Skipper Tabbed Pac-10 Men's Newcomer of the Year
EUGENE - The Pacific-10 Conference announced that University of Oregon freshman Tommy Skipper was tabbed Men’s Track and Field Newcomer of the Year by a recent vote of league head coaches.
The 6-2 native of Sandy, Ore., was rewarded for a record-setting stretch run that began when he helped the Ducks nab second in the Pac-10 Championships team race with his wins in the pole vault (his then-second highest outdoor mark of 18-3 1/4, 5.57m) and decathlon (NCAA automatic 7,589, and #8 all-time for UO). Simultaneously as he won the pole vault the first day of the meet, he added a fifth-place finish in the javelin with a personal best (215-2) after he took only two throws.
Two weeks later at May’s end, he took the lead on the collegiate outdoor season best list with his school and Pac-10 record vault in the West Regional (18-10 1/4, 5.75m). In the NCAA final in mid-June, he defended his top seed status in the pole vault (first, 18-8 1/4), and claimed Oregon’s third NCAA event win in school history and first since 1937. Skipper’s 10 points helped UO to ninth place as a team with 27 points - tops in the Pac-10 - as the Ducks featured five All-Americans among their 13 entrants. Last weekend he competed against many of the world’s best in the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Eugene, and matched his pre-meet seed with his third-highest outdoor career vault (eighth, 18-4 1/2).
Overall in the 2004 outdoor season, he has competed in the pole vault in nine meets and cleared 18-3 or better in the last four and 17-5 in all of them (not including the NCAA prelims which stopped at 17-4 1/2, 5.30m). Only two other collegiate vaulters cleared 18-4 or better during the regular season - Nebraska’s Eshbach (18-8 1/2), and Cal State Fullerton’s Giovanni Lannaro (third, 18-4 1/2).
Skipper now looks forward to the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif., with the event prelims slated for Friday, July 9 at 3:30 pm PT, and the event final on Sunday, July 11 at 1:15 pm PT. Heading into last week’s Pre Classic he ranked sixth in the U.S. and eighth in the world based on his West Regional season best of 18-10 1/4.
Among other men’s honors announced by Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen, Arizona sophomore Robert Cheseret was named Athlete of the Year after he scored a hat trick of wins in the Pac-10 Championships (1500 - 3:43.50; 5000 - 14:09.37; 10,000 - 30:24.84), then won the NCAA 5,000 (13:49.85) two weeks ago in Austin, Texas and added second place in the 10,000 (29:26.51).
On the women’s side, UCLA senior Sheena Johnson won Athlete of the Year after she won Pac-10 titles in the 100 hurdles (12.79) and 400 hurdles (55.45). In the Austin collegiate finale, she helped the Bruins to the national title with a win and collegiate record in the 400 hurdles (53.54) and also took third in the 100 hurdles (12.75).
Women’s Newcomer of the Year accolades went to ASU freshman Jacquelyn Johnson who claimed heptathlon titles in the Pac-10 (5,603) and NCAA Championships (5,807). In the league showdown, she added a Pac-10 title in the high jump (5-9 3/4) and took eighth in the 100 hurdles (13.88) and 12th in the long jump (18-1 1/2).
Coach of the Year honors were awarded to UCLA’s Art Venegas (men) and Jeanette Bolden (women) after their teams won Pac-10 team crowns. It was the first men’s coaching honor for Venegas who guided the Bruins to their first Pac-10 title since 1998 with 143 points. Bolden claimed her eighth straight honor and her 10th in the last 11 years as the UCLA won its eighth consecutive conference title (174.5) with the second-highest point total in meet history. The UCLA women added their third NCAA title in mid-June and posted 69 points to edge LSU by one point.
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