Andrus Nabs 10th in NCAA Heptathlon in NCAA Second Day
AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Oregon men’s and women’s teams continued action under much fairer skies, 85 degrees and 5-10 mph breezes in second-day duty Thursday in the NCAA Track and Field Championships at the Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas.
On the men’s side, freshman Tommy Skipper successfully advanced in the prelims of the pole vault and was one of 15 vaulters to clear the final height of 17-4 1/2 (5.30m). The nation’s top-ranked pole vaulter passed at the opening heights of 16-4 3/4 (5.00m) and 16-10 3/4 (5.15m), then opened at the final qualifying height and made his second try.
Skipper entered the meet as the collegiate season leader with his school and Pac-10 record of 18-10 1/4 from the West Regional two weeks ago. That mark moved Skipper ahead of Nebraska senior Eric Eshbach who vaulted 18-8 1/4 in mid-April and also advanced Thursday.
Skipper is one of three Pac-10 vaulters and four from the region that advanced to Saturday’s final at 6:45 pm CT. UCLA qualified junior Yoo Kim and senior Pat Luke, and Cal State Fullerton senior Giovanni Lanaro also advanced. Breaking down the 26-man field, 15 cleared 17-4 1/2 (5.30m) to advance, while among the 11 non-advancers, seven made 16-10 3/4 (5.15m), two others only cleared 16-4 3/4 (5.00m), and two others no-heighted.
Later in the afternoon, sophomore Eric Mitchum advanced in the 110 hurdles semis with the seventh-fastest time (13.54w, w:2.2) in the 27-man field. The Calumet City, Ill., native entered the meet seeded third overall with a windy season best of 13.50w (w:3.0) from the same track in early April’s Texas Relays, and also had run a wind-legal school record of 13.53 in April in the Mt. SAC Relays in Los Angeles.
"I was a little worried whether I would get in with all the fast times," Mitchum said. "It was a great day to race so yesterday’s rain delay was a distant memory. Things often find a way to work out on their own, so I’m glad to advance. I’ll be ready to give it my all in the final."
In the same event, sophomore AK Ikwuakor ran a .04-season best and also lowered his personal best by .01 seconds with his effort from the first of the three prelims (eighth-heat / 23rd overall, 14.09, w: 2.0). The Arvada, Colo., native entered the meet seeded 26th (14.13) with his prior season best from the West Regional in which he placed fifth. His .04-second season best also moved him onto the Duck all-time list at 10th ahead of Romund Howard (14.14, 1986) and just behind Dwight Robertson (ninth, 14.07).
Ikwuakor joined the Ducks this year as a transfer from Colorado, and ran his prior best of 14.10 in the 2003 Big 10 Championships, also run at Austin, Texas, and had broken 14.25 in the last five races of the season starting with the Pac-10 Champs prelims. He also added fifth in the Pac-10 Champs final (14.16) in mid-May to open the championship slate.
After Wednesday’s rain-shortened opening day, the hurdles’ opening round was eliminated and Thursday’s round was converted to a semifinal with the top time from each of the three races, and six more time-based runners advancing to Friday’s final. The ninth and final spot went to an impressive clocking of 13.55w (w:2.2) as only five runners had run that fast this season before the meet.
Florida sophomore Josh Walker led Thursday’s field by .05 seconds (13.42, w:2.0), and edged top-seeded Ohio State senior Joel Brown (second, 13.47, w:1.7) and Mississippi junior and indoor 60-hurdle champ Antwon Hicks (second, 13.47, w:1.7). The finalist will be held Friday at 9 pm CT.
Also in the sprints, the Ducks’ 4x400 relay advanced to Saturday’s finale with their second-fastest time ever and ranked second in the third of three heats (3:03.73) and sixth overall. The combo included legs by sophomore Travis Anderson to senior Brandon Holliday to junior Kedar Inico to anchor and sophomore Matt Scherer.
