004. Overall on Saturday, Baylor’s Jeremy Wariner (first, 46.23) edged ASU’s Lewis Banda (second, 46.70) for top honors.
Also in the 400, a pair of middle distance runners from Bend, Ore., stepped down an event in their early season training - freshman Jeff DeWolf (28th, 49.84) and sophomore Ryan Flaherty (29th, 50.13).
Scherer returned to help the 4x400 notch its first provisional mark of 2004 as the Ducks took fourth overall (3:09.13). The quartet’s two-second season best stood as an indoor school record and seventh overall including outdoor marks. Nationally in 2004, only six relays have broken 3:11.00 nationally this season - and only three of those have broken 3:10.00.
Other Duck personal bests came from juniors Noel Paulson (800, 15th, 1:55.84) and Derek Strubel (triple jump, 50-4). Strubel owned a prior indoor best of 49-10 from last weekend’s showing in Idaho, and missed the UO all-time combined indoor/outdoor top-10 list by 5 1/4 inches (10th is 50-9 1/4).
Also in the field events, redshirt junior Leonidas Watson led the Ducks in the long jump (third, 23-10) and was just shy of clearing 50 feet in the triple jump (sixth, 49-10). Sophomore high jumper Jeff Lindsey matched his third highest mark as a Duck (second, 6-10 3/4).
Complete meet results are available at the
www.BroncoSports.com website.
Looking ahead, the Ducks next head to the Iowa State Classic in Ames Iowa (2/13-14) and the Pac-10 Invitational (2/14) in Seattle. More meet info is at the
www.cyclones.com and www.gohuskies.com websites.
FINAL RESULTS
Meet: United Heritage Invitational
Date: Sat., Feb. 7, 2004
Host: Boise State University
Location: Jacksons Track / Idaho Sports Center (200-meter Banked Track), Nampa, Idaho
60 - Final - 1, Rubin Williams, Heritage TC, 6.70. Prelims - 1, Rubin Williams, Heritage TC, 6.73.
60 Hurdles - Final - 1, Eric Mitchum, Oregon, 7.91. 7, AK Ikwuakor, Orgon, 8.59. Prelims - 1, Eric Mitchum, Oregon, 7.94. 7, AK Ikwuakor, Oregon, 8.41.
200 - 1, Rubin Williams, Heritage TC, 20.96.
400 - 1, Jeremy Wariner, Baylor, 46.23. 2, Lewis Banda, ASU, 46.70. 3, Matt Scherer, Oregon, 46.76.
800 - 1, Wil Fitts, Baylor, 1:51.79. 15, Noel Paulson, Oregon, 1:55.84.
Mile - 1, Forest Braden, Boise State, 4:09.15.
3,000 - 1, Jeremy Redding, Gtr. Boise TC, 8:52.59.
4x400 - 1, Baylor, 3:07.98. 2, LSU, 3:08.28. 3, ASU, 3:08.41. 4, Oregon, 3:09.13.
High Jump - 1, Einar Hjartarson, SMU, 7-0 1/2. 2, Jeff Lindsey, Oregon, 6-10 1/4.
Pole Vault - 1, Tommy Skipper, Oregon, 18-8 3/4. 2, Brad Walker, Washington, 18-1. 3, Daniel Trosclair, LSU, 18-1. 4, Pat Luke, UCLA, 17-1.
Long Jump - 1, Juane Armon, UCLA, 24-5 1/2. 3, Leonidas Watson, Oregon, 23-10.
Triple Jump - 1, Derek Strubel, Oregon, 50-4. 6, Leonidas Watson, Oregon, 49-10.
Shot Put - 1, Janus Robberts, Unat., 64-10.
Weight Throw - 1, Libor Charfreitag, Unat., 80-3 3/4.
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