The 15th annual Pepsi Team Invitational returns for the second straight year after a three-year hiatus (2000-01-02). Last year, the Duck M&W swept both team crowns (M 211 points, W 204 points) and featured 17 individual wins (9W, 8M). This year’s field features return appearances by Colorado, Minnesota (the two-time Big Ten men’s champion) and Washington.
The following week, the Duck teams head to LA for the Mt. SAC Relays, Thu.-Sat., April 15-17. The annual trip to the City of Angels is often the team's busiest with several Ducks adding extra duty in the Pomona Pitzer and Long Beach Invitationals, scheduled for Friday (4/16) and Saturday (4/17), respectively, this year.
The UO M&W return after scaled-back throws, sprints and jump units competed last week in the 77th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. All-American and redshirt junior Sarah Malone won the javelin and upped her javelin school record by five inches to 179-7 and edged U.S. record holder Kim Kreiner by two feet and five inches and Pac-10 arch-rival and two-time NCAA runner-up Inge Stasliuonyte. All-American and sophomore Eric Mitchum dipped under the Oregon 110 hurdle school record by .17 seconds with his runner-up clocking (13.50w, w:3.0) although the wind-aided mark was 1.0 meters per second over the allowable limit.
PEPSI TEAM INVITATIONAL MEET INFO
Date: Saturday, April 10
Location: Hayward Field, University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
Edition: 15th Annual (first meet: 1987)
Duck Team Wins: M-8 (1987, 90, 92, 93, 95, 97, 98, 03), W- 10 (1987, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 03).
Saturday First Field Event: M Javelin - Noon
Saturday First Running Event: W 4x100 Relay - 2:40 pm
Saturday Last Event: M 4x400 Relay - 4:55 pm
Results Web Site: www.GoDucks.com
Opponents (Websites): Washington (www.GoHuskies.com), Minnesota (www.GopherSports.com), Colorado (www.CUbuffs.com)
Single Meet Tickets: Reserved $6; General Admission - $5 Adult, $3 Children (high school or younger) and Senior Citizens (62 or older). $2 per person group rates (10 or more).
Scoring: Individual Events (Max. 2 per team): 1st (9), 2nd (7), 3rd (6), 4th (5), 5th (4), 6th (3), 7th (2), 8th (1); Relays - 1st (9), 2nd (7), 3rd (6), 4th (0).
PEPSI MEN’S TASTER: All Four Squads Made NCAA XC Trips Last Fall.
The Minnesota men will again pose a formidable threat thanks to their balance across the field and are the two-time defending Big Ten team champions. The Gophers featured a pair of 400 meter runners on the U.S. gold-medal 4x400 relay pool in the 2003 World Championships (Adam Steele and 2003 NCAA outdoor champion Mitch Potter), and the 4x400 finished second in the 2003 NCAA outdoor and 2004 indoor finales. The Gophers flex their depth across the field and will look to prove that last year’s 42-point loss to the Ducks in the same meet was a fluke. Colorado continues to thrive as a distance power, and redshirt sophomore Dathan Ritzenhein will look to better his 3,000 best of 8:01.13 after he won the NCAA cross country title last fall (the third different Buff to turn the trick since 1998). Second-year Washington head coach Greg Metcalf has taken a page from the Ducks’ Pac-10 champion blueprint and improved Washington's balance across the field and their sprint crew features a pair of Jamaican transfers. The Huskies are already among the nation’s top distance units and last fall edged the Oregon cross country squad by two points in the 2003 West Regional, while the Ducks bettered their Northwest rivals in the NCAA (21st/22nd) and Pac-10 Champs (second/third) by three and two points, respectively.
PEPSI WOMEN’S TASTER: Team Crown Up For Grabs.
Colorado again sports a distance-heavy unit that includes three All-America harriers (Natalie Florence, Renee Metivier and Kalin Toedebusch), but could also steal points with added depth in various hurdles and throws events. Washington is on the upswing under second-year head coach Greg Metcalf and was one place and four points ahead of the Ducks in the 2003 Pac-10 Championships. The Huskies are a balanced unit that will garner solid points from nearly every event, with a distance-event foundation that has made seven straight NCAA cross country trips. Junior Ingvill Makestad, a Norway distance import, will be a scoring threat come championship time, and NCAA vets Kate Soma (pole vault) and Megan Spriesterbach (javelin) will again contend for All-America honors in May. Minnesota landed a deep freshman class to aid the rebuilding after a ninth-place Big Ten outdoor finish last year. Shot putter Alean Frawley owns a personal best that tops the field by two feet, while Nicole Kopari could add top discus honors.
DUCK WOMEN’S UPDATE: Field Events Pace Attack.
With a pair of javelin All-Americans redshirting (would-be juniors Elisa Crumley and Roslyn Lundeen) and another indoor NCAA qualifier, pole vaulter Hannah Moore following suit, the Ducks have still enjoyed a solid start under first year women’s head coach and sixth-year men’s mentor Martin Smith Redshirt junior and All-America javelin thrower Sarah Malone broke her school javelin record by four inches last Saturday to win the Texas Relays invitational section (179-7), and was also past the 165-foot line her first two meets in the Oregon Preview (first, 175-7), and Stanford Invite (second overall/top collegian, 167-9). Senior pole vaulter Kirsten Larwin upped her outdoor personal best for the second straight meet last weekend and tied her indoor best (13-3 1/2), two weeks after her 1 3/4-inch then-best in the Oregon Preview (13-1 1/2). The Eugene native and South High School was an NCAA qualifier indoors in 2003 (10th, 13-3 1/2) and was shy of All-America honors only on misses (eighth ended at the same height). Junior transfer Bree Fuqua moved to second all-time for the Ducks indoors in the shot put with an NCAA provisional mark (51-3 1/2), and was only four inches from tying that mark in Texas (50-11 1/2). Sophomore and PSU transfer Megan Kriz enjoyed an auspicious debut in the hammer three weeks ago at Hayward Field and moved to fifth all-time for the Ducks (171-7) - the same event her older brother and former walk-on Adam competed in and won a pair of Pac-10 titles (2002, ?03) and All-America honors last year. In the same event, junior transfer Katie Kersh also met the Pac-10 qualifying standard (170-7) to move to seventh all-time for Oregon, and both were less than three feet from the regional standard (173-3). Junior transfer and Fredericksberg, Denmark native Sofie Abildtrup will compete in several sprint events, and paced the Ducks indoors with Pac-10 qualifiers in the 200 (24.39) and 400 (54.76), with the latter time an NCAA provisional mark.
DUCK MEN’S UPDATE: Ducks’ Depth Will Be Tested by Gophers.
The Duck sprinters and hurdlers will lock horns against one of the nation’s top units (Minnesota), a league up-and-comer (Washington) and recent distance powerhouse (Colorado). Junior transfer Kedar Inico debuted for the Ducks outdoors last weekend in Texas, and ran a coaches-clocked 45.95 split on the 4x400 anchor, and a 47.6 split the day before in the prelims despite a bobbled handoff. All-America sophomore Eric Mitchum dipped below the Duck 110-hurdle record last weekend in the Texas Relays (13.50w, w:3.0) although the wind was 1.0 meters per second to validate the record. Indoors, he finished sixth in the 60 hurdles the same day he crushed the school indoor record with the second-fastest time overall in the prelims (7.69). The All-America duo of senior Trevor Woods and freshman Tommy Skipper look for their first outdoor 18-foot vaults of the season and own prior open-air bests of 18-0 1/2 and 18-3 from 2002 and 2003, respectively. Skipper took second in the 2004 NCAA indoor finale, and Woods took third as a sophomore in 2002 and was an All-American outdoors in 2003 (eighth-tie). Redshirt junior and St. Louis CC transfer Leonidas Watson opened outdoor field event duty two weekends ago in Arizona in the long jump (25-4 1/2) and triple jump (51-5) two weeks after he made his NCAA indoor debut indoors (long jump, All-America ninth, 25-2 1/2; triple jump, 13th, 50-1 3/4). Also look for him possibly on the 4x100 relay, an event he also competed in the junior college nationals in along with 2003 triple jump wins (indoors and outdoors) and runner-up long jump placings (indoors and outdoors).
PAC-10 QUALIFYING UPDATE: Ducks Sprint Towards to 24-Person Limit.