Scherer helped the Ducks edge league rivals UCLA for the third time in four weeks as UCLA’s anchor Craig Everhart (a 44.89 open 400 meter runner already this season) made matters close in the last half of the final leg, but Scherer held on to a one-meter edge at the end. The Sumner, Ill., native Scherer showed even more commitment to the team’s welfare before the meet by opting not to run the open 400, even though he ranked 20th nationally with a season best of 45.95 and finished fourth in the West Regional.
"I could kind of hear him coming," Scherer said, "and was looking for his shadow to the side, but never saw it. This was a very important race for us (after we ran in the prelims last year, but didn’t advance), and everyone did their part for the team."
Top-seeded Baylor was less than a second off their season best en route to first place in the third heat (3:1.87) just ahead of the Ducks, and the Bears also ranked first overall in the 18-team field. UCLA also advanced to the final (third - third heat, 3:04.09) with the seventh-fastest time overall.
The Duck 4x400 unit clocked their third sub-3:04 effort of the season after running a school record in the Pac-10 finale (3:03.49) and duplicating a runner-up finish in the recent West Regional finale (3:03.93). The same UO unit entered the meet Thursday seeded sixth nationally with their Pac-10 mark which bettered their previous school record of 3:06.54 from February this 2004 indoor campaign.
Redshirt junior Brett Holts also advanced to Saturday’s steeplechase final and ranked 11th overall in the 26-man field and sixth in his first of two heats (8:53.38). The Bend, Ore., native started out conservatively near 10th place in his 13-man race before moving up progressively in the last three laps, and was awarded one of the four time-based advancers to the final.
Holts entered the meet seeded 13th with a season best of 8:44.57 from the Cardinal Invitational at the end of April, and earned an at-large national invite after he took 11th in the West Regional two weeks ago. Holts’s NCAA appearance was his second after he did not advance out of the prelims last season (22nd, 8:54.07).
Overall in the event, national leader Aaron Fisher of Ohio State won the first section (8:46.99) and led qualifiers by .78 seconds. NC State’s Andy Smith (second, 8:47.77) and Boston’s Jochen Dieckfoss (third, 8:49.04) followed with similar placings in the first heat and also overall. Stanford’s Ian Dobson won the second race (8:56.61) over Weber State’s Kenneth Richardson (second, 8:58.34) and Eastern Michigan’s Jordan Desilets (fourth, 8:59.72).
In the men’s hammer, junior Paul Etter ranked 24th in the 27-man prelims with a daily best of 193-8 - three places better than his pre-meet seeding. The Everett, Wash., native opened with a throw of 187-7 (57.18m), then followed with his daily best on his second throw 193-8 (59.04m), then added a 191-5 (58.35m) mark on his third attempt.
Overall in the event Thursday, Georgia senior Lucais MacKay (221-3) led qualifying by seven inches, over Purdue senior Keith McBride (second, 220-8) and Ohio State’s Dan Taylor (218-5). The top 12 from Thursday advance to Saturday’s final at 4 pm CT.
Breaking down Etter’s first Duck season, he just missed a spot on the school all-time top-10 list with his season best of 199-0 from the Oregon Invite - barely two feet shy of 10th placer and former Duck Nick Anastassiades (202-1, 1991). Etter also topped the 190 foot line for the sixth time Thursday in as many meets, with his NCAA mark his fourth-best of the season.
In the men’s high jump, the duo of sophomores Jeff Lindsey (15th, 7-0 1/4) and Teddy Davis (25th, 6-9) cleared heights but did not advance through the 27-man prelim to Saturday’s final.
Lindsey needed three attempts to clear 6-9 (2.06m), cleared 6-10 3/4 (2.10m) on his second try, needed three attempts at 7-0 1/4 (2.14m) before missing his three tries at 7-1 1/2 (2.17m). Davis opened with a second attempt clearance at 6-9 (2.06m) before missing three tries at 6-10 3/4 (2.10m).
