Track Teams Challenge for NCAA Invites in West Regional
This week, the Ducks look forward to stage two of the three-step championship season in northern Los Angeles and will face rivals from the states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
The West Regional is one of four that will be held nationally, Fri.-Sat., May 28-29, and the top five finishers from each regional event automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, Wed.-Sat., June 9-12 in Austin, Texas. Another 5-8 athletes per event that did not finish top five in their regionals (often because of injury, sickness, false starts, etc.) will be selected early next week by the NCAA championships committee via an at-large method based on season bests.
Athletes were invited to compete in the regional this week as long as they met outdoor regional qualifying standards that were based on the 100th best mark in each event last year (and often similar to the Pac-10 Champs qualifying marks).
In last year’s regional finale, the Duck men featured two regional champions (Samie Parker, 100; Jordan Kent, 200) among their nine top-five placers/NCAA advancers (100, 200, 400, steeple, 5K, 110H, 400H, javelin, hammer), and the UO women added seven top-five efforts themselves (pole vault-2, javelin-2, triple jump, discus, hammer).
In their most recent showing in the Pac-10 Champs in Tucson, Ariz., (5/15-16), the Duck men finished second (130 points) behind UCLA (143) for their third straight top-two finish - a feat no other Pac-10 school has duplicated in that span. The Women of Oregon may have sported a scaled-back roster with recruiting limited the past two years, but they still doubled their projected score and finished seventh (58). The Duck men featured three individual champions (Tommy Skipper-pole vault, decathlon; Eric Mitchum-110 hurdles), and the women were led by All-America junior Sarah Malone (second, javelin) and Abby Andrus (third, heptathlon).
Looking ahead, the Duck track teams have 1 1/2 weeks off until the NCAA finale in Austin, Texas, Wed.-Sat., June 9-12. Three individuals are also automatically qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif., Thu.-Sun., July 9-18 at Cal State Sacramento’s Hornet Stadium, and several others are hoping to add invites.
This Week's Meet Info
Meet: West Regional Championships (Second Annual)
Dates: Fri.-Sat., May 28-29
Location: Matador T&F Complex, Cal State Northridge University, Northridge, Calif.
Results Web Site: www.GoMatadors.com
Fri. First Field Event: 8 am - W Hammer
Fri. First Running Event: 3 pm - W 4x100 Relay Qual.
Fri. Last Event: 7:30 pm - M 5,000
Sat. First Field Event: 9 Am - M Javelin
Sat. First Running Event: 3:30 pm - W 4x400 Relay
Sat. Last Event: 6:50 pm - M 4x400 Relay
DUCK WOMEN TO WATCH: Field Events Will Lead Charge Again in 2004.
DUCK MEN TO WATCH: UO Men Challenge For Bids by Land, Air and Sea.
Ten entries from the Men of Oregon rank top-five this week in their regional specialties ? senior Brandon Holliday (400 hurdles, fourth, 50.52) and Adam Jenkins (javelin, fifth, 227-4), juniors Leonidas Watson (long jump, fourth, 25-4 1/2), Brett Holts (steeple, fifth, 8:44.57) and Eric Logsdon (5,000, fifth, 13:48.12), sophomore Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, first, 13.50w), Jeff Lindsey (high jump, fourth, 7-1 3/4), Matt Scherer (400, fifth, 45.95), and freshman Tommy Skipper (pole vault, second, 18-3 1/4) and the 4x400 relay (second, 3:03.49). The sprint crew has enjoyed a smooth transition under the guidance of first-year assistant coach Dan Steele who has pupils chasing NCAA invites in the 400, 110 and 400 hurdles and 4x400 relay. The former NCAA 400 hurdle champion Steele has watched Mitchum smash the school record in the 110 hurdles by .13 seconds in mid-April’s Mt. SAC Relays (13.53, w:2.0) ? a week after he climbed to second on the 2004 national collegiate list in the Texas Relays (13.50w, w:3.0). Most recently, he claimed the Ducks’ first-ever Pac-10 110 hurdle title (13.62) in his second-fastest wind legal time after runner-up finishes the past three years. Indoors in March, he finished sixth in the NCAA 60 hurdle final the same day he crushed the school indoor record with the second-fastest time overall in the prelims (7.69). Holliday lowered his 400 hurdle best by more than a quarter second in the conference clash (fourth, 50.52) and climbed one spot on the UO all-time top-10 list to sixth. His only faster clocking came in his Pac-10 debut in 2002 when he sped to the blue ribbon (50.73). In the 400, sophomore Matt Scherer continues to round into form and rewrote his 400 best in both the Pac-10 prelim (46.20) and final (fifth, 45.95). He now ranks third all-time for the Ducks behind former world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Otis Davis (45.07, 1960) and former Pac-10 champ Pat Johnson (45.38, 1996). Indoors in 2004, Scherer ran a then-best best of 46.40, but a month later he