Athletes qualify for the Pacific-10 Conference Championships (Sat.-Sun., May 5/14-15) based on their season best mark in an event and if he/she meets a pre-set league standard (see the 2004 outdoor season best list to see each event standard). Marks can be performed either indoors or outdoors in 2004, and sprint/jump marks are even accepted with wind readings of more than 4.0 meters per second (although +4.0 readings are not permissible for regional or NCAA qualifying). Each Duck squad is limited to a 24-person travel roster, composed of 1) qualifiers, 2) wild card entries (each is coach is allowed to enter 3 athletes without qualifying marks) and 3) right of entry additions (each is team is granted one entry per event by the right of entry rule regardless of the athlete’s season best). Twenty-five Duck men have posted 30 marks in 14 events of 18 possible individual events (there is no qualifying standard in the 4x100, 4x400 or 10,000) - Travis Anderson (400), Matt Scherer (400), Ryan Flaherty (800), Mike McGrath (800), Eric Logsdon (1,500), Brett Holts (steeple), Ryan Andrus (5,000), Jason Hartmann (5,000), Eric Mitchum (110H, 400H), Brandon Holliday (400H), AK Ikwuakor (110H, 400H), Jeff Lindsey (high jump), Teddy Davis (high jump), Bobby Owen (high jump), Joseph Reiter (high jump), Tommy Skipper (pole vault), Trevor Woods (pole vault), Jon Derby (pole vault), Andy Young (pole vault, decathlon), David Moore (pole vault), Leonidas Watson (long jump, triple jump), Derek Strubel (triple jump), Paul Etter (hammer), Gabriel LeMay (decathlon) and Ryan Voge (decathlon). Events with multiple men’s qualifiers include the pole vault (5), high jump (4), decathlon and 400 hurdles (3) and 400, 800, 5,000, 110H and triple jump (2). Seventeen Duck women have combined for 20s marks in 12 events (the 4x100, 4x400 or the 10K which doesn’t have a standard) - Sofie Abildtrup (200, 400), Laura Harmon (1,500, 5,000), Erinn Gulbrandsen (1,500), Sara Schaaf (800, 1,500), Magdalena Sandoval (5,000), Abby Andrus (high jump), Hannah Moore (pole vault), Kirsten Larwin (pole vault), Emily Enders (pole vault), Clarice Hayward-Lee (triple jump), Bree Fuqua (shot put, discus), Whitney Gum (shot put), Jill Hoxmeier (discus), Megan Kriz (hammer), Katie Kersh (hammer), Sarah Malone (javelin) and Rachael Kriz (javelin). Events with women’s multiple qualifiers include the pole vault (3), and hammer, javelin and 1,500 (2). Women’s qualifying newcomers include junior transfers Sofie Abildtrup, (200/400), Bree Fuqua (shot put, discus) and Katie Kersh (hammer), sophomores Sara Schaaf (1,500), Whitney Gum (shot put) and Megan Kriz (hammer), and freshman Emily Enders (pole vault). Oregon’s only new addition last week was Eric Mitchum (400 hurdles) from its 22-person Texas Relays travel party.
TENTATIVE DUCK ENTRIES
Noon - M Javelin (Andy Young, Tommy Skipper, Adam Jenkins)
12:05 - W Hammer (Whitney Gum, Megan Kriz, Katie Kersh)
12:15 - W Long Jump (Maegan Traver, Clarice Hayward-Lee, Abby Andrus)
1:25 - W Javelin (Rachael Kriz, Sarah Malone)
1:25 - W High Jump (Rachael Kriz, Abby Andrus)
1:35 - M Hammer (Brandon Tower, Paul Etter)
1:45 - M Long Jump (Gabriel LeMay, Ryan Voge)
2:00 - W Pole Vault (Emily Enders, Kirsten Larwin)
2:15 - W Triple Jump (Maegan Traver, Clarice Hayward-Lee)
2:35 - W Discus (Jill Hoxmeier, Bree Fuqua)
2:40 - W 4 x 100
2:45 - M 4 x 100
2:45 - M Shot Put (Paul Etter, Enoka Lucas, Brandon Tower)
2:50 - W 1,500 (Erinn Gulbrandsen, Taylor Bryant)
3:00 - M 1,500 (Ryan Andrus, Eric Logsdon)
3:10 - W 100 Hurdles (Abby Andrus, Amanda Santana)
3:15 - M 110 Hurdles (Eric Mitchum, AK Ikwuakor)
3:15 - M High Jump (Andy Young, Teddy Davis, Jeff Lindsey)
3:25 - W 400 (Sofie Abildtrup, Michelle Donovan)
3:30 - M 400 (Travis Anderson, Scott Lamb)
3:35 - W 100 (Amanda Santana)
3:35 - M 100 (Brian Paysinger, Ryan Gilliam)
3:45 - M Triple Jump (Joseph Reiter, Leonidas Watson)
3:45 - W 800 (Sara Schaaf)
3:50 - M 800 (Roderick Dotts, Mike McGrath)
3:50 - M Discus (Tommy Skipper, Paul Etter, Brandon Tower)
3:50 - W Shot Put (Whitney Gum, Bree Fuqua)
3:55 - W 400 Hurdles (Kayla Mellott, C'Rel McAllister)
4:00 - M 400 Hurdles (Brandon Holliday, Eric Mitchum)
4:00 - M Pole Vault (Moore, Trevor Woods, Tommy Skipper)
4:05 - W 200 (Sofie Abildtrup, Michelle Donovan)
4:10 - M 200 (Travis Ramme, Kedar Inico)
4:15 - W 3,000 (Laura Harmon, Haripurkh Khalsa)
4:30 - M 3,000 (Ryan Andrus, Brett Holts, Eric Logsdon, Kyle Alcorn)
4:45 - W 4 x 400
4:55 - M 4 x 400
PEPSI TEAM INVITE HISTORY
Men’s Team Results
1987: 1. Oregon 194 1/2, 2. Texas 169, 3. Tennessee 167 1/2, 4. WSU 107.
1988: Team Scores Not Available (WSU, LSU, Nebraska)
1989: Results Not Available
1990: 1. Oregon 208, 2. WSU 202, 3. Cal Poly 113, 4. Georgetown 110.
1991: 1. WSU 223 1/2, 2. Oregon 181 1/2, 3. Indiana 132, 4. Alabama 112.
1992: 1. Oregon 194, 2. Nebraska 179, 3. Washington 171, 4. N. Arizona 125.
1993: 1. Oregon 194 1/2, 2. WSU 171 1/2, 3. ASU 150, 4. Kansas St. 125.
1994: 1. UCLA 88, 2. Oregon 85, 3. Washington 30.
1995: 1. Oregon 204, 2. Nebraska 200, 3. WSU 141, 4. Michigan -115.
1996: 1. Nebraska 220, 2. Oregon 203, 3. Washington 136, 4. Illinois 90.
1997: 1. Oregon 206 1/2, 2. WSU 175 1/2, 3. Arizona 163, 4. Indiana 135.
1998: 1. Oregon 210, 2. Washington 175, 3. Colorado 155, 4. Arizona State118.
1999: 1. Nebraska 157, 2. Washington 133 1/2, 3. Oregon 105 1/2.
2003: 1. Oregon 211, 2. Minnesota 171. 3. Washington 114, 4. Colorado 108.
Women’s Team Results
1987: 1. Oregon 53, 2. Texas 52, 3. WSU 43, 4. Tennessee 37.
1988: 1. Oregon 170, 2. Nebraska 157 1/2, 3. LSU 151 1/2, 4. WSU 105.
1989: 1. Oregon 194, 2. WSU 153, 3. Wisconsin 126, 4. Colorado 120.
1990: 1. Oregon 183, 2. Cal Poly-SLO 163, 3. WSU 130, 4. Georgetown 99.
1991: 1. Oregon 175, 2. WSU 137, 3. Indiana 132, 4. Alabama 131.
1992: 1. Oregon 182, 2. Nebraska 180, 3. Washington 116, 4. N. Arizona 111.
1993: 1. Oregon 186, 2. Arizona State 140; 3. WSU 131, Kansas State 107.
1994: 1. UCLA 185, 2. Washington 156, 3. Oregon 135, 4. WSU 118.
1995: 1. Nebraska 195, 2. Oregon 180, 3. Michigan 111 1/2, 4. WSU 103 1/2.
1996: 1. Oregon 198, 2. Nebraska 183, 3. Washington 153, 4. Weber State 91.
1997: 1. Oregon 190 1/2, 2. WSU 163, 3. Arizona 148 1/2, 4. Indiana 132.