The Mansfield, Texas native Lindsey entered the meet on a roll with clearances of 6-10 3/4 or better in the last seven meets, including seven-foot efforts in the Pepsi Team Invite (first, 7-1 3/4), Oregon Invite (7-0 1/2), and West Regional (third-tie, 7-1). Lindsey was also a Pac-10 scorer in his meet debut in 2004 with another near seven-foot make (fourth, 6-11 3/4).
Davis relied on a different route for his NCAA appearance and shook off no-heights in May in the Oregon Twilight and Pac-10 Champs to tie Lindsey for third two weeks ago in the West Regional (7-1) with a 3/4-inch personal best - eight places better than his pre-meet regional seed (11th).
Overall in the event Thursday, 14 individuals cleared a height of 7-1 1/2 to advance to Saturday’s final at 7 pm CT. The group of qualifiers included national leader Cedric Norman who cleared 7-6 earlier this year, and well as the remainder of the nation’s top six season leaders.
In the Ducks’ lone men’s event final, redshirt senior Ryan Andrus was forced to drop out of the muggy and windy 10,000 in the last 3K apparently due to dehyrdration according to team sources. The Orem, Utah native entered the meet seeded with 10th nationally with a personal best of 28:56.67 from April’s Mt. SAC Relays that ranked him eighth all-time for the Ducks.
Thursday’s 10K marked his third NCAA appearance on the track after he claimed All-America honors in the 5,000 indoors in March 2004 for his seventh-place finish. He also ran the 10,000 in 2003 in the Sacramento-hosted event and missed another All-America honor by one place and one second (13th, 29:11.04). In cross country, he was tabbed an All-America in 2002 (34th) and just missed honors again in 2003 (51st).
On the women’s side, the Ducks’ lone event final saw senior heptathlete Abby Andrus take 10th (5,257) with her third-highest total ever in the 26-woman field. The Peoria, Ariz., native climbed three spots on the final day after ending the first day 13th, and was only 31 points shy of eight place and the final scorer.
Andrus posted second-day marks Thursday of 18-8 in the long jump (5.69m) for 756 points, 109-6 in the javelin (33.38m) for 541 points, and 2:21.61 in the 800 for 802 points.
Her long jump mark was almost a three-inch personal best, her javelin mark that came on her third try was less than 10 feet shy of her hep best of 118-4, and her 800 mark was barely 1 1/2 seconds off her season best and winning time from the Pac-10 Champs (2:18.48). Her second day total of 2,099 points was less than 100 points shy of her all-time second-day best of 2,195 points from the 2003 NCAA Championships when she placed 18th.
Equally impressive was her endurance from a Wednesday rain delay in which the four opening events took almost 12 hours to complete because of an almost eight-hour rain delay from 1:30-9:15 pm CT.
"I felt pretty good this morning (considering we got done at almost 1 am last night)," Andrus said. "Even though I fouled my first long jump, I still felt confident because Coach (Light) and I have straightened out my approach, and my last two attempts were within a centimeter of each other. The javelin needed to go better but didn’t. The 800 was tough for everybody - we were all pretty fatigued. It was nice to have Jacquelyn (Johnson, ASU) and Brooke (Meredith, Cal) around and doing well, because it raises your confidence level."
Andrus also made an NCAA appearance this season in the indoor pentathlon in mid-March (16th, 3,075) after she ranked 11th nationally with a personal best of 3,908 points from the first week of March. All-time for the Ducks she ranks fifth in the heptathlon with her personal best of 5,325 from the her third-place Pac-10 finish a month ago in Tucson, Ariz. The second-year Duck also ranks fifth all-time for UO in the 400 hurdles with her third-place time from the Pac-10 Champs in mid-May (59.29), and seventh in the 100 hurdles (14.00, 2003).
"I’m not surprised by how much I improved the past two years," Andrus said, "and wish I would have scored more. I give a lot of credit to the two wonderful coaches I had as a Duck. I’ll look back fondly on a lot of great teammates and meets, especially the Pac-10 Champs last month. I was a part of a special team, and I’m proud of what we accomplished."
