Oregon Preview Meet Preview - University of Oregon Athletics

EUGENE - A day after the conclusion of winter term final exams, the Oregon track and field teams open the outdoor season in their annual home opener, the Oregon Preview, Saturday, March 19.

The University of Oregon’s Hayward Field will welcome a mix of area collegiate and post-collegiate talent in a nearly complete event afternoon schedule.

Based on this week's tentative entries, the following are a list of key performers to watch.

11:30 am - Women’s Hammer

Track City USA’s newest immigrant, former UCLA All-American Cari Soong, headlines the first event of the new season in the ball and chain. The 2004 Bruin graduate took 19^th in the Olympic Trials last summer, a month after she took fifth in the NCAA Outdoor Champs in Austin (211-3) ? her third top-five NCAA hammer finish and fourth All-America honor (she also placed eighth in ’00, fourth in ’02 and fifth in’03). On the U.S. season bests lists in 2004 she ranked 15^th in the U.S. with a season best of 213-5, while her PR of 216-3 dates back to 2003. Junior newcomer and Duck redshirt Britney Henry will compete at Hayward Field for the first time. The Spokane, Wash., native and LSU transfer arrives with the Bayou Bengals’ school record from last summer (207-9) ? a mark that ranked her 19^th in the U.S. in 2004. She competed as a freshman at Southeast Louisiana in 2003, so she is required by the NCAA to redshirt this season since she is a two-time transfer.

11:35 am - Men’s Javelin

Portland State’s Jordan Senn took 10^th (202-7) in the West Regional in 2004, and ranked tops nationally among freshman last year on the collegiate season best list (25^th overall, 222-11). Oregon junior newcomer and Central Arizona JC transfer Matt Adams was an area All-American last year and owns a best of 199-10, while freshman Brian Wuethrich was a four-time state scorer for North Bend High School in the javelin, including three, top-three finishes in 2004 (first, 194-6), 2003 (second, 182-3) and 2001 (third, 176-2).

12:05 pm - Women’s Long Jump

Portland State junior Kerry-Ann Blackwood took fifth in the Big Sky meet in 2004. Oregon junior and newcomer Lauryn Jordan owns an outdoor best of 19-10 and was a former conference champion at San Joaquin Delta CC in 2004 (19-8). Indoors in ’05, Jordan broke the Oregon school indoor record (19-11 1/2).

12:55 pm - Women’s Javelin

Duck redshirt senior and school record holder Sarah Malone joins forces with fellow All-America vet and junior Elisa Crumley for the first time since 2003. Malone upped her school record by five inches last year in the Texas Relays to 179-7 (54.74m), and is a two-time All-American and a three-time NCAA qualifier with trips in 2004 (third, 178-1), 2002 (14^th, 155-4) and 2001 (seventh, 164-9). Crumley, a native of Hillsboro, Ore., redshirted last season and was an All-American the two seasons before in the NCAA Championships (12^th in 2002; 13^th in 2003). Her personal best of 169-7 (51.70m) from the 2002 Mt. SAC Relays ranks second in school history behind Malone.

1 pm - Men’s Hammer

Former Duck two-time Pac-10 champ and Adam Kriz returns for his second post-collegiate campaign. Last year he ranked 20th in the U.S. with a season best of 223-2 from his Oregon Invitational win ? more than two feet better than his Duck best of 221-3 that still ranks him fifth all-time for UO. Team XO club teammate Justin Carvalho was a former NCAA qualifier himself as a senior in1997 for Cal State Sacramento. He owned season bests past the 220-foot line in 2000 (220-9) and 2001 (227-10), and +215-foot season bests in 1999 (216-8) and 2002 (217-5). Duck senior Paul Etter was an NCAA qualifier in 2004 (24th, 193-8), thanks to his fifth-place West Regional finish (193-0). The second-year Duck and Clackamas transfer owned a 2004 season best of 199-0 from the Oregon Invitational and ended campaign barely two feet from the UO all-time top-10 list (10th is 202-1).

