Men's Track Leads NCAA Indoor Champs
In first-day action in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the Randal Tyson Track Center, the University of Oregon men’s track and field team found itself atop the team standings with a school record 20 points, ahead of Arkansas (second, 19), Wisconsin (third, 16) and Arizona State and Florida (fourth-tied, 15).
Individually, the Duck men capitalized on three All-America honors among their four men’s appearances in event finals courtesy of Tommy Skipper (pole vault, first), Leonidas Watson (long jump, fourth) and Eric Mitchum (60 hurdles, fourth) and also advanced two individual to Saturday’s final day prelims in the 400. Junior Ryan Voge also survived an ankle sprain early in the heptathlon to finish the first day one place behind his pre-meet seed (10th, 2,863 points).
The Ducks are assured of a best-ever NCAA tally, and have totaled previous double-digit scoring efforts in 2002 (9th, 15 points) and 2004 (18th, 13 points).
On the women’s side, Oregon’s lone’s entrant in the meet, redshirt senior Laura Harmon made her NCAA indoor debut in the 5,000 meters (15th, 17:24.21). Team-wise on the women’s side, top-ranked Tennessee (first, 21), held a slim advantage over Texas (second, 19), Miami (third, 14), Stanford (fourth, 12) and Florida and BYU (fifth-tied, 11).
Individually for the UO men, sophomore and returning NCAA indoor runner-up Tommy Skipper defended his top-seed status in the pole vault with his second NCAA title and first on the indoor circuit.
The Sandy, Ore. Native opened the day with passes at the first three heights of 16-10 3/4, 17-4 1/2 and 17-8 1/2, then followed with a second-attempt clearance at 18-0 1/2 and a first-attempt clearance at 18-4 1/2. He then went up to 5.80m (19-0 1/4) but missed his three tries at the bar that was five centimeters and two inches below the collegiate and meet record set by Jacob Davis of Texas in 1999.
Following Skipper, Nebraska junior Ray Scotten followed in second place (18-0 1/2), and edged Air Force senior Paul Gensic (third, 18-0 1/2) and Oklahoma sophomore Scott Martin (fourth, 18-0 1/2) on fewer misses
“Anytime you’re fortunate enough to win an NCAA title, the credit mostly belongs to the people who got you there,” Skipper said. “I have such wonderful coaches in Mark (Vanderville) and Rock (Light) and the team is so supportive, too. This was a good field, and I felt a lot of stress and expectations coming in. Coach told me to relax and just do what we’ve been working on in practice. Credit goes to my family, too, who have been there every step of the way and were here again cheering me on.”
During the regular season, Skipper led the collegiate ranks with his NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 18-6 3/4 in the Husky Classic in mid-February in Seattle (2/12), and had cleared 18-4 or better in two other indoor meets.
“My technique certainly needed some work today,” Skipper said. “This track runway is so fast, and the crowd is so supportive that it can throw you off on your approach. At 19 feet I had two great tries even though I was getting too close on my steps ? I was hoping to be 14 feet back from the pit and I was closer to 13. Other than that at the lower heights, my takeoff was pretty good. My left arm wasn’t very straight, but I did have good head position and was looking up like I was supposed to.”
Friday’s collegiate final capped a busy indoor slate that featured four straight meets on consecutive weekends to end the season, including a runner-up finish in the USA Indoor Championships in Boston (18-2 1/2) behind last year’s NCAA indoor champ and now post-collegian Brad Walker (18-6 1/2).
“I’m a little fatigued, but also very thankful that I have had the chance to compete at several good meets,” Skipper said. “There are times you want to work on things you can only fix in a meet setting, and I was able to get a little rhythm in that process the past month.”
Also in the event Friday, Duck redshirt junior Jon Derby made his NCAA debut but suffered a no-height at the opening height of 16-10 3/4 (5.15m). The North Bend, Ore., native claimed an NCAA invite thanks to his 9 1/4-inch personal best last weekend in the University of Washington Last Chance Qualifier (17-6 1/2) that seeded him in a tie at 14th nationally on the collegiate season best list. Derby also climbed to fifth all-time for UO indoors on its all-time list with that mark, and passed ahead of Jay Davis (sixth, 17-4 1/2)
Coming into the meet, UCLA’s Yoo Kim trailed Skipper on the collegiate list in second place with a season best of 18-4 1/2 but took 10th Friday (17-4 1/2). Other Pac-10 finishers in the 17-man field included ASU sophomore Brandon Glenn (seventh, 17-8 1/2) and Washington State and sophomore Tyson Byers (10th, 17-4 1/2).
Skipper has now finished top-two in his first three NCAA Championships appearances in the pole vault after he won the 2004 NCAA outdoor crown (18-8 1/4) and finished second indoors last March (18-4 1/2). He alaso owns half of the Ducks’ collegiate pole vault titles, with the other two outdoor wins held by George Rasmussen (14-0, 1947; 14-0, 1948).
The Ducks nearly added another victory in the long jump as senior Leonidas Watson moved into the lead in the third round of the prelims when he tied his personal best (25-11 7.90m), and held the lead through much of the next 1 1/2 rounds of action. However, three jumpers ultimately passed him as he finished fourth (25-11) in an event that featured aa top four with leaps of 25-11 or better.
While Watson assumed the lead at the end of his second preliminary flight, Arizona State’s Trevell Quinley moved ahead of Watson by one inch in the fifth round with his leap of 26-0 (7.92m). In the sixth round, Indiana’s top-seeded Aarik Wilson passed both with a two-inch indoor personal best of 26-9 3/4 (8.17m), while Texas A&M’s Fabrice LaPierre edged ahead of Watson on his last attempt with a 3/4-inch better second-best mark of the day.
