Track Teams Return Home for West Regional
EUGENE - The Ducks look forward to the second of three stops in their championship season this weekend in Track City USA with the West Regional Championships at Hayward Field, Fri.-Sat., May 27-28 ? one of four regionals held simultaneously across the nation (others are in New York City, Bloomington, Ind., and Norman, Okla).
The top five finishers from each individual regional event and the top three relays earn automatic invites to the NCAA Championships, Wed.-Sat., June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif.
The following Monday, May 30, another 4-8 individuals per event and several relays will be added by the NCAA Championships Committee to fill out the 24-28 individual event fields. Monday's at-large qualifiers must have finished sixth, seventh or eighth in their regional this weekend and are selected in order of season bests.
Heading into the regional, the Duck men have qualified 20 individuals and both relays among 18 of the 19 events, and the UO women have 15 individual qualifiers (while the 10,000 and heptathlon/decathlon are not contested).
The Duck men return three individual West Regional champions ? junior Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, 2004) and sophomores Jordan Kent (200, 2003) and Tommy Skipper (pole vault, 2004), while redshirt senior Sarah Malone won the women’s javelin crown last season.
Looking ahead to the NCAA Championships, three Ducks are already looking forward to a trip to Sacto. Freshman Galen Rupp met the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 10,000 (29:00.00) with his U.S. junior record in the Oregon Twilight at Hayward Field on Sat., May 7 (first, 28:15.52). Two other Duck NCAA provisional qualifiers - junior Andy Young (15th, decathlon) and Lauryn Jordan (22nd, heptathlon) ? look to have strong enough NCAA provisional scores from their recent Pac-10 finishes (second/fourth) to earn NCAA invites.
Two weekends ago in Los Angeles at UCLA, the Duck men won their second team crown in three years with their highest ever Pac-10 point tally (152), and edged UCLA (second, 134 1/2), Arizona State (third, 122), USC (fourth, 106) and Washington (fifth, 75 1/2). The Duck women took seventh with their highest point total (68) since 1998, and trailed Stanford (first, 173), UCLA (second, 125), Arizona State (third, 118), USC (fourth, 99), California (fifth, 82) and Washington State (sixth, 74 1/2).
Individually, 21 of the Ducks’ 24-man roster scored in 18 of the 21 conference events, including two champions ? Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles) and Kedar Inico (400). The UO women spotlighted the first Pac-10 javelin win for redshirt senior Sarah Malone after three prior runner-up finishes.
MEET INFORMATION
Meet: NCAA West Regional Championships (Third Annual)
Location: Hayward Field, University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
Schools: D1 schools from Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah
Dates: Friday-Saturday, May 27-28
Scoring: 1st (10), 2nd (8), 3rd (6), 4th (5), 5th (4), 6th (3), 7th (2), 8th (1).
Results Websites: www.NCAAsports.com / www.GoDucks.com
Fri. First Field Event: Noon - M Discus
Fri. First Last Running Event: 4 pm - W 4x100 prelims
Fri. Last Running Event: 8:15 pm - M 5,000
Sat. First Field Event: 11 am - W Discus
Sat. First Running Event: 2:45 pm - W 4x100
Sat. Last Running Event: 6:20 pm - M 4x400
All-Session Ticket Prices
Reserved: $20.00
Adult General Admission: $15.00
College Student (with college ID)/Child/
Senior GA: $10.00
Single Session Ticket Prices
Reserved: $12.00
Adult General Admission: $10.00
College Student (with college ID)/
Child/Senior GA: $6.00
Group GA (10 or more): $ 4.00
UO Women’s Pronunciation Key: Sofie Abildtrup (ah-BUILD-trup), Elisa Crumley (ah-LIS-ah CRUM-lee), Bree Fuqua (few-QUAY), Kayla Mellott (KAY-lah mel-LOT), Sara Schaaf (SHOFF)
UO Men’s Pronunciation Key: Kyle Alcorn (AL-corn), Richard Del Rincon (DELL RIHN-con), Paul Etter (EHT-er), AK Ikwuakor (ih-KWALK-kor), Kedar Inico (kih-DAR in-IH-coe), Lars Mueller Laursen (LARS MEW-ler LAR-son), Eric Logsdon (LOGS