Overall in the heptathlon, Pac-10 champ and ASU freshman Jacquelyn Johnson (first, 5,807) upset returning NCAA champion Hyleas Fountain of Georgia (second, 5,785), and Nebraska’s Andrea Pressley and Cal’s Brooke Meredith followed in fourth (5,586) and fifth place (5,442), respectively. Fountain entered the meet as the top seed by nearly 200 points with a season best of 6,033 points, ahead of JaNelle Wright (second, 5,615) and ASU’s Johnson (third, 5,603) on the national season best list.
In the shot put prelims, redshirt junior Bree Fuqua ranked 24th in the 29-woman field (49-5) with her daily best on her first throw, followed by two fouls. The Polson, Mont., native entered the meet seeded 23rd overall with her personal best from the West Regional two weeks ago (52-8 3/4).
Although she failed to advance to Saturday’s final, she capped a strong debut season for the Ducks after she transferred from Wisconsin. Her regional personal best two weeks ago was almost a 1 1/2-foot season best and moved her to second all-time for the Ducks behind Quenna Beasley (53-1 1/2), and also rewrote her former outdoor best of 51-5 1/2 that stands as a Wisconsin school record. She was equally on par in the discus in 2004 as she led the Ducks with a season best of 164-1 from the Oregon Invite that paced the squad by more than two feet.
Overall in the event Thursday, Nebraska’s Becky Breisch led the prelims by 3 1/4 inches (58-7 1/4), ahead of North Carolina’s top seeded Laura Gerraughty (58-4) and Stanford’s Jillian Camarena (third, 57-1 1/2).
Looking ahead to Friday’s action, Duck competitors include decathletes Andy Young and Gabriel LeMay (1:30 pm CT), the pole vault duo of Kirsten Larwin and Emily Enders (6:30 pm CT), All-America junior Sarah Malone in the javelin final (8:15 pm CT), All-America 110 hurdler Eric Mitchum in the 110 hurdles final (9 pm CT) and 400 hurdler Brandon Holliday in his prelims (9:50 pm CT).
Full meet results and a revised schedule are available at the www.TexasSports.com and www.NCAAsports.com websites.
SECOND DAY FINAL RESULTS
NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Mike A. Myers Stadium
University of Texas
Austin, Texas
Thursday, June 10, 2004
MEN’S RESULTS
Steeplechase Prelims - (only the qualifiers for Saturday’s final are listed) - Heat 1 - 1, Aaron Fisher, Ohio State, 8:46.99. 2, Andy Smith, NC State, 8:47.77. 3, Jochen Dieckfoss, Boston, 8:49.04. 4, Brian Olinger, Ohio State, 8:52.87. 5, Steve Zieminsiki, Florida, 8:53.04. 7, Mark Floreani, Texas, 8:59.04. 8, Danie Parker, Florida (9:02.23). Heat 2 - 1, Ian Dobson, Stanford, 8:56.61. 2, Kenneth Richardson, Weber State, 8:58.34. 3, Soeren Lindner, SMU, 8:58.75. 4, Jordan Desilets, Eastern Michigan, 8:59.72. 5, Mate Nemeth, Memphis, 9:00.75. 6, Matt Adams, BYU, 9:01.17. 6, Matt Adams, BYU, 9:01.17.
10,000 Final _ 1, Alistair Cragg, Arkansas, 29:22.43. 2, Robert Cheseret, Arizona, 29:26.51. 3, Simon Bairu, Wisconsin, 29:57.24. 4, Matt Gonzales, New Mexico, 29:58.05. 5, Chad Pearson, N.C. State, 29:58.13. 6, Ryan Sheehan, St. Francis_Penn., 30:08.68. 7, Joe McAlister, Iona, 30:11.93. 8, Gavin Thompson, E. Michigan, 30:12.26. 9, Travis Laird, N. Arizona, 30:16.42. 10, Tim Nelson, Wisconsin, 30:17.38. 11, Bobby Lockhart, Wisconsin, 30:19.26. 12, Jason Sandfoft, Arkansas, 30:28.80. DNF _ Ryan Andrus, Oregon (26 total runners).