strained a hamstring on his 4x400 anchor in the NCAA finale. The Sumner, Ill., native was an NCAA qualifier outdoors in the 400 in 2003 (18th-prelim, then-outdoor PR 46.47), and indoors in ?04 (12th-prelim, 46.77). First-year Duck and junior Kedar Inico improved four places on his pre-meet Pac-10 seeding in the 200 final (sixth, 21.19), and will add duty in the 400 also this weekend with a season best of 46.92 from the Oregon Twilight in early May. The 2003 junior college indoor 400 champion from Barton Community College will also add a leg on the 4x400 relay that is ranked second thanks to their second school record of the year - this time by more than 2 1/2 seconds in the Pac-10 finale (second, 3:03.49). The field events are again the foundation of the Duck attack with 69 of the Ducks’ 130 Pac-10 points from the four jumps (high jump 4th-6th; pole vault 1st-5th; long jump 4th; triple jump 5th), two throws (javelin 2nd; hammer 6th) and decathlon (1st-3rd-4th-5th). First-year Duck and redshirt junior Leonidas Watson became the first Duck to score top-six finishes the same year in the Pac-10 long jump (fourth, 24-8 1/4) and triple jump (fifth, 50-8 3/4) since Latin Berry in 1990 (long jump, first, 26-2 3/4; triple jump, fourth, 50-10 1/4). The St. Louis Community College transfer earned his All-America stripes indoors in the NCAA long jump (ninth), and was seeded eighth nationally indoors heading into the NCAA finale in both events (25-6.5/52-10.25) with marks that put him ninth and fourth all-time for Oregon. Sophomore high jumper Jeff Lindsey took fourth in his Pac-10 debut two weeks ago (fourth, 6-11 3/4) after he nailed back-to-back seven-foot clearances at home two of the last three regular season meets ? the Pepsi Team Invite (first, 7-1 3/4) and Oregon Invite (7-0 1/2). Indoors in 2004, the Mansfield, Texas native cleared an indoor best and NCAA provisional mark of 7-1 3/4 and tied for 19th nationally. Besides an NCAA invite, another goal will also look to rewrite his 7-2 prep best that came as a senior in 2002. Junior and Clackamas transfer Paul Etter took sixth in his Pac-10 hammer debut (192-10), and his season best (199-0) is only thee feet away from the UO all-time top-10 list (10th place is Nick Anastassiades threw 202-1 in 1991). Senior and returning Pac-10 javelin champion Adam Jenkins enjoyed a breakthrough just when he needed it the most in the Pac-10 finale. After a sub-200 foot opening throw and foul on his second try, he cut his approach in half, and made the final witha season best of 218-6. In the final, he raised his overal personal best on his fourth throw by final five feet to 227-4 to eventually finish second ? three places better than his pre-meet seed. The Gladstone, Ore., native climbed six spots all-time for the Ducks to third from his prior personal best (222-4) that placed seventh in the 2003 West Regional (a mark that ranks him as the top returnee from that meet, although Arizona’s Matt Wagner (240-10) redshirted last year). With Oregon’s upperclass experience in the steeple, 5,000 and 10,000, head coach Martin Smith leads his All-America distance corps into battle against the nation’s deepest distance conference and regional. Holts notched his third top-four Pac-10 finish last meet (2003-third, 2002-second, 2001-fourth), and took fifth in last year’s regional steeple finale. The Bend, Ore., native owns the Pac-10’s fastest time this season (8:44.57) is only two seconds away from the Olympic Trials ?B’ standard (8:42.00). Redshirt junior Eric Logsdon locked up his third Pac-10 top six honor in the 5,000 in Tucson (sixth, 14:14.86) after he placed sixth in 2003 and fourth in 2002. The Canby, Ore. native owns a season best of 13:48.12 this year that is five seconds shy of Oregon’s hallowed top-10 list. In last year’s regional meet he took fifth (13:54.28) with his then-second-fastest time ever, then followed with an All-America eighth in the NCAA final (13:59.00). A pair of Duck decathletes will likely receive NCAA invites next week as redshirt sophomore Andy Young (7,372) and redshirt senior Gabriel LeMay (7,333) both rank top-25 with the field likely to include at least that many invites. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Voge currently stands 30th with 7,244 points, and could likely fall 50-60 points shy of a third Duck invite. Redshirt senior Ryan Andrus nabbed an automatic invite in the 10,000 with his Mt. SAC personal best (28:56.67) that moved him to eighth all-time for the Ducks. The Academic All-American out of Orem, Utah will look forward to this week’s weekend off after he doubled up a pair of top-eight efforts in the Pac-10 finale in Tucson (5,000, sixth, 14:22.52; 10,000, fourth, 30:30.17). Indoors in 2004, he earned All-America reviews in his NCAA 5K debut (seventh, 14:03.21) after he ran his automatic qualifier the week before (13:51.00) in Seattle (3/6).
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.