1998: 1. Oregon 199 1/2, 2. Washington 189, 3. Colorado 135, 4. ASU 134 1/2.
1999: 1. Nebraska 138, 2. Washington 122, 3. Oregon 120.
2003: 1. Oregon 204, 2. Minnesota 172, 3. Washington 149, 4. Colorado 100.
Women’s Pepsi Team Invite Records
100 - 11.46, Denise Lucas, Nebraska, 1992
200 - 23.58, Denise Lucas, Nebraska, 1992
400 - 52.73, Camara Jones, Oregon, 1992
800 - 2:05.44, Lisa Graham, Nebraska, 1992
1,500 - 4:12.38, Lisa Graham, Nebraska, 1992
3,000 - 9:12.15, Penny Graves, Oregon, 1987
5,000 - 15:54.13, Amy Skierez, Arizona, 1997
100 Hurdles - 13.55, Cl. Robinson, Washington, 1994
400 Hurdles - 56.54, Sch. Williams, LSU, 1988
400 Relay - 44.61, Nebraska, 1992
1,600 Relay - 3:37.43, Nebraska, 1988
High Jump - 6-2, Tammy Thurman, Nebraska, 1988
Pole Vault - 4-3 1/4, Becky Holliday, Oregon, 2003
Long Jump - 21-4 3/4, Angee Henry, Nebraska, 1996
Triple Jump - 44-10 1/4, Shani Marks, Minnesota, 2003
Shot Put - 56-6, V. Althouse, UCLA, 1994
Discus - 204-7, Aretha Hill, Washington, 1998
Javelin - 169-9, Cassie Morelock, Nebraska, 1999
Hammer - 201-6, Melissa Price, Nebraska, 1999
Men’s Pepsi Team Invite Records
100 - 10.30, Slip Watkins, LSU, 1988
100 - 10.30, Augustin Olobia, WSU, 1991
200 - 21.18, Slip Watkins, LSU, 1988
400 - 45.57, Pat Johnson, Oregon, 1995
800 - 1:48.55, Mark Macinko, Colorado, 1989
1,500 - 3:39.15, Kevin Sullivan, Michigan, 1995
3,000 - 8:14.72, Jeremy Park, Washington, 2003
Steeple - 8:40.91, D. Das Neves, Oregon, 1996
5,000 - 13:42.90, Adam Goucher, Oregon, 1998
110H - 14.00, Frank Mensah, Nebraska, 1996
400H - 50.43, Mikael Jacobsson, Minnesota, 2003
4x100 - 39.24, WSU, 1991
4x400 - 3:11.78, Arizona, 1997
High Jump - 7-3 1/4, Greg Jones, WSU, 1988
Pole Vault - 18-0 1/2, Jay Davis, 1988
Pole Vault - Piotr Buciarski, Oregon, 1998, ?99
Long Jump - 26-0 1/4, Latin Berry, Oregon, 1989
Triple Jump - 53-5 1/2, J. Tillman, Tennessee, 1987
Shot Put - 64-10 3/4, K. Coleman, Nebraska, 1992
Discus - 203-1, John Nichols, LSU, 1988
Hammer - 228-1, Stefan Jonsson, WSU, 1988
Javelin - 251-8, Art Skipper, Oregon, 1992
?03 PEPSI REVIEW: Ducks Sweep Team Titles and Rack up 17 Individual Wins.
EUGENE (4/12/03) - The second-largest ever Pepsi Team Invitational crowd of 4,579 fans cheered the UO track and field teams to a pair of team wins in the meet’s 14th edition. The Ducks featured a combined 17 event winners (nine women, eight men) among the 36 M&W events. On the team side, the UO women’s 204 points led to their 10th team victory as they beat Minnesota (second, 172), Washington (third, 149) and Colorado (fourth, 100). The Men of Oregon claimed their eighth top team honor (211 points), over Minnesota (second, 171), Washington (third, 113) and Colorado (fourth, 108). On the women’s side, Oregon sported its trademark balance with wins in the sprints (2), hurdles (1), jumps (3) and throws (3), to go along with 13 regional and 16 Pac-10 qualifying marks. On the oval, Janette Davis won the 400 (54.11) and Eri Macdonald duplicated her come-from-behind, homestretch tactics from the 2002 UW Dual to win the 800 (2:07.40) over Husky rival Courtney Inman (second, 2:07.70). Abby Andrus added a win in the 100 hurdles (14.38) into a -2.4 meter per second (mps) headwind. In the field, Becky Holliday claimed her second pole vault win of the season in as many tries and upped her Duck outdoor school record by two inches to 14-3 1/4 - exactly the same mark as her Oregon indoor record from the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. Two other jumpers - Jenny Brogdon and Amanda Brown - claimed titles in the high jump (5-7) and long jump (19-4 1/4) with season and personal bests, respectively. Mary Etter added a win and eight-foot season best (176-0) in the discus that was only one foot, 5 inches shy of her personal best from 2002. In the hammer, Jordan Sauvage posted her third straight meet (first, 185-0) past her preseason best of 183-9, and Roslyn Lundeen upped her season best in the javelin by almost two feet (first, 157-7). At the Pac-10 level, the women featured 16 Pac-10 qualifying marks and five new qualifiers - Janette Davis (200, third, PR 24.64), Eri Macdonald (800, first, 2:07.40), Laura Harmon (seventh, 4:36.73) and Erinn Gulbrandsen in the 1,500 (ninth, PR 4:39.54), and Amanda Brown (long jump, first, PR 19-4 1/4). At the regional level, the Ducks collected 13 qualifying marks, including four new invites - Janette Davis (400, first, PR 54.11), Eri Macdonald (800, first, 2:07.40), Niki McEwen (pole vault, second, outdoor PR 13-11 1/4) and Amanda Brown (long jump, first, PR 19-4 1/4). On the men’s side, Oregon featured six wins among the eight field events - and another each in the sprints and hurdles - to go along with 11 regional qualifying marks and 14 Pac-10 qualifying marks. Duck winners on the oval included Samie Parker (100, 10.65, and only .04 seconds shy of his wind-legal PR) and Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, wind-legal PR 14.02, and into a headwind of -0.9 mps). Field event victors included personal and season bests, respectively, from throwers Adam Kriz (hammer, 217-10) and John Stiegeler (javelin, 220-0), and a pair of horizontal jumpers - Foluso Akinradewo (triple jump, 50-2 3/4) and Jordan Kent (long jump, 24-0 3/4). In the pole vault, All-American Trevor Woods, Jason Slye, and Andy Young and Jon Derby shared the win (15-11) with Young notching a four-inch personal best. On the relay circuit, the Oregon quartet of Matt Scherer and Travis Anderson, Brandon Holliday, and Jason Slye (first, 3:11.87) edged Minnesota (second, 3:12.63) which fielded an All-America quartet indoors. On the Pac-10 qualifying scene, Oregon featured six new qualifying marks from Samie Parker (100, first, 10.65), Matt Scherer (400, third, 47.59), Eric Logsdon (1,500, sixth, 3:48.51), Terry Ellis (110 hurdles, second, 14.51) and Santiago Lorenzo (400 hurdles, fourth, 52.26) and Jordan Kent (long jump, first, 24-0 3/4). In the regional qualifying race, six new Duck athletes punched their ticket to Stanford at the end of May - Eric Logsdon (1,500, sixth, 3:48.51), a trio of 400 hurdlers - Brandon Holliday (second, 51.65), Santiago Lorenzo (fourth, 52.26) and Eric Mitchum (fifth, 52.51), Jordan Kent (long jump, first, 24-0 3/4), and Foluso Akinradewo (triple jump, first, 50-2 3/4). Glancing at the Pepsi Team Meet Invite all-time meet records, Becky Holliday upped the women’s pole vault record 1 1/2 feet, and Minnesota’s Shani Marks’ 1-foot, seven-inch women’s meet record (triple jump, first, 44-10 1/4) rocketed her to the top of the 2003 collegiate outdoor list in her season debut. On the men’s side, new records came courtesy of Washington’s Jeremy Park (3,000, first, 8:14.72) and Minnesota’s Mikael Jakobsson, who should join the collegiate top-10 nationally next week in the 400 hurdles with his .09-second meet best (first, 50.43). The Oregon 4x400 relay of Scherer, Anderson, Holliday and Slye (first, 3:11.87) and Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, first, 14.02) missed similar all-time Pepsi marks by .08 and .02 seconds, respectively. Among the all-time Oregon ranks, hammer thrower Adam Kriz climbed two spots to fifth all-time with Saturday’s six-foot, 10-inch best (217-10), and long jumper Amanda Brown pulled within 3 1/2 inches of the all-time Duck top 10 list with Saturday’s personal best of 19-4 1/4.