Since both Watson and LaPierre owned daily bests of 25-11 from their third and first preliminary leaps, respectively, Watson held an advantage prior with a better second leap (25-10, 7.87m) ? a mark that LaPierre bettered by two centimeters and 3/4 inch on his final try. Watson ended the competition with his sixth +25-foot leap of the day (25-2 1/2) but did not improve.
Regardless of the tight 2-3-4 finish that was separated by an inch, Watson could claim satisfaction with his best long jump series ever and his mark follow in order ? preliminary attempts of 25-10 (7.87m), 25-6 3/4 (7.79m) and 25-11 (7.90m), and final attempts of 25-4 (7.72m), 25-4 3/4 (7.74m) and 25-2 1/2 (7.68m).
Coming into the meet, Watson had led the national collegiate rankings at the end February with his indoor school record (25-11) that won the Mountain Pacific Championships in Seattle (2/25). Wilson moved ahead on the national rankings the ensuing and final weekend of the season in a last-chance meet (26-7 3/4) and LaPierre had led much of the prior regular season.
“I had my best series ever, but it’s still a little disappointing to be so close to winning,” Watson said. “I tried not to get too excited because this is a good field. When they had the big jumps, it didn’t faze me, because it made me want to jump further, too. My speed was on today, and I feel great and really healthy.”
The second-year Duck and former junior college national champion Watson claimed his second indoor All-America honor in the long jump - and UO’s only awards in the indoor NCAA event - after he took ninth last year in Fayetteville (25-2 1/2). The St. Louis, Mo. native also owns the Duck indoor record in the triple jump (52-10 1/4) from last season.
Oregon claimed its third top-four finish Friday courtesy of junior Eric Mitchum in the 60 hurdles who ran a .01-second season best (fourth, 7.73). Returning champ Antwon Hicks, a senior at Ole Miss, defended his title (7.64), ahead of Florida’s Josh Walker (second, 7.66) and South Carolina’s Jason Richardson (third, 7.70).
Mitchum qualified for the final earlier in the afternoon with the fifth-fastest time (7.74) of the prelims which were led by Florida’s Josh Walker (7.69). The Calumet City, Ill., native Mitchum entered the meet seeded in two-way tie for fifth nationally with a season best of 7.74.
The Ducks’ indoor and outdoor high hurdle school record holder (7.69/13.38) has run his UO bests in last year’s NCAA 60 and 110 hurdles prelims and finals, respectively, and placed fifth and second in each event’s final for All-America nods in each.
In other sprint action, a pair of Ducks advanced through the opening round of the 400. Senior Kedar Inico and junior Matt Scherer ranked fifth and sixth overall among Friday’s sections with times of 46.56 and 46.61, respectively. Florida sophomore Kerron Clement, the top seed coming in with a season best of 45.29, led Friday’s prelims (46.05), ahead of Arkansas senior Terry Gatson (46.22) and LSU junior Kelly Willie (46.44).
Scherer entered the meet seeded second thanks to his personal best and school record in last weekend’s NCAA Last Chance Qualifier in Ames, Iowa (45.95), while Inico was seeded 12th with his clocking of 46.41 from the same meet.
Redshirt junior decathlete Ryan Voge also saw duty Friday in the first half of the second annual heptathlon and ranks 10th with a tally of 2,863 points ? not bad for an NCAA debut that was almost thwarted by a twisted ankle in his warm-ups for the long jump ? the second of four first-day events.
The Hillsboro, Ore., native opened with a time of 7.50 in the 60, and came back with a third-attempt long jump best and near-season best of 22-4 1/4 after opening attempts of 15-11 and 20-11 1/2. He followed with another near season-best in the shot put (40-3 1/2), and cleared 6-4 3/4 in the high jump ? obviously still effected by his ankle in an event he scored fifth in the 2004 Pac-10 Championships.
Voge entered the meet seeded ninth nationally with a season best and NCAA provisional score of 5,445 points, and owned the following prior season individual heptathlon season bests - 60 (7.34), long jump (22-6 1/4), shot put (40-6) and high jump (6-7 1/2) ? to go along with a first-day best total of 2,995 points from the Mountain Pacific Championships in Seattle at the end of May.
Overall in the event, top-seeded senior Maurice Smith of Auburn leads by 40 points (3,352) over the Texas duo of Donovan Kilmartin (second, 3,312) and Trey Hardee (third, 3,281).
On the women’s side, redshirt senior Laura Harmon placed 15th in the 16-woman 5,000 meters (17:24.21) in her third race of the season at the distance. The Vancouver, Wash., native matched her pre-meet seed Friday which was based on her season best and NCAA provisional mark of 16:18.56 which she ran in mid-February in the Husky Classic in Seattle. Harmon also bettered the NCAA provisional mark of 16:40.00 in the UW Invitational at January’s end (16:29.17).
Overall in the 5,000, Northern Arizona’s Ida Nilsson surged to the lead in the final kilometer to win by two seconds (15:50.20) over Columbia’s Caroline Bierbaum (second, 15:52.53) and Wake Forest’s Annie Bersagel (third, 15:56.97)
Looking ahead to Saturday’s final day action, the Ducks have two entries in the nine-man men’s 400 final (Matt Scherer, Kedar Inico), Eric Logsdon in the men’s 3,000, Ryan Voge in the men's heptathlon and the men’s 4x400 relay.
More NCAA Championships meet info is available at the www.NCAAsports.com , www.HogWired.com and www.LadyBacks.com websites.