OREGON'S TENTATIVE REGIONAL ENTRIES
(# next to name indicates event pre-meet ranking)
Friday (May 28)
8 am - W Hammer (Kriz, 19th; Kersh, 35th; Gum 36th)
11:30 am - M Hammer (Etter, 11th)
12 pm - M High Jump (Lindsey, 4th; Davis, 11th)
2 pm - W Pole Vault (Larwin, 4th; Enders, 6th-t)
3 pm - W 4X100m Prelim
3:15 pm - M 4X100m Prelim
3:30 pm - W 1500m Prelim
3:45 pm - M 1500m Prelim
4 pm - W 100H Prelim
4:15 pm - M 110H Prelim (Mitchum, 1st; Ikwuakor 6th)
4:30 pm - W 400m Prelim (Abildtrup, 5th)
4:45 pm - M 400m Prelim (Scherer, 5th; Inico, 12th; Anderson, 13th)
5 pm - M Shot Put
5 pm W Discus (Fuqua, 14th; Hoxmeier, 17th)
5 pm M Long jump (Watson, 4th)
5 pm am - W Long jump
5 pm - W 100m Prelim
5:15 pm - M 100m Prelim
5:30 pm - W 800m Prelim (Schaaf, 7th)
5:45 pm - M 800m Prelim
6:05 pm - W 400H Prelim (Mellott, 17th)
6:20 pm - M 400H Prelim (Holliday, 4th; Ikwuakor 18th)
6:40 pm - W 200m Prelim
6:55 pm - M 200m Prelim (Inico, 17th)
7:10 pm - W 5000m (Harmon, 9th)
7:30 pm - M 5000m (Logsdon, 5th)
Height Progressions (metric)
WHJ - 1.69, 1.74, 1.79, 1.82, 1.85, 1.88, 1.91
MHJ - 2.06, 2.11, 2.16, 2.19, 2.22, 2.25, 2.28
Saturday (May 29)
9 am - M Javelin (Jenkins, 5th)
10:30 am - W High jump (Kriz, 16th-tie)
12:30 pm - M Pole vault (Skipper, 2nd; Woods, 11th; Derby 18th; Moore 20th)
12:30 pm - W Javelin (Malone, 2nd)
3:30 pm - W 400m Relay
3:30 pm - W Shot Put (Fuqua, 6th)
3:30 pm - M Triple Jump (Watson, 7th)
3:30 pm - W Triple Jump (Hayward-Lee, 11th)
3:37 pm - M 400m Relay
3:45 pm - W 1500m
3:52 pm - M 1500m
4 pm - M Discus
4 pm - W 100m Hurdles
4:10 pm - M 110m Hurdles (Mitchum, 1st; Ikwuakor 6th)
4:20 pm - W 400m (Abildtrup, 5th)
4:25 pm - M 400m (Scherer, 5th; Inico, 12th; Anderson 13th)
4:30 pm - W 100m
4:37 pm - M 100m
4:45 pm - W 800m (Schaaf, 7th)
4:52 pm - M 800m
5 pm - W 400m Hurdles (Mellott, 17th)
5:07 pm - M 400m Hurdles (Holliday, 4th; Ikwuakor 18th)
5:15 pm - W 200m
5:22 pm - M 200m (Inico, 17th)
5:30 pm - W Steeple
6 pm - M Steeple (Holts, 5th; Alcorn, 20th)
6:30 pm - W 4X400m
6:50 pm - M 4X400m (2nd)
Height Progressions (metric)
WPV - 3.61, 3.76, 3.91, 4.01, 4.11m, 4.21, 4.31
MPV - 4.86, 5.01, 5.16, 5.26, 5.36, 5.46, 5.56
*All events are finals unless noted with ?Prelim’.
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).
2004 PAC-10 MEN’S RECAP: Ducks Score Third Straight Top-Two Finish.
TUCSON, Ariz. - At the University of Arizona’s Roy Drachman Stadium two weeks ago, the Men of Oregon virtually matched their pre-meet scoring forecast and took second with 130 points, behind meet favorite UCLA (143). ASU followed in third (120), ahead of USC (fourth, 95), Arizona (fifth, 93), Stanford (sixth, 76), Cal (seventh, 75), Washington (eighth, 45) and WSU (ninth, 41). UO’s top-two finish was its third straight under head coach Martin Smith after the Ducks won the 2003 title (131) and took second in 2002 (125). The Ducks have claimed five team titles since the meet’s inception in 1979 (1979, 1986, 1990, 1991, 2003) and have scored eight other runner-up finishes including this weekend’s in the meet’s 26 editions. Individually, All-America sophomore Eric Mitchum (13.62, 13.76p) claimed the tape in the 110 hurdles with his second-fastest wind-legal effort for Oregon’s first victory in the event after three straight runner-up nods ? and not far from a fourth thanks to sophomore AK Ikwuakor’s third-place surprise (14.16). Freshman Tommy Skipper added a pair of victories in the decathlon and pole vault (18-3 1/4). The Duck sprinters kept UO in contention as Matt Scherer ran personal best in both 400 races (fifth, 45.95-f, 46.27-p), and junior Kedar Inico improved three places from his pre-meet seed in the 200 (sixth, PR 21.19). The 4x400 relay (second, 3:03.49) chopped 2.51 seconds off their former school record from the indoor regular season (3:06.54), and passed the Bruins in the final 50 meters thanks to Scherer, with earlier passing by Travis Anderson, Brandon Holliday and Inico. Holliday added a .17-second personal best in the 400 hurdles (50.52) to lead a UO 4-5-8 finish that included Mitchum (PR, 51.27) and Ikwuakor (eighth, 54.46). In the distances, redshirt junior steeplechaser Brett Holts claimed UO’s highest finish from the 800 on up (third, 8:58.28) and held off