1:15 pm - Women’s High Jump

Portland senior Julie Elliott claimed All-America honors last weekend in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas (10^th, 5-10 3/4) ? only a half-inch off her indoor school record from earlier in 2005. She also appeared in the 2004 NCAA outdoor finale in the heptathlon (23^rd, 4,905). Oregon redshirt senior Rachael (Kriz) Wallace, a native of Toledo, Ore., is a two-time Pac-10 scorer (fifth in 2004, seventh in ?02), and is tied for eighth all-time for the Ducks with her 2004 personal best of 5-8.

1:55 pm - Women’s Triple Jump

Team XO’s Simidele Adeagbo was an All-American at Kentucky in the NCAA outdoor triple jump in 2002 (eighth) and 2003 (sixth). She ranked 26^th in the U.S. in 2004 (43-3 1/4), while her slightly-better personal best of 43-5 dates back to ’04 for the Wildcats ? the same year she popped her wind-aided best of 44-0 1/2w. She competed in the 2004 Olympic Trials last summer and ranked 12^th in the finals (42-0 3/4) and prelims (42-7 1/2).

2:20 pm - Women’s Discus

Duck redshirt senior Bree Fuqua steps into the ring for her first meet of 2005 after she completed her indoor eligibility in 2004. The second-year Duck was a West Regional qualifier in ’04 and took fifth in last year’s Pac-10 Champs (162-2). She owns a personal best of 165-7 from her freshman season at Wisconsin, and her Duck best of 164-1 won the 2004 Oregon Invitational and left her less than three feet from UO’s all-time top-10 list (10^th is 166-9) .

2:35 pm ? Men’s 110 Hurdles

Junior A.K. Ikwuakor was an NCAA qualifier in his first season as a Duck in 2004 (23^rd, PR 14.09). The Arvada, Colo., native also finished top-five in the Pac-10 (third, 14.26) and West Regional (fifth, then-PR 14.13), and ranks 10^th all-time for the Ducks with his PR from the NCAA finale last June in Austin.

2:40 pm - Men’s High Jump

A pair of former Duck Pac-10 champs and Team XO post-grads return to their cozy confines of Hayward Field. In 2004, Jason Boness competed in his second Olympic Trials (18^th-prelims, 7-0 1/2), after he jumped a season best 7-3 1/4 in a July all-comers meet at Hayward Field. Boness broke the UO school record with his winning 7-5 leap in the Pac-10 Championships at Hayward Field in 2000. Kyley Johnson was a three-time top-three Pac-10 finisher and four-time league scorer in 1998 (first, 7-0 1/2), 1999 (third, 6-10 3/4), 2000 (seventh, 6-9) and 2002 (third, 7-0 1/2).

3 pm ? Men’s 100

Junior and first-year Duck Richard Del Rincon makes his outdoor debut for the Ducks. His wind-legal 100 and 200 personal bests of 10.40 and 20.87 would have placed top-five in both the Pac-10 and West Regional Championships in 2004. Indoors as a Duck in 2005, his 60 dash season best of 6.73 seconds was only .01 seconds off the NCAA provisional standard (6.72).

3:10 pm - Men’s 800

Willamette junior Nick Symmonds has won a pair of national titles in the 800 (2003, ’04) and 1,500 (2003) and also won the Oregon Twilight Bill McChesney, Jr. Memorial Twilight Mile in 2003 (4:03.85).

3:30 pm - Men’s 400 Hurdles

First-year post-collegian and former Duck Brandon Holliday ranks sixth all-time in Duck history with last year’s personal best of 50.52. The Beaverton, Ore., native was a two-time NCAA qualifier (24^th, 2003; 21^st, 2004) and two-time top-five West Regional and Pac-10 placer, including the league champion in 2002.

3:32 pm - Women’s Shot Put

Redshirt junior Bree Fuqua climbed to #2 for the Ducks in the shot put last season with her personal best from the West Regional (fourth, 52-8 3/4) that also earned her an NCAA invite (24^th, 49-5).

3:40 pm ? Men’s 200

Junior and first-year Duck Richard Del Rincon returns 40 minutes after his outdoor debut for the Ducks in the 100 to toe the line in the deuce. His pre-Duck wind-legal 100 and 200 personal bests of 10.40 and 20.87 would hypothetically rank seventh and sixth in school history. Indoors as a Duck in 2005, he ran the 200 twice in late January and early February and ran times of 21.59 and 21.53.

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