Skipper Named Pac-10 Men's Track & Field Athlete of Week
WALNUT, CREEK, Calif. - University of Oregon freshman Tommy Skipper became the second Duck to be named track and field athlete of the week Monday by the Pacific-10 Conference in the fifth edition of the award this season.
The freshman from Sandy, Ore., won the conference decathlon title in his event debut last Friday-Saturday (5/7-8) with an NCAA automatic score (7,589) that was 89 points above the decathlon auto standard, and 105 points better than runner-up Arizona State senior Joshua Kinnaman (second, 7,484).
Skipper gave Oregon its fourth straight Pac-10 decathlon title and 11th overall including Pac-8 history dating back to 1965. Among Saturday's marks, he led the pole vault marks by almost a full foot with his clearance of 17-4 1/2, and he was also 18 feet better than the field in the javelin with his collegiate best and Pac-10 qualifier (203-10). He also ranked second in the discus (143-4), fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.44, w:0.1) and ninth in the 1,500 (5:21.46). On the first day he led the field in the 100 (10.69) with a Pac-10 qualifying mark in his season debut, and also led the shot put (44-6 3/4). He also stood second in the high jump (6-5 1/2), third in the 400 (50.26), and eighth in the long jump (20-6 1/2) where he adverted disaster after two opening fouls.
Earlier in the season he was better known for his pole vault exploits and cleared 17-9 1/4 the week before in the Oregon Twilight (5/1) - the fourth time in as many outdoor meets he's cleared 17-5 or better. Skipper entered last weekend ranked ninth nationally with his former season best of 17-8 1/2 from the Texas Relays (4/3). In his other outdoor meets, he also won the Oregon Preview (17-6 1/2) and Pepsi Team Invite (17-5). His Oregon Twilight height was Skipper's third-highest ever outdoors after he went 18-3 to break the prep national record last June in the Golden West Invitational, and two weeks later won the U.S. junior title (18-0).
Indoors in 2004, he competed in five meets and cleared 18 feet in the last four, including a school record 18-8 3/4 in the United Heritage Invitational (2/7) that led the collegiate qualifying list. In the NCAA indoor finale, he sailed to his second-highest ever mark (second, 18-4 1/2) and was edged by returning NCAA indoor champion Brad Walker. Other 18-foot vaults indoors in 2004 included the Bodybuilding.com Invite (first, 18-0 1/2, 1/31) and Mountain Pacific Championships (first, 18-1 3/4, 2/27).
On the women's side Monday, ASU freshman Jacquelyn Johnson won the Pac-10 women's honor after her heptathlon win (5,603). In the same event, Duck redshirt senior Abby Andrus took third with a personal best (5,325) and NCAA provisional mark that may net an NCAA return for the second-year webfoot.
In the award's opening edition on April 12, UO junior Sofie Abildtrup claimed similar honors for the women's track category. The Saturday before (4/10), she helped Oregon to team wins over Colorado, Minnesota and Washington in the Pepsi Team Invite and claimed individual blue ribbons in the 200 (23.94) and 400 (54.49), and also ran a 54.40-second split on the victorious 4x400 relay.
Last year, the Duck men tied with USC for the most weekly Pac-10 Athlete of the Week honors with USC (4) among the five editions. 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).
Among the Ducks' honors last season, Santiago Lorenzo claimed the final men's AOW honor for his Pac-10 decathlon victory in USC (7,564, 5/10-11) for the fourth distinction of his career. 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 2003’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).
- www.GoDucks.com -