Arizona’s Joshua Ludwig on the final straightaway (fourth, 8:59.47). Duck freshman Kyle Alcorn made his second event appearance and ran virtually the whole race near his final position (ninth, 9:13.91) and the final five laps solo. Holts’ placing was his third, top-four effort in the event after he took second in 2003 (8:55.0) and fourth as a freshman (9:03.32). In the 5,000 redshirt junior Eric Logsdon went top six for the third straight year (fourth, 14:14.86), and redshirt senior Ryan Andrus came back for another 12 1/2 laps of racing and added a best-ever sixth (14:22.52). The night before, Andrus posted his second-straight top-six finish in the 10,000 (fourth, 30:30.17) in a tactical race that featured a lead pack of 8-10 runners until the final six laps. In the 800 prelims, freshman Mike McGrath missed advancing by .08 seconds when he got trapped behind a wall of three other qualifiers for the last 150 meters of his prelim. The Portland native and Lincoln High School product clocked 1:50.69 - .45 seconds off his season best (1:50.24) in the tactical two-section race, and was only a second behind the second-fastest runner in the prelims (1:49.64). In the field, Skipper continued to wow the Duck faithful with simultaneous duty in the first day pole vault and javelin. He opened in the pole vault with a first attempt clearance of 17-3 1/2, then ran across the infield and uncorked a personal best on both of his javelin throws - 208-9 on the first, and 215-2 on his second. He ranked second in the javelin at that point (and eventually ended fifth), and content that he would contribute multiple points to the Duck cause in the spear-chuck, he then went back to focus solely on the pole vault. Going into the event, Skipper ranked second on the league outdoor qualifying list, 3 1/4 inches behind UCLA All-American Yoo Kim, but Skipper eventually captured the back-and-forth dual with a first-attempt make at 18-3 1/4 as Kim ended second (17-7 1/4). Skipper then took three solid tries at a Pac-10 record (18-10 1/4), but to no avail. The Ducks added another three points in the event courtesy of senior Trevor Woods, who scored his fourth straight, top-five finish (fifth, 16-11 1/2) after he entered the meet seeded seventh with an outdoor season best of 17-1 1/4. Redshirt sophomore Andy Young raised his personal best 3/4 inches (12th, 16-5 1/2) and ended one clearance away from the final scorer (eighth, 16-11 1/2) and had several close attempts. The Newberg, Ore., native ranked 14th on the conference qualifying list with his prior season beset of 16-4 3/4 from the Pac-10 Champs decathlon seven days before. Sophomore high jumper Jeff Lindsey skied to another near-seven-foot mark (fourth, 6-11 3/4) in his Pac-10 debut, and sophomore decathlete Ryan Voge added points in a three-way tie for sixth with his opening height clearance (6-6 3/4). On the horizontal runway, redshirt junior Leonidas Watson climbed several positions to fourth in the long jump’s late rounds with a daily best of 24-8 1/4 (w:0.0) on the first day, then added fifth in the triple jump (50-8 3/4) with his third-best mark of the outdoor campaign ? and less than nine inches off his other two better marks. Voge added double duty himself in the long jump (10th, 22-7 3/4 (w:0.0)) ? only 8 1/4 inches from scoring. The Hillsboro, Ore., product ended three positions better than his pre-meet seeding (11th) based on his season best from the Pac-10 decathlon the week before (23-8). In the throws, senior javelin thrower Adam Jenkins stepped up with a critical effort on a half-approach third prelim throw just to advance to the finals after two sub- 200-foot earlier efforts. The returning Pac-10 champ then surged in the finals to a runner-up finish and five-foot personal best (second, 227-4). In the hammer, junior Paul Etter took fifth (191-8) with his sixth meet past 190 feet this year. The first-year Duck entered the meet seeded fourth with a season best of 199-0 from the Oregon Invitational. Freshman Brandon Tower launched his second-best ever throw in the discus and missed scoring by barely two feet (ninth, 159-6). The Beaverton, Ore., native entered the meet seeded 11th in the conference with his season and collegiate personal best of 166-6.