110 Hurdles - (only the qualifiers for Saturday’s final are listed) - Heat 1 - w:2.0 - 1, Josh Walker, Florida, 13.42. 2, Montrell Person, Georgia Tech, 13.53. 3, David Payne, Cincinnati, 13.53. Heat 2 - w:2.2 - 1, Richard Phillips, George Mason, 13.51w. 2, Eric Mitchum, Oregon, 13.54w. 3, Aries Merritt, Tennessee, 13.55w. Heat 3 - w:1.7 - 1, Antwon Hicks, Ole Miss, 13.47. 2, Joel Brown, Ohio State, 13.47. 3, Michael Thomas, Arkansas, 13.54.
High Jump Prelims - 14 qualifiers that all cleared 7-1 1/2. 15th-t, Jeff Lindsey, Oregon, 7-0 1/4. 25, Teddy Davis, Oregon, 6-9.
Pole Vault Prelims - 15 qualifiers that all cleared 17-4 1/2, including Tommy Skipper, Oregon.
4x400 Prelims - (only the qualifiers for Saturday’s final are listed) - Heat 1 - 1, Arizona State, 3:02.73. 2, Missippi State, 3:03.42. 3, Seton Hall, 3:04.65. Heat 2 - 1, LSU, 3:02.30. 2, Minnesota, 3:03.35. 3, Florida, 3:04.50. Heat 4 - 1, Baylor, 3:01.87. 2, Oregon, 3:03.73. 3, UCLA, 3:04.09.
Hammer - (only the qualifiers for Saturday’s final are listed) - 1, Lucais MacKay, Georgia, 221-3. 2, Keith McBride, Purdue, 220-8. 3, Dan Taylor, Ohio State, 218-5. 4, Spyridon Jullien, Virginia Tech, 218-1. 5, Thomas Freeman, Manhattan, 214-5. 6, Jerome Bortoluzzi, SMU, 212-3. 7, Adam Hamilton, Iowa, 208-11. 8, Colton Hodge, Auburn, 208-0. 9, Oleksandr Lutsenko, SMU, 207-9. 10, Michael Murray, USC, 207-0. 11, Jake Dunkleberger, Miami-Ohio, 206-8. 12, Dan Ames, UCLA, 205-11. 24, Paul Etter, Oregon, 193-8.
WOMEN’S RESULTS
Shot Put Prelims (only finalists and UO competitors listed) - 1, Becky Breisch, Nebraska, 58-7 1/4. 2, Laura Gerraughty, North Carolina, 58-4. 3, Jillian Camarena, Stanford, 57-1 1/2. 4, Tiffany Bunton, Texas State, 55-8 1/2. 5, Kim Barrett, Florida, 55-2 1/4. 6, Kamaiya Warren, UCLA, 55-1. 7, Janae Strickland, Missouri, 54-4 1/2. 8, Zaraq Northover, Northeastern, 54-1. 9, Chandra Brewer, S. Florida, 53-11 3/4. 10, Jessica Cosby, UCLA, 53-7 1/2. 11, L’Orangerie Crawford, USC, 53-5 3/4. 12, Aubrey Martin, Western Illinois, 53-5. 24, Bree Fuqua, Oregon, 49-5.
Heptathlon _ 1, Jacquelyn Johnson, ASU, 5,807. 2, Hyleas Fountain, Georgia, 5,785. 3, Ashley Selig, Nebraska, 5,587. 4, Andrea Pressley, Jacksonville, 5,586. 5, Brooke Meredith, Cal, 5,442. 6, Jose Hahn, Vanderbilt, 5,349. 7, Ryanne Dupree, Texas-San Antonio, 5,317. 8, JaNelle Wright, Kansas State, 5,288. 9, Sara Jane Baker, Nebraska, 5,2363. 10, Abby Andrus, Oregon, 5,257. 11, Jessica Stockard, Missouri, 5,256. 12, Lela Nelson, Eastern Michigan, 5,246. (26 finishers total).
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