2004 UO MEN’S PREVIEW: Balanced Corps Already Championship-Tested.
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). Ten Duck men are ranked top-10 in UO history - Tommy Skipper (pole vault, first, 18-8 3/4), Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, second, 13.75), Jason Hartmann (10,000, third, 28:31.96), Trevor Woods (pole vault, fourth, 18-0 1/2), Leonidas Watson (triple jump, fourth, 52-10 1/4, long jump, ninth, 25-5 1/2), Jeff Lindsey (high jump, fifth, 7-1 1/2), Jordan Kent (200, sixth, 20.99; 100, eighth, 10.46), Matt Scherer (400, fifth, 46.40), Brandon Holliday (400 hurdles, seventh, 50.73) and Adam Jenkins (javelin, eighth, 222-4). Indoors in 2004, the Duck men posted their most NCAA invites (7) and All-America (4) honors in history, and their 18th-place team finish (13) was their second highest ever behind 2002 (ninth, 15 points). All-Americans included Tommy Skipper (pole vault, second, 18-4 1/2), Eric Mitchum (60 hurdles, sixth, 7.74) Ryan Andrus (5,000, seventh, 14:03.21) and Leonidas Watson (long jump, ninth, 25-2 1/2).
2004 UO WOMEN’S PREVIEW: Field Events Again Pace Charge in 2004.
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, 179-7), Elisa Crumley (javelin, second, 169-7), Hannah Moore (pole vault, third, 13-5), Kirsten (Riley) Larwin (pole vault, fourth, 13-3 1/2), Abby Andrus (heptathlon, fifth, 5,303; 400 hurdles, sixth, 59.90; 100 hurdles, seventh, 14.00), Megan Kriz (hammer, fifth, 171-1), Katie Kersh (hammer, seventh, 170-7), Magdalena Sandoval (5,000, eighth, 16:04.41), Clarice Hayward-Lee (triple jump, eighth, 40-1 1/4), Whitney Gum (hammer, eighth, 166-8), Jill Hoxmeier (hammer, 11th, 162-6), and Kayla Mellott (400 hurdles, ninth, 61.30). Indoors in 2004, the Ducks claimed a best-ever four NCAA invites courtesy of Hannah Moore (pole vault, 13th, 12-11 1/2), Abby Andrus (pentathlon, 16th, 3,075), Magdalena Sandoval (17th-injured, 16:29.69) and now-graduated Eri Macdonald (800, 14th, 2:09.14).
NEWCOMERS TO WATCH: Abildtrup, Skipper & Watson Make Instant Impact.
A seven-woman group of newcomers share equal opportunity to contribute immediately. Junior sprint transfer Sofie Abildtrup arrives from Denmark and owns bests in the 100 (11.84), 200 (24.02) and 400 (54.16) that rank top-10 in Oregon history. Redshirt junior shot putter Bree Fuqua is the Wisconsin school record holder (51-5 1/2) and her 2004 indoor Duck best (51-3 1/2) put her second in UO history. Junior Katie Kersh hails from Sierra College near Sacramento and owns a hammer best (171-10) that would rank top-five in Duck history. Two other additions, junior Mandi Fitz-Gustafson (steeple) and Brittany Hinchcliffe (hammer), arrive from Arizona State and Washington State, respectively, but will redshirt in 2004 because of inter-conference transfer rules. Hinchcliffe opened her Duck career in March’s Oregon Preview with a 10-foot personal best (197-2) that was almost six feet better than the school record set by Jordan Sauvage in 2003 (191-4). Freshman Emily Enders ranked 10th nationally among high school pole vaulters (12-7) in 2003, and that mark stands as the Ducks’ top prep best in an event that has developed one NCAA champion, two other All-Americans and another NCAA veteran. Freshman Amanda Santana won the state 300-hurdle crown last year and could compete in several sprints or hurdles events. The Duck men snagged the nation’s third-best recruiting class (and tops in the Pac-10) according to Track and Field News. St. Louis Community College transfer and junior Leonidas Watson won junior college titles in the triple jump indoors and outdoors last year and was second in the long jump in each. Barton Community College transfer and junior Roderick Dotts ran a 800 personal best of 1:48.41 that would have led the Pac-10 in 2003 and ranked 34th in the U.S. A pair of home-state freshmen - Mike McGrath and Tommy Skipper - led the national prep ranks in the 800 (1:48.56) and pole vault (18-3), respectively, as seniors with the latter tabbed prepster of the year after he upped the national pole vault by 3/4 inches. Sophomore hurdler and Colorado transfer AK Ikwuakor (110H 14.10, 400H 51.99) took fourth in the Big 12 400 hurdles last year, and his high hurdle mark would rank 10th all-time for the Ducks. Indoors in 2004, Skipper led the collegiate pole vault list during the regular season with a school record 18-8 3/4, Watson ranked top 10 nationally in both the long jump and triple jump and earned NCAA invites, and Abildtrup raced to an NCAA provisional mark in the 400 (54.46).
DUCK MEN'S NEWCOMERS
Jeff DeWolf, Fr.-HS, Bend, Ore. (Mtn. View) - 800 1:53.59
Roderick Dotts, Jr.-TR, E. St. Louis, Ill. (BartonCC) - 400 47.7, 800 1:48.41
Steve Green, Fr.-HS, Malta, Mont. (Malta) - HJ 6-6, LJ 20-9, TJ 45-10
AK Ikwuakor, So.-TR, Arvada, Colo. (Colorado) - 110H 14.10, 400H 51.99
Kedar Inico, Jr.-TR, Queens, NY (Barton CC) - 200 21.60, 400 46.30
Scott Lamb, Jr.-TR, Dallas, Ore. (Mt. Hood CC) - 400 48.28
Ben Looney, Fr.-HS, Coos Bay, Ore. (Marshfield) - Dec. 6,326 (HS), 400 49.53, HJ 6-4, LJ 21-11, 110H 15.31
Mike McGrath, Fr.-HS, Portland, Ore. (Lincoln) - 800 1:48.56, 1,500 3:47.5, Mile 4:05.28
Travis Ramme, Fr.-HS, Eugene, Ore. (Sheldon) - 100 10.69a, 200 21.73a
Joseph Reiter, Fr.-HS, Tirschenrenth, Germany - HJ 6-11
Caleb Rexius, Fr.-HS, Eugene, Ore. (Churchill) - 100 10.88
Sol Rexius, Fr.-HS, Eugene, Ore. (Churchill) - 110H 14.12, 300H 38.16
Tommy Skipper, Fr.-HS, Sandy, Ore. (Sandy) - PV 18-8 3/4 (UO) / 18-3 (HS), 100 10.83, 200 21.86, 300H 39.17, LJ 22-10 1/4, HJ 6-4, JT 211-9
Jacob Tolbert, Fr.-HS, San Jose, Calif. (Silver Creek), LJ 22-10, TJ 45-10, 400 49.28
Ryan Voge, RSo.-TR, Hillsboro, Ore. (N.Mex.), Dec. 6,448, 7,054 (UO), HJ 6-8, LJ 22-10
Alec Wall, Fr.-HS, Portland, Ore. (Grant) - 1,500 3:54.31, 3K 8:14.77-indoors
Leonidas Watson, RJr.-TR, St. Louis, Mo. (St. Louis CC), LJ 25-8, 25-6.25 (UO), TJ 53-0, 52-10.75 (UO)
Patrick Werhane, Fr.-HS, Beaverton, Ore. (Southridge), 800 2:01, 1,500 4:08, 3K 8:4
DUCK WOMEN’S NEWCOMERS
Amanda Santana, Fr.-HS, Eugene, Ore. (North) - 400 58.75, 300H 43.95
Emily Enders, Fr.-HS, Everett, Wash. (Snohomish), PV 12-7 (HS), 12-9.5 (UO)
Mandi Fitz-Gustafson, Jr.-TR, The Dalles (ASU) - 800 2:16.9, 1,500 4:37.86, 3K 10:17, Steeple 10:59.85
Bree Fuqua, Jr.-TR, Polson, Mont. (Wisconsin) - SP 51-5 1/2, 51-3 1/2 (UO), DT 165-7
Brittany Hinchcliffe, Jr.-TR, Olympia, Wash. (WSU), HT 186-11, 197-2 (UO), DT 154-11
Katie Kersh, RJr.-TR, Willow Creek, Calif. (Sierra College), HT 173-5, DT 14-20, SP 42-8
Megan Kriz, So.-TR, Toledo, Ore. (PSU) - SP 42-10 3/4, HT 171-7 (UO)
LAST WEEK’S REVIEW: Watson & Malone Stampede After Duck Records.
Sophomore 110 hurdler Eric Mitchum (second, 13.50w) grabbed the Ducks’ final day headlines in the 77th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. The indoor All-American dipped under the school record of Micah Harris (13.67, 2002) by .17 seconds, except the wind was measured at 3.0 meters per second - a full meter per second over the allowable limit (2.0). His clocking met the Pac-10 and regional marks (14.74/14.33) and was .23 seconds better than his previous windy best from the 2003 Pac-10 Championships (13.73). Florida junior Joshua Walker edged Mitchum by .03 seconds for the win (13.47) in the university section. Mitchum ranked fifth in the prelims (13.94, w:2.0) the day before with his first wind-legal mark of the season, and the Gators’ Walker also led the field (13.66). NCAA indoor pole vault runner-up and freshman Tommy Skipper upped his outdoor season best by two inches to 17-8 1/2 against an all-star field. The Sandy, Ore., native took fourth among collegians behind Nebraska senior Eric Eshbach (first, 18-4 1/2), UCLA’s Yoo Kim (second, 18-0 1/2) and Akron’s John Russel (third, 17-8 1/2). The Duck 4x400 of sophomore Travis Anderson, junior Scott Lamb, senior Brandon Holliday and junior Kedar Inico finished eighth in the university section (3:08.51) with a 2 1/2 second season best that ranked seventh all-time in Duck history, less than two seconds behind their all-time outdoor best from the 2003 NCAA outdoor finale (3:06.73). The quartet qualified for the ninth and final spot in the final after their took third in the third of three heats on the second day (3:11.08), in the 32-squad field. Both units featured 3/4 of last year’s then-school record and NCAA qualifiers, and was joined by newcomer and junior transfer Kedar Inico who split 45.9 on the final day anchor. The Queens, N.Y. native won the national junior college title indoors in 2003 in the 400 (47.7) and was second outdoors (46.64) and ran on BCC’s 4x400 that duplicated those finishes indoors (first) and outdoors (second). All-American and redshirt junior Leonidas Watson paced field event action (long jump, fifth, 24-7 3/4, w:0.0) in his second outdoor meet as a Duck, and again earned Pac-10 and regional invites. In the hammer circle, junior Paul Etter ranked 16th with another Pac-10 and regional qualifier (191-10), and less than four feet off his season best (195-9) from the Oregon Preview. On the final day of the four-day 77th edition of the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, redshirt junior Sarah Malone enjoyed a record-breaking return with a five-inch school record and win in the university javelin section (179-7). She edged current American record holder Kim Kreiner Saturday by two feet, five inches (second, 177-2), and two-time NCAA runner-up and Pac-10 champion, Inge Stasliuonyte of USC (third, 175-6). The Newberg, Ore., native Malone opened up with a throw of 167-8 (51.10m), then threw 165-7 (50.48m) on her second attempt and 175-3 (53.42m) on her third. After a 20-minute break before the final, she added throws of 169-2 (51.56m), 175-8 (53.55m) and 179-7 (54.74m) to end the competition. Before she redshirted in 2003, the Newberg, Ore., native was a two-time Pac-10 runner-up and one-time All-American as a freshman in 2001. Saturday’s school record was her fourth as a Duck after she turned the trick twice as a freshman in 2001 (Oregon Invitational, 169-3, and Oregon Twilight, 174-0) and in the Lonestar classic as a sophomore in 2002 (179-2). In the shot put ring, redshirt junior Bree Fuqua took eighth with an outdoor Duck personal best (50-11 1/2) that was four inches off her UO indoor best (51-3 1/2) that put her second all-time for the Ducks. The first-year Duck and Wisconsin transfer (and Badger record holder) also met the Pac-10 and regional standards of 43-5 3/4 and 46-8 3/4, respectively. The day earlier, she endured the meet’s strongest rains to finish 13th in the B section discus (145-6) to also lead the Ducks. Senior pole vaulter and Eugene native Kirsten Larwin tied for fifth with a two-inch outdoor best and Pac-10 and regional qualifier (13-3 1/2). The South High School product cleared the same mark for her indoor best as a junior twice in 2003, including her NCAA debut (10th, 13-3 1/2). Freshman Emily Enders accepted an invite to compete in the event A section with Larwin and cleared her highest opening height (12-3 1/2), before she missed her three tries at her day-old personal best. The Snoqualmie, Wash., native had cleared a 2 1/2-inch personal best Friday in the B section (12-9 1/2) to earn the invite, and rewrote her prior best (12-7) that ranked her 10th among preps in 2003. In her high-flying first-day, Enders passed at the opening height of 11-3 3/4, followed with first attempt conversions at 11-9 3/4 and 12-3 1/2, then cleared her final make (12-9 1/2) on her second try, she before missed three tries at 13-1 1/2. Saturday’s victory stood even more impressive considering a short rainstorm blew in before her first attempt make at 12-3 1/2 and caused a 25-minute delay and soaked the surface for the event’s remainder.
AT THE HELM: Duck Head Coach Martin Smith Profile.
In 2004, sixth-year men’s head coach Martin Smith adds the women’s head coach title for the first time after the retirement of Tom Heinonen last spring. The 2002 Pac-10 and West Regional Men’s Coach of the Year, Smith guided the Duck men to the 2003 Pac-10 Championships team title ? their first since 1990. At the national level, he led the ?Men of Oregon’ to a trio of top-15 NCAA team finishes in 2001 (outdoors-ninth), 2002 (indoors-ninth) and 2003 (outdoors-13th), and three more top-15 cross country team finishes in 1999 (sixth), 2001 (13th) and 2002 (fifth). Individually, the Duck men have combined for 36 All-America honors in track and cross country (including two NCAA individual wins), 14 individual Pac-10 crowns, and nine Academic All-America honors in that stretch. Prior to his arrival in Eugene in July 1998, he served as the distance mentor and assistant track coach at Wisconsin, as his Badgers posted two cross country NCAA team titles (1982-88), five NCAA individual track and cross country wins, and 78 All-America honors (44 track and 34 XC). The Alexandria, Va., native made his initial mark on collegiate history as the Virginia women’s distance coach and guided the Cavaliers to consecutive harrier national crowns in 1981 and 1982, while individual Lesley Welch won the individual title in ?82.
HAYWARD FIELD PROFILE: Eugene Welcomed its Ninth NCAA Finale in ?01.
One of the most famous track facilities in the world, Hayward Field is named for Bill Hayward, who coached the Oregon’s men’s team from 1904-1947. Originally dedicated in 1919, the 10,205-seat stadium now boasts a standing room capacity of 10,505. In 2001, the venue welcomed the world’s fastest, strongest and most explosive to a Triple Crown of great meets ? the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Prefontaine Classic (www.preclassic.com) and USA Outdoor Championships. Altogether, nine NCAA Championships (1962-64-72-78-74-77-91-96-01) have visited Track City USA, along with three Olympic Trials (1972-76-80) and six U.S. Championships (AAU 1971-75, TAC 1986, USATF-1993-99-01). Since the NCAA started rotating outdoor championships sites in 1934, Oregon has welcomed more finals (9) than any other school. California follows with eight (although they haven’t hosted one since 1968), and no other school has hosted more than five.
THE ROAD TO AUSTIN: Explaining the NCAA Regional Qualifying System.
After several years of research and urging by the U.S. Track Coaches Association, the NCAA Championships Division 1 Board of Directors switched to a regional qualifying procedure for the first time for the 2003 outdoor season. Four, two-day regionals, drawn in a vertical fashion geographically, were held nationally on Fri.-Sat., May 30-31 with regional qualifying standards based on the 100th best performance nationally from 2002 (while all conference champions are also automatically invited to their respective regional). Except for the 10K and heptathlon/decathlon (which still operate on an automatic/provisional standard system), the top-five finishers from each regional event automatically advanced to the NCAA Championships, nearly two weeks later. Besides the automatic advancers, an additional 6-8 athletes nationally per event were invited by the NCAA Championships selection committee based on a season performance list (in case of injury, illness, false-start/DQ, etc.) as long as that athlete competed in the regional. Coaches hoped that the easier regional qualifying standards (compared to previous national provisional standards) enabled athletes to obtain marks during the regular season and avoid 'chasing marks', especially in mid- to late-May, while the regional competition encouraged head-to-head competition at the end of the season and increase fan and media interest. In other NCAA committee news, the championships field sizes were raised approximately 40 percent ? most individual events were previously 18-21 deep with relays inviting 11-12 entries, and will grew to 27-29 and 15-16, respectively. Previous men's and women's fields were set at 388 athletes among the 21 individual and relay events, and in 2003, the number expanded to 544 each.