2004 PAC-10 WOMEN’S RECAP: UO Upends Form Chart & Repeats Seventh.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Also at the University of Arizona two weeks ago, the Women of Oregon showed equally well and replicated last year’s seventh-place finish seventh with 58 points. UCLA won the women’s crown with 174 1/2 points, ahead of a Stanford (second, 153), USC (third, 111), ASU (fourth, 97), Cal (fifth, 68), Washington (sixth, 66), Oregon (seventh, 58), WSU (eighth, 45 1/2) and Arizona (ninth, 45). In the sprints, junior Sofie Abildtrup shook off a tight hamstring muscle the second-day to take fifth in the 400 in her second-fastest career time (53.22) ? only .30 seconds off her personal best from the first-day prelims (52.92). The first-year Duck from Fredericksberg, Denmark entered the meet seeded 12th in the Pac-10 with her prior season best of 54.49 from the Pepsi Team Invitational, while her all-time prior best before this weekend stood at 54.16. UCLA’s Monique Henderson won the event by more than a full second with a meet record (50.90) that bettered the former record held by former Duck Camara Jones from 1995 (51.44). Abildtrup then came back to anchor the 4x400 relay to a four-second season best and regional qualifier (seventh, 3:42.23) as the Ducks entered the meet seeded eighth with a prior best of 3:46.92. She also competed in the first day prelims in the 200 (24.09) and was only .18 seconds off her season and personal best. In the middle distances, redshirt sophomore Sara Schaaf ran a gutty effort in the 800’s front five the whole race and ended fifth (2:09.40) in her second-fastest clocking in her career, and one place better than her pre-meet seed. In the prelims, she claimed the last time qualifier and ninth and final invite (2:10.88) and ranked third in her heat ? only .03 seconds ahead of the first non-qualifier. Redshirt junior Laura Harmon added her first league points in her third trip, but first at the 5,000-meter distance (eighth, 17:21.57). The Vancouver, Wash., native and Jesuit High School product led several of the opening laps and ran in the front pack of the nation’s deepest conference for much of race’s opening 2/3 of action. Redshirt sophomore Haripurkh Khalsa followed in 14th in her league debut (18:18.79). In the 1,500 prelims, redshirt junior Taylor Bryant clocked her second-fastest time ever and missed the final by one place and .76 seconds in her Pac-10 debut (13th, 4:40.91). As expected, the 400 hurdles stood as the squad’s deepest event as redshirt senior Abby Andrus sped to third place (59.29, 60.37-p) and a .61-second personal best that moved her up to fifth all-time for the Ducks. The Peoria, Ariz., native entered the meet seeded fifth in the Pac-10 with her season best of 59.9-hand-timed from the Oregon Twilight, and her previous FAT best of 59.90 came in 2003. Duck junior Kayla Mellott claimed her first league points in the event (seventh, 61.27, 60.72-p) with her best fully automatic time and was just off her best hand-timed mark from two weeks ago at home (60.8-h). In the prelims, freshman Amanda Santana was less than a quarter-second off her second-fastest time ever (12th, 62.46), and redshirt senior C’Rel McAllister ran a half-second personal best in her final individual race as a Duck (14th, 62.58) and was barely a second away from the all-time UO top-10 list (10th is 61.39). In the field, senior pole vaulter Kirsten Larwin claimed her highest ever Pac-10 placing and fourth top-10 effort with a three-inch personal best (fourth, 13-6 1/4). The Eugene native out of South High School had owned a prior best of 13-3 1/2 from the Texas Relays in early April and had cleared additional +13-foot marks in two of her other three outdoor appearances (13-1 3/4 in the Pepsi Team Invite and 13-1 1/2 in the Oregon Preview). Larwin had added personal bests in the Pac-10 Champs as a junior in 2003 (seventh, 12-11 1/2), sophomore in 2002 (sixth, 12-10) and freshman (10th, 12-7 1/2). Freshman Emily Enders added fifth in the event (13-2 1/4) with a four-inch personal best of her own. The Snoqualmie, Wash., native entered the meet seeded 12th with her prior best of 12-10 1/4 from the Oregon Twilight, and altogether her first season hiked her preseason best of 12-7 by more than seven inches. In the high jump, redshirt junior Rachael Kriz scored for the second time in Pac-10 duty in the high jump and ended in a three-way tie for fifth (5-6) with her second-highest mark of the season. She missed her three attempts at matching her season and personal best (5-8) which she cleared in the Pepsi Team Invite. Junior triple jumper Maegan Traver claimed seventh in her Pac-10 debut in the triple jump (39-7, w:0.7). Her 8 1/2-inch personal best moved her to 10th all-time for Oregon after she entered the meet seeded 11th with a prior season best of 38-10 1/2 from the Oregon Twilight two weeks ago. Javelin All-American and redshirt junior Sarah Malone matched her pre-meet seed and claimed her third Pac-10 runner-up finish in the javelin (171-5) behind USC’s four-time champion Inge Stasliounyte (181-11). Malone threw her daily best on her first throw and led the opening two rounds, before Stasliounyte took the lead on her third try (54.06m), then improved on her sixth throw to 184-11. Malone’s other legal marks came on her second (50.16m) and fourth attempts (49.99m), and her daily best was her second-best in league competition, just behind her 171-9 heave as a sophomore in 2002, and ahead of her frosh mark of 167-1 from 2001. The UO discus throwers claimed a pair of top-eight finishes courtesy of junior Bree Fuqua (fifth, 162-2) and senior Jill Hoxmeier (seventh, 160-7). The duo improved on their seventh- and eighth-place seedings and were barely two feet off their season and personal bests. On the first day, Fuqua improved two places on her shot put pre-meet seeding thanks to a quarter-inch personal best (fourth, 52-5 1/2). Junior Katie Kersh led a trio of hammer tossers (11th, 161-10), and was followed by fellow debuts by sophomores Megan Kriz (14th, 146-3) and Whitney Gum (15th, 136-1).
2004 HEP/DEC. REVIEW: Decathletes Go 1-3-4-5/Andrus Repeats Third.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Three weeks ago (5/7-8), the Duck men featured four NCAA provisional or automatic marks among their quartet of top-five finishes, including men’s winner Tommy Skipper, in final day action Saturday in the Pac-10 Championships decathlon, and senior Abby Andrus posted a NCAA provisional mark and 22-point personal best for third place in the women’s heptathlon at the University of Arizona’s Roy Drachman Stadium. Skipper led the Duck men with an NCAA automatic score (7,589) that was 89 points above the decathlon auto standard, and ended 105 points better than runner-up Arizona State senior Joshua Kinnaman (second, 7,484). Duck sophomore Andy Young registered a 193-point personal best to take third place (7,372), and senior Gabriel LeMay followed in fourth with a 158-point personal best of his own (fourth, 7,333). Redshirt sophomore Ryan Voge also easily topped the NCAA provisional standard of 7,000 points with a 191-point personal best to finish fifth (7,245). Among second day marks, Skipper 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 (203-10). The Sandy, Ore., native also ranked top-two in the 100 (first, 10.69, w:0.0), shot put (first, 44-6 3/4), high jump (second, 6-5 1/2) and discus (second, 143-4), . Giving Oregon its fourth straight Pac-10 decathlon title and 11th overall including Pac-8 history dating back to 1965, he moved up from fourth place after the first day when he tallied 3,857 points. At the halfway point Friday, he trailed ASU’s Kinnaman who scored 3,995 points to lead Oregon’s Voge (3,956), while LeMay followed in third (3,874) and Young stood eighth (3,578). Among Oregon’s other three event wins, Young kicked to the tape first in the 1,500 (4:21.94) in a Duck 1-2-3 sweep with LeMay in second place four seconds back (4:25.94). LeMay won the first day’s 400 (48.78), and Voge skied to a personal best and Pac-10 qualifying win in the high jump (6-9). Overall, the Ducks’ 1-3-4-5 finish netted them 25 points - their most points in a single event in recent memory in any of the 19 individual events in the conference championships. With one of the 21 total events now complete, Arizona State follows in second with eight points, Cal is in third place with three points, UCLA is in fourth with two points and WSU is in fifth with one point. On the all-time Duck charts, three of the four Ducks bettered the previous 10th-place ranked performer, Paul Pappas, who scored a personal best 7,303 points in 1997. Skipper now ranks eighth all-time for the Ducks ahead of Kanon Vanderhoff (ninth, 7,488) and recent Pac-10 champion and All-American Billy Pappas (10th, 7,532) who tallied his best en route to the Pac-10 win in 2002. On the women’s side, Andrus took a sizable step towards an NCAA heptathlon return with a 22-point personal best and repeated her third-place finish from last year (5,325). The Peoria, Ariz., native trailed only a pair of top-five ranked collegians in the final scores - Arizona State freshman Jackie Johnson (first, 5,603) and Cal junior Brooke Meredith (second, 5,475). Her single event marks included 25.98, 35-7 3/4 in the shot put, in the 200 (w:0.7), 18-2 1/2 in the long jump (w:2.9), 118-0 in the javelin, Among the day’s opening events, Andrus ranked fifth with a hep season best in the long jump (18-2 1/2, w:2.9), and also in the javelin (118-0) with Saturday’s mark only four inches shy of her personal best. Before the 800, she owned a six-event score of 4,481 points and was in a three-way battle for third place with Washington’s Grace Vela (4,482), and Washington State’s Julie Pickler (4,478). As Andrus pushed to the lead from the start en route to a two second-win (2:18.48) over ASU’s Johnson (second, 2:20.88), the other Northwest rivals faded to fifth (Vela, 2:26.09) and eighth (Pickler, 2:50.36) in the two-lap event. Andrus’s last event surge also pushed her ahead of the two rivals on the national list with Pickler (5,135) and Vela (5,065) formerly ranked ahead of Andrus (5,060) based on season bests. Andrus’s mark still ranks her fifth all-time for the Ducks and pushed her closer to two-time All-American Jennifer Thomas (fourth, 5,452) who posted her personal best in 1998.
PICK OF THE PAC-10: Skipper & Abildtrup Claimed Weekly Honors in 2004.
Freshman Tommy Skipper became the second Duck to be named track and field athlete of the week by the Pacific-10 Conference in the fifth and final edition of the award in 2004 (5/10). 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, was also 18 feet better than the field in the javelin, and also topped the field the first day in the 100 (10.69) and shot put (44-6 3/4). 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. Looking back to 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). Among current Ducks tabbed last year, 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). Two other current Ducks have combined for other Pac-10 honors in previous 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).
MEN’S SEASON 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). Eleven Duck men are ranked top-10 in UO history - Tommy Skipper (pole vault, first, 18-8 3/4), Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, first, 13.53), Jason Hartmann (10,000, third, 28:31.96), Trevor Woods (pole vault, fifth, 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 3/4), Jordan Kent (200, sixth, 20.99; 100, eighth, 10.46), Matt Scherer (400, fifth, 46.40), Brandon Holliday (400 hurdles, seventh, 50.73), Ryan Andrus (10,000, eighth, 28:56.67) and Adam Jenkins (javelin, eighth, 222-4), and the 4x400 of Travis Anderson, Brandon Holliday, Roderick Dotts and Matt Scherer lowered the school record indoors (3:06.24). Indoors in 2004, the Duck men posted their most NCAA invites (7) and All-America (4) honors in school 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).