ALL-AMERICA EQUATION: Breaking down the NCAA Honor.
Based on their NCAA Championships performances, individuals are awarded All-America honors at season’s end by the U.S. Track Coaches Association. The top-eight finishers from each event are honored regardless of citizenship, and any additional U.S. finishers that are among the top eight American finishers are also rewarded. If necessary, the U.S.-based honors can even extend to the top performances in the preceding qualifying round if there are not eight Americans in the event’s final.
MEN’S 2003 SEASON REVIEW: Ducks Soar in Championship Slate.
With a narrow 131-130 Pac-10 Championships win over Stanford, the Duck men won their first league crown since 1990 in anticlimactic fashion when the meet was rescored in October because of an ineligible USC sprinter which dropped the Trojans from first to fourth. Three Duck men claimed Pac-10 crowns, and 23 of the team’s 24 entries (spread among 19 events) scored in an individual event or relay. Two weeks later at the end of May, The Oregon men captured 11 automatic NCAA invites courtesy of top-five finishes, including sprints wins by Samie Parker (100) and Jordan Kent (200). The Ducks continued to surge through the NCAA Championships with their second, top-15 outdoor finish in three years (13th, 19 1/4), and featured six All-Americans among their 14 entries. Two then-seniors capped the year with USA Championships appearances in the hammer and javelin. On the year-end season best list, three freshmen propelled the men’s 4x400 to a school record in the collegiate finale (3:06.73), Eric Mitchum and Samie Parker ended the year second and third on the Duck all-time charts in the 110 hurdles (13.75, 13.73w) and 100 (10.18). Indoors, Parker took third in the 60 final (6.64), after he broke his school record by .01 seconds in the prelim (6.62).
WOMEN’S 2003 SEASON REVIEW: Holliday Soars to New Heights.
Then-senior Becky Holliday penned a fairy-tale ending to her Duck pole vault collegiate career with a World Championships appearance and third-place USA finish (14-3 1/4) last summer. In the collegiate championship stretch she broke meet records in her victories in the NCAA (14-5 1/2), West Regional (14-8) and Pac-10 Championships (14-6) with her regional mark a collegiate outdoor record. Among the Ducks’ eight NCAA outdoor invites, Niki McEwen added fifth (pole vault, 13-5 1/4) and Roslyn Lundeen took eighth (javelin, 159-0) to give the Ducks 14 1/2 points which placed them 17th overall. In the inaugural West Regional, discus thrower Mary Etter joined Holliday on the victory stand as Tom Heinonen’s crew ended with seven, top-five finishes. In the Pac-10 showdown in USC, the women took seventh with 60 points and enjoyed runner-up efforts from Niki McEwen (pole vault, 13-3 1/2) and Roslyn Lundeen (javelin, 159-8). Joining Holliday in the Duck record books NCAA hammer qualifier Jordan Sauvage upped the UO hammer best in the Texas Relays by more than three feet (191-4), and Mary Etter climbed to second in the discus with her winning regional effort (179-7).
PICK OF THE PAC-10: Four Ducks Claimed Weekly Honors in 2003.
In 2003, the Duck men tied with USC for the most weekly Pac-10 Athlete of the Week honors with USC (4), among the five editions that honor both a track and field event performer. The Duck men claimed the most field event honors (2), USC held court for most track honors (3), and UCLA claimed the other field event honor (1). The Trojans also led in women’s honors in 2003 (3), ahead of UCLA (2), ASU (1), Stanford (1) and WSU (1). Santiago Lorenzo claimed Oregon’s final AOW honor of 2003 for his Pac-10 decathlon victory in USC (7,564, 5/10-11) as he led the field in the javelin (187-4) and 400 (48.96), and stood top three in seven of the 10 overall events. Lorenzo’s win was also his fourth, top-two league decathlon finish after runner-up nods in 2000 (7,649) and 1999 (7,150). Lorenzo’s athlete of the week honor also stood as the fourth of his career. As a junior in 2001, the Buenos Aires, Argentina native was honored after winning the Pac-10 (7,617) and the Texas Relays (7,726) decathlons, and as a sophomore in 2000 after his Texas Relays decathlon then-personal best (third overall, 7,580). The previous week (Tue., 5/6), Brett Holts was selected in the men’s track category after he took the Pac-10 steeplechase lead with his four-second personal best in the Cardinal Invitational (8:48.81, Fri., 5/2). The week before (Mon., 4/28), Adam Jenkins was selected in the field event category after he leapfrogged teammate John Stiegeler to the top of the Pac-10 javelin rankings, thanks to his three-foot personal and six-foot, seven-inch season best in the Oregon Invitational (221-4). Hammer thrower Adam Kriz claimed his first conference award two weeks prior in 2003’s inaugural honor for his then-best and Pepsi Team Invite win (217-10). Besides this year’s quartet of honorees, two other current Ducks have combined for five other Pac-10 honors the past three seasons - Trevor Woods (Pepsi Team Invite 4/02, pole vault, first, 18-0 1/2) and Sarah Malone (Oregon Twilight 5/01, javelin, first, 174-0).
2004 NCAA INDOOR M RECAP: Ducks Score Record Four All-America Nods.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (3/12-13) - In March’s indoor collegiate finale at the University of Arkansas, the Duck men posted school bests for most NCAA indoor entries (7) and All-America honors (4) and added their second-highest team finish (18th, 13 points) behind 2002 (ninth, 15 points). UO’s tally ranked third among Pac-10 teams just behind UCLA and ASU (12th-tie, 17), and ahead of Stanford (19th, 12), Washington (22nd, 11), Arizona (34th, 5), WSU (50th, 3) and USC (65th, 1 1/2). On the second day, freshman Tommy Skipper challenged for the NCAA pole vault title in the upper 18-foot range before he took second (18-4 1/2) with his second highest-ever clearance behind returning NCAA champion and indoor record holder Brad Walker, a redshirt senior for Washington (first, 18-8 1/4). Skipper opened the day with first attempt makes at 17-4 1/2, 17-8 1/2 and 18-0 1/2, then lost the lead when he needed a second try to clear 18-4 1/2. In comparison, Washington’s 19-footer Walker missed only his opening attempt at his starting height of 17-8 1/2, then cleared the rest of his first tries through 18-8 1/2. Skipper led early thanks to his initial clean slate, but when he missed his first try at 18-8 1/2, and Walker converted, the Duck was forced to go up another bar to 19-0 1/4 for his remaining two tries, which he missed with solid attempts. The Sandy High School product Skipper entered the competition seeded first nationally thanks to a 5 3/4-inch personal best in early February in Idaho (18-8 3/4), while Walker followed one place behind on the national qualifying list (second, 18-1). On the Oregon all-time list, Skipper’s early season clearance broke the school record of Olympian Kory Tarpenning who cleared 18-6 1/2 in 1985. The first-year phenom will chase his own Olympic dream in July’s Olympic Trials after he met the A qualifying standard of 18-8 1/4. Skipper became the Ducks’ third indoor All-America pole vaulter in event history after Trevor Woods took third as a sophomore in 2002 (indoor best 17-11 3/4), and Piotr Buciarski also took third as a senior in 1998 (18-0 1/2). Skipper’s honor also stood as the Ducks’ 21st overall in the event including outdoor collegiate finales, as he also challenged for UO’s third NCAA crown after victories by George Rasmussen in 1947 (14-0) and 1948 (14-0). Horizontal jumper and redshirt junior Leonidas Watson added an All-America honor on the first day with his daily best on his second prelim effort in the long jump (ninth, 25-2 1/2), then added 13th in the triple jump the second day (50-1 3/4) and was less than eight inches away from making the event final. The transfer from St. Louis Community College Watson entered the meet seeded eighth in both events thanks to season bests (25-6 1/2 / 52-10 1/4) that ranked him ninth and fourth all-time for the Ducks. The 4x400 fell short of its All-America goal when anchor leg and sophomore Matt Scherer strained his right hamstring 150 meters into his anchor leg and fell. The Sumner, Ill., native got up to slowly jog the remaining lap to the finish. The unit of Scherer, senior Brandon Holliday, junior Roderick Dotts, and sophomore Travis Anderson entered the meet seeded seventh in its first NCAA indoor appearance thanks to a school record and NCAA automatic mark of 3:06.54 a month prior in the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa. Their nearly-three second season best rewrote the previous record of 3:06.73 from the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships that featured three of the 2004 NCAA indoor members (Anderson, Holliday and Scherer, and two-sport star Jordan Kent). In the first day’s 60 hurdles, sophomore Eric Mitchum claimed his first All-America honor as the top finisher in his class (sixth, 7.74) and trailed only seniors and juniors. Three hours earlier in the afternoon, the Calumet City, Ill., native Mitchum won the third of three prelims with a .09-second personal best and school record (7.69) that ranked second in the 18-man field. Mitchum entered the meet tied for ninth nationally with the Ducks’ former school record with his then-personal best from the previous weekend in Gainesville, Fla. (7.78), and bettered the NCAA provisional mark of 7.95 in all eight of his races this season. Redshirt senior Ryan Andrus added two more points in the 5,000 (seventh, 14:03.21) for his first track All-America honor after missing a similar plaque outdoors in the NCAA 10,000 outdoors in 2003 by one place and one second. The Orem, Utah., native entered the meet seeded fourth nationally after a surprise 15-second personal best and NCAA automatic qualifier (13:51.00) the previous weekend in Seattle. The Ducks’ other first-day entry, sophomore Matt Scherer added duty in the 400 (12th, 46.77) and missed the final by .32 seconds and four places. The Sumner, Ill., native finished fourth in the second of four heats (46.77), after he entered the meet seeded 13th with a season best of 46.40 a month before in Ames, Iowa - a clocking that broke the Oregon indoor school record and moved him to fifth all-time for the Ducks. He made his NCAA debut outdoors in 2003 as a freshman and ran his outdoor best (46.47) that then ranked him sixth in school history. Overall in the final team race, the LSU men won their second national men’s crown with 44 1/2 points to edge host Arkansas and Florida which tied for second (38), ahead of Texas (fourth , 31) and Michigan (fifth, 28). With their women’s victory, the Bayou Bengals became the first school to sweep both titles in NCAA indoor history.
2004 NCAA W INDOOR RECAP: Three of Four Ducks Make NCAA Debuts.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (3/12-13) - Junior pole vaulter Hannah Moore sealed a strong postseason indoor run as the Ducks’ 12th NCAA pole vault entry in pole vault Mark Vanderville’s five-year tenure overseeing the event. The Reno, Nevada native Moore ended 13th overall with her second-highest mark ever (12-11 1/2) in a field that featured four Pac-10 vaulters and three All-Americans - Chelsea Johnson of UCLA (second, 13-11 1/4), Connie Jerz of Arizona (third, 13-7 1/4) and Kate Soma of Washington (fifth-tie, 13-3 1/2). Moore opened the day with a second-attempt clearance at the opening height of 12-5 1/2 and third-try make at 12-11 1/2, before she missed her three attempts at 13-3 1/2. Moore entered the meet seeded 10th after her 1 foot, 1 1/4 inch personal best the previous weekend (13-5) for her first-ever NCAA provisional mark, and one that raised her to third all-time for the Ducks. Prior to the 2004 indoor season, she owned an indoor best of 11-8 in 2003, and an all-time best of 12-6 1/4 from the West Regional outdoors last spring. On the track the first day, redshirt junior Magdalena Sandoval gave a valiant effort in the 5,000 and ran the first 3/4 of the race in seventh place before an injury forced her to drop back to 17th (16:29.69). The Los Alamos, N.M. native entered the meet seeded sixth with an NCAA automatic time (16:04.40) from a month before in Seattle that was a 40-second personal best that moved her to eighth all-time for the Ducks. Her NCAA indoor debut came on the heels of her first postseason harrier trip the previous November, when she suffered a hard fall in the opening quarter-mile of the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships. She got up in last place, and had the courage to pass more than half of the nation’s best 255 runners to finish 105th on the 6K course. In the 800, redshirt senior Eri Macdonald closed her collegiate career with her NCAA track debut (14th, 2:09.14). The Honolulu, Hawai’i native entered the meet seeded 14th overall thanks to her 1 1/2-second indoor personal best in Seattle the previous weekend (2:06.75), and her NCAA prelim clocking ranked as her third-fastest ever indoors. All-time for the Ducks she ranked seventh in the event thanks to her outdoor best from 2002’s Washington Dual win (2:06.37). This indoor season, she also led the Duck season best list in the mile with her season opener also in Seattle (4:54.85). Her NCAA appearance ended a string of qualifying bad luck when she missed an NCAA outdoor invite in 2002 by .04 seconds and was just over a second away as a sophomore outdoors in 2003. On the second day, redshirt senior Abby Andrus made her first NCAA indoor appearance as the pentathlon made its collegiate indoor championships debut. Andrus had a good news and bad news effort with personal bests or near marks in three of the five events, before a trio of fouls in the long jump torpedoed her final tally and put her 16th overall with 3,075 points. Andrus opened with a mark of 9.20 in the 60 hurdles, then followed with marks of 5-6 in the high jump (only an inch off her hep best), and a 36-0 season best in the shot put, before her fouls in the long jump. She closed with a 2:23.05 season best effort in the 800. The Peoria, Ariz., native Andrus entered the meet ranked 11th with a personal best and NCAA provisional mark of 3,908 points the previous weekend in Moscow, Idaho. Andrus’s appearance was her second in a collegiate finale after she took 18th with 5,019 points in the 2003 NCAA heptathlon. Overall in the final team race, the LSU women repeated as team champions with 52 points for their 14th title in 23 years of the championships’ existence (it started in 1982), and also won the men’s crown by a 6 1/2-point advantage for the first same-school team title sweep in NCAA indoor history.
2003 NCAA OUTDOOR REVIEW: Ducks Net Most All-Americans Since ?96.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (6/11-14/03) - The men’s largest NCAA outdoor qualifying corps in recent memory came away with their second top-15 finish in three years (13th, 19 1/4 points), thanks to five All-America honors from Jason Hartmann (10,000, fourth, PR 28:31.96), John Stiegeler (javelin, fourth, 241-5), Samie Parker (100, fifth, 10.41), Adam Kriz (hammer, fifth, 220-2), Eric Logsdon (5,000, eighth, 13:59.00) and Trevor Woods (pole vault, eighth-tie, 16-10 3/4). Among other highlights, the 4x400 broke the school record with a two-second season best (3:06.73) that ranked 11th in prelims after the squad ended the regular season ranked 25th nationally with their prior runner-up clocking from the regional finale. Ryan Andrus just missed another All-America plaque in the 10,000 by one place and one second, although he still netted a one-second personal best (13th, 29:11.04). In last year’s women’s collegiate outdoor finale, Becky Holliday extended her amazing championship run with her third meet record in as many tries against the nation’s best. The native of nearby Penryn, Calif., topped the best-ever outdoor field with a meet record (14-5 1/2) and ended the meet with her first tries at 15 feet. Senior teammate Niki McEwen added her fourth All-America honor in her seventh NCAA trip and took fifth (13-5 1/4). The Ducks also sent a pair of javelin entries and Roslyn Lundeen posted her second straight All-America honor (eighth) after she set a season best in the prelims (161-10), while Elisa Crumley missed the final by one place with her 13th-place effort in prelims. Abby Andrus reeled off the 11th-best second day in the 27-person heptathlon field to finish 18th (5,019) after missing much of the previous 1 1/2 weeks of practice due to injuries. The Ducks’ other NCAA entries also came from three seniors and field-event specialists - Mary Etter (17th-prelim), Jordan Sauvage (hammer, 25th-prelim) and Amanda Brown (23rd-prelim).