WOMEN’S SEASON 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), Megan Kriz (hammer, third, 184-1), 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), Katie Kersh (hammer, sixth, 174-11), Whitney Gum (hammer, seventh, 174-10), Magdalena Sandoval (5,000, eighth, 16:04.41), Clarice Hayward-Lee (triple jump, eighth, 40-1 1/4), Kayla Mellott (400 hurdles, ninth, 61.30) and Jill Hoxmeier (hammer, 11th, 162-6). 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 arrived from Denmark and owned prior bests in the 100 (11.84, UO #10 12.01), 200 (24.02, UO #7 23.93) and 400 (54.16, UO #3 52.92) that would rank top-10 in Oregon history. Indoors, she raced to an NCAA provisional mark in the 400 (54.46) in her season debut. Redshirt junior shot putter Bree Fuqua is the Wisconsin school record holder (51-5 1/2) and her 2004 outdoor Duck best (52-5 1/2) puts her second in UO history. Junior Katie Kersh hails from Sierra College near Sacramento and has upped her pre-Duck hammer best (173-5) by more than 1 1/2 feet with a heave (174-11) that ranks her sixth in Duck history. Two other additions, junior Mandi Fitz-Gustafson (steeple) and Brittany Hinchcliffe (hammer), arrived from Arizona State and Washington State, respectively, but have redshirted 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). In the Oregon Invitational in late-April, she improved again to 200-3. 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. Outdoors in 2004, she cleared the 13-foot barrier in the Pac-10 finale (fifth, 13-2 1/4) and ranks fifth all-time for the Ducks. Freshman Amanda Santana won the state 300-hurdle crown last year and ranks third for UO in the 400 equivalent (61.3-h/62.23). 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 in 2003 and was second in the long jump in each meet. This season he has climbed to fourth all-time for the Ducks in the triple jump (52-10 1/4) and ninth in the long jump (25-5 1/2), and he was tabbed an All-American indoors after he took ninth (25-2 1/2) in March’s NCAA indoor finale. 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., but was slowed by injuries in the fall and winter season. Junior Kedar Inico has boosted the Ducks with Pac-10 qualifiers and solid season best in the 200 (21.17), 400 (46.92), and also ran a 45.2 coach-timed split on the UO school record relay at Pac-10s (3:03.49). He joined the Ducks spring term after he transferred from Barton Community College after winter term. Last season he won the JC indoor 400 title (47.4), and arrived in Eugene with prior bests of 21.66 in the 200 and 46.30 in the 400. A pair of home-state freshmen ? Mike McGrath and Tommy Skipper ? led the national prep ranks in 2003 in the 800 (1:48.56) and pole vault (18-3) as seniors, respectively, with the latter tabbed prepster of the year after he upped the national pole vault by 3/4 inches. Indoors in 2004, Skipper led the collegiate pole vault list during the indoor regular season with a school record 18-8 3/4, and claimed his highest-ever outdoor mark (18-3 1/4) and third highest including indoors (he cleared 18-4 1/2 to take second in his NCAA indoor debut). 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. This season he took third in the Pac-10 110 hurdle final (14.26, 14.16-p) and also scored eighth in the 400 hurdles final (54.46, 52.32-p). The Arvada, Colo., native arrived in Eugene last fall with previous 110H/400H bests from 2003 of 14.10 from the Big 12 Championships prelims and 51.99 from the Pepsi Team Invite in Eugene.
QUALIFYING UPDATE: Duck Men Sprinted Past Pac-10 24-Person Limit.
Athletes qualify for the Pacific-10 Championships based on their season best mark in an event and if he/she meets a preset league standard (see the 2004 Oregon 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-eight Duck men posted 41 marks in 16 of 18 possible individual events (there is no qualifying standard in the 4x100, 4x400 or 10,000) - Ryan Gilliam (100), Travis Anderson (200, 400), Kedar Inico (200, 400), Matt Scherer (400), Ryan Flaherty (800), Mike McGrath (800), Eric Logsdon (1,500, 5,000), Ryan Andrus (1,500, 5,000), Brett Holts (steeple), Kyle Alcorn (steeple), 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), Tommy Skipper (100, pole vault, javelin), 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), Adam Jenkins (javelin), Gabriel LeMay (decathlon) and Ryan Voge (high jump, long jump, decathlon). Events with multiple men’s qualifiers include the pole vault (5), high jump and decathlon (4), 400 hurdles and 400, 5,000 (3), and the 100, 200, 800, 1,500, steeple, 110H, triple jump and javelin (2). Ducks that have made their debut on the Pac-10 qualifying list this year include senior Gabriel LeMay (decathlon), juniors Kedar Inico (200, 400) and Paul Etter (hammer), sophomores AK Ikwuakor (110H/400H) and Ryan Voge (high jump, long jump, decathlon), and freshmen Ryan Gilliam (100), Mike McGrath (800), Kyle Alcorn (steeple), David Moore (pole vault), and Tommy Skipper (100, pole vault, javelin, decathlon). At the regional level, 21 Duck individuals have posted 25 marks in 14 of a possible 19 events (200 (1), 400 (3), 800, steeple (2), 5,000, 110H (2), 400H (2), high jump (2), pole vault (4), long jump, triple jump (2), hammer, javelin (2), 4x400).
On the women’s side, 21 Ducks have combined for 30 marks in 16 of a possible 18 events (the 4x100, 4x400 or the 10K don’t have standards) - Sofie Abildtrup (100, 200, 400), Sara Schaaf (800, 1,500), Laura Harmon (1,500, 5,000), Taylor Bryant (1,500), Erinn Gulbrandsen (1,500), Magdalena Sandoval (5,000), Haripurkh Khalsa (5,000), Abby Andrus (100 hurdles, 400 hurdles, high jump, heptathlon), Kayla Mellott (400 hurdles), Amanda Santana (400 hurdles), Rachael Kriz (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, hammer), Jill Hoxmeier (discus), Megan Kriz (hammer), Katie Kersh (hammer) and Sarah Malone (javelin). Events with multiple qualifiers include the 1,500 (4), 5,000, 400 hurdles, pole vault and hammer (3), and high jump, shot put and discus (2). First-year women’s qualifying newcomers include junior transfers Sofie Abildtrup, (100/200/400), Bree Fuqua (shot put, discus) and Katie Kersh (hammer) and veteran junior Taylor Bryant (1,500), sophomores Sara Schaaf (800, 1,500), Haripurkh Khalsa (5,000), Whitney Gum (shot put, hammer) and Megan Kriz (hammer), and freshmen Amanda Santana (400 hurdles) and Emily Enders (pole vault). At the regional level, 14 women have accounted for 17 marks in 12 of 19 events (200, 400, 800, 5,000, 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, high jump, pole vault (2), triple jump, shot put, discus (2), hammer (3), javelin).
AT THE HELM: Duck Head Coach Martin Smith Profile.
In 2004, sixth-year men’s head coach Martin Smith added 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 ? and second-place efforts in 2002 and 2004. 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), 17 individual Pac-10 crowns (including three in 2004), 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.
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 Shine 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).
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 (13th 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).
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 USA CHAMPS REVIEW: Holliday Wins Trip to Paris.
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 PAC-10 REVIEW: Ducks Combine for 4 Wins & 1 Duck Record.
LOS ANGELES (5/17-18/03) - In the 73rd and 17th annual Pacific-10 Conference Championships last year, 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 a USC 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 (131-130) 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 (dec., 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).
Trackwire NCAA Predictions
Gary Verigin’s Trackwire 25 projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring in injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA-qualfying competitions across the country. This projection is generated by scoring the Dandy Dozen, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event. More info is available at the www.trackwire.com website.
Trackwire Women’s NCAA Team Predictions
1. UCLA, 64
2. LSU, 57
3. Texas, 56
4. Arkansas, 44
5. Nebraska, 41
6. Georgia, 33
7. Tennessee, 30
8. South Carolina, 29
9. USC, 26
10. Miami, 23
11. Florida, 22
12. Mississippi State, 20
13. North Carolina, 19
14. Northern Arizona, 18
15. Texas A&M, 17
16. Stanford, 15
=17. Cal Poly, 14
=17. Florida State, 14
=17. Alabama, 14
=20. Kansas State, 13
=20. Georgia Tech, 13
=22. San Diego State, 12
=22. BYU, 12
=24. Penn State, 11
=24. Auburn, 11
UO Women’s Individual Top-12 Predictions
Pole Vault - Kirsten Larwin, 10th
Javelin - Sarah Malone, 2nd
Trackwire Men’s NCAA Team Predictions
1. Arkansas, 74
2. Auburn, 43
3. LSU, 42
4. Florida, 34
5. Ohio State, 31
6. Nebraska, 30
=7. UCLA, 28
=7. Baylor, 28
=7. Arizona State, 28
10. TCU, 24
=11. SMU, 22
=11. Stanford, 22
13. USC, 20
=14. Tennessee, 19
=14. Texas, 19
=14. Indiana, 19
17. Arizona, 18
=18. Texas Tech, 16
=18. Wisconsin, 16
=18. Middle Tennessee, 16
=21. Georgia, 15
=21. Minnesota, 15
23. Oregon, 12
24. Virginia Tech, 11
=25. Texas A&M, 10
=25. Eastern Michigan, 10
=25. Penn, 10
UO Men’s Individual Top-12 Predictions
110H - Eric Mitchum, 7th
4x400 - 7th
Pole Vault - Tommy Skipper, 2nd
Online Track & Field Resources
UO Athletics: www.GoDucks.com
Pacific-10 Conference: www.pac-10.org
NCAA Championships: www.ncaasports.com
NCAA Outdoor Host: www.TexasSports.com
NCAA: www.ncaa.org
USATF Oregon: www.usatf-oregon.org
USA Track and Field: www.usatf.org
USOC: www.olympic-usa.org
IAAF: www.iaaf.org
High School T&F Info: www.dyestat.com
Oregon Track Club: www.oregontrackclub.com
Prefontaine Classic: www.preclassic.com
Olympic Trials: www.sacsports.com
Olympics: www.athens2004.com
World Rankings: www.tilastopaja.net
Runner’s World: www.runnersworld.com
Trackwire: www.trackwire.com
Collegiate Track Results: www.trackshark.com
T&F News: www.trackandfieldnews.com