2003 USA CHAMPS REVIEW: Hartmann & Holliday Go Top-Eight.
STANFORD, Calif. (6/19-21) ? On the second day of the three-day U.S. finale, redshirt senior pole vaulter Becky Holliday tied for third (14-3 1/4) to claim the final position on the U.S. squad for the World Championships. The event featured relatively low heights due to fairly strong and changing crosswinds ? the bane of most vaulters ? but Holliday’s concentration at her final clearance proved the difference as one of five vaulters that ended at that height and only two bound for France. She opened with first-attempt clearances at her first three heights ? 13-1 1/2 (4.00m), 13-7 1/4 (4.15m) and 13-11 1/4 (4.25m). She cleared her final height on the third try and slightly brushed the bar on the way down. As it bounced slightly on the pegs for a moment, Holliday gleefully celebrated below on the mat. Overall in the event, world record holder Stacy Dragila of Nike won with a final height of 14-9 to edge Nike’s Jillian Schwartz (second, 14-5 1/4) and Mary Sauer (third, 14-3 1/4). Normally, countries are offered three invites to the World Championships provided athletes meet the A qualifying standard (14-5 1/4), but the USA was offered a fourth spot since Dragila was the returning World Champion from 2001 and automatically offered an invitation. In the second-day javelin final, All-America sophomore Elisa Crumley recorded a daily best of 133-3 on her first throw and followed with two fouls to finish 15th overall. Unattached entrant Erica Wheeler pulled a surprise win in the event (first, 186-6) over former national record holder Kim Kreiner of Nike (second, 185-0). Stanford, Calif. (6/19-21) ? Senior and two-time All-America javelin thrower John Stiegeler took ninth with his second-best mark of the season (234-5) and stood as the fourth collegiate finisher. National record holder Breaux Greer of adidas (260-5) won the U.S. title over Boise State’s Rob Minnitti (second, 253-4) and Joshua Johnson (third, 249-10). On the second day, hammer All-American Adam Kriz finished 18th (202-9) in an event won by James Parker of the U.S. Air Force (first, 239-7).
2003 REGIONAL RECAP: M&W Claim 18 Top-Five Finishes & NCAA Invites.
STANFORD, Calif. (5/30-31) ? In the first go-around at regional qualifying, the Oregon men and women reaped one of their biggest lists of NCAA invitations in recent memory (13 men’s individuals & the 4x400 relay / eight women’s individuals). In the team scoring races, the Duck men third with 71 points behind UCLA (101) and USC (92), and the Oregon women tallied 60 points to place seventh in the 42-team race. Collegiate leader Becky Holliday stole first-day headlines with a 1/4-inch collegiate record (and two-inch Pac-10 record) that moved her to sixth all-time among Americans and fourth on the weekly world season best list. Niki McEwen added her seventh NCAA trip in the pole vault and tied her second-best outdoor mark ever (third-tie, 13-6 1/4), and three other Ducks vaulters competed in the 40-woman field that had all cleared 12-0 during the year, including Kirsten Riley (Larwin) and Hannah Moore tied for 16th and 24th (12-6 1/4). A pair of javelin All-Americans earned NCAA returns as Elisa Crumley and Roslyn Lundeen placed third (157-11) and fourth (157-3) and improved on eighth and fifth-place pre-meet seedings. Oregon’s other women’s winner, Mary Etter, claimed her fifth and most important blue ribbon of the season with a two-foot, six-inch discus season best (179-7). The Everett, Wash., native earned her fourth NCAA discus invite, and edged returning NCAA champion Chaniqua Ross of UCLA who took second (176-10) with a mark nearly three feet behind. The upset bug also bit Amanda Brown who springboarded off a ninth-place seeding in the triple jump to finish second (41-5w, w:+2.2) with a 7 1/2-inch best. After she had missed most of the previous week’s practice with an ankle injury, she started slowly with a halfway best of 39-10, then improved in the final to place four places better than her Pac-10 showing two weeks prior. Similar qualifying rumblings occurred in the hammer ring as Jordan Sauvage followed a similar method to finish fifth (183-11). She owned a prelim effort just past 179 feet that ranked her eighth overall, and climbed to fifth with a daily best on her fifth effort. On the high jump apron, Jenny Brogdon improved on her 17th-place seeding to tie her personal best (ninth-tie, 5-9 1/4) and miss an NCAA invite on number of total misses. The LaGrande, Ore., native had jumped that mark only once before in her career in her runner-up finish in the 2002 Pac-10 Championships, and tested her coach’s and teammates’ patience by relying on two attempts to clear 5-5 1/4, and three attempts at 5-7 3/4 and 5-9 1/4. Abby Andrus faced the fastest hurdles fields of her career and scored a .06-second windy best in the 100 hurdles prelims (fifth-heat, 14th overall, 13.93w). The Peoria, Ariz., native returned in the evening for the 400 hurdles prelims (third-heat, 12th overall, 60.22), and was only .43 seconds from the final time qualifier. The men’s squad featured a pair of wins in the sprints courtesy of Samie Parker in the 100 (10.25w, w:0.8) and Jordan Kent in the 200 (20.99, w:0.8), to go along with four more sprint and hurdle qualifiers and another field event invite. Parker claimed the first win of the meet for the ?Men of Oregon with his third fastest time of his career (10.25w, w:0.8) - and led the first day prelims by .12 seconds (10.34, w:1.5). Kent, the sixth seed entering the meet, stole the win out of lane eight with a .10-second personal best (20.99) after leading much of the first half of the race, then surged again in the final stretch to hold off USC’s Wes Felix (second, 21.06). Kent also made his first season appearance on the 4x400 relay as the Ducks led from wire to wire in the slower section (3:08.05) in a time that stood up second-fastest overall, one second behind fast heat winner Stanford (3:07.23). Another freshman sprinter, Matt Scherer, entered the meet seeded 12th in the 400, and improved to fourth in the final (personal best, 46.56) after leading the previous day’s prelims (.02-second then-best, 46.85). That time also moved him up three positions to seventh all-time for the Ducks. Seeded second going into the 110 hurdles, Eric Mitchum ended up third in the final (13.95-final, 13.95-prelims (1st-heat, into -2.1 mps wind) behind a pair of senior rivals that included the eventual NCAA champion Ryan Wilson of USC (13.54). 400 hurdler Brandon Holliday netted his first NCAA invite (fifth, 50.73), and avenged a fall in the Pac-10 prelims earlier in May after winning the league title as a sophomore in 2001. In the distances, Brett Holts earned his first NCAA steeplechase invite and ran most of the race close to his final position (fifth, 8:50.70) in the heat and overall, with his second-fastest career effort. In the 5K, Eric Logsdon earned his first NCAA invite with a third-place effort in the 5,000 (13:54.28) and was less than two seconds off his personal best from the Oregon Invite (13:52.62), and improved two places off his pre-meet fifth-place seeding. In the 800, Ryan Flaherty capped his season with an eighth-place finish in a final marked by its share of physical contact (1:53.47). The Bend, Ore., native took second in the first of two prelim heats the day before (1:50.20) - and fourth-fastest of the 15 entries - with the second-fastest of his career. In the field, hammer thrower Adam Kriz wrapped up his final preparation for an NCAA return with runner-up honors (207-7) on the first day thanks to a daily best on his initial throw. Former NCAA javelin champion John Stiegeler earned his second NCAA trip thanks to an eight-foot season best (fourth, 228-2), and 2003 Pac-10 champ Adam Jenkins fell four feet shy of a second invite but still netted a one-foot personal best (seventh, 222-4). Triple jumper Foluso Akinradewo ranked seventh overall (50-11 1/2, w:+0.6) with his third-best mark of the season, and sophomore Derek Strubel added 13th (48-9).
2003 PAC-10 REVIEW: Ducks Combine for 4 Wins & 1 Duck Record.
LOS ANGELES (5/17-18) - In the 73rd and 17th annual Pacific-10 Conference Championships, the Duck men and women took first (131) and seventh (60 points) at USC’s Katherine Loker Stadium. The UO men initially finished third in the team race with 127 points behind USC (139) and Stanford (128), but were later awarded the win when USC’s Brandon Matlock, a scorer in the 200, 400, 4x100 and 4x400 was ruled ineligible and the meet was rescored and gave the Ducks a one-point decision over Stanford in the tightest 1st-4th race since 1969's 14-point spread. Individually in the league finale, collegiate season leader and Becky Holliday paced the UO women with their first-ever pole vault title (14-6) and her third outdoor meet above 14 feet in ’03, to go along with two others indoors. Niki McEwen tied for second in the same event (13-3 1/2), and Roslyn Lundeen also claimed runner-up honors in the javelin (159-8). The Duck men featured three individual champions ? Santiago Lorenzo (decathlon, 7,564), junior Adam Jenkins (javelin, 217-9) and Adam Kriz (hammer, 221-3) - and three runners-up ? Brett Holts (steeple, 8:55.00), Jason Hartmann (10,000, 29:18.00) and Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, 13.73w, w:+3.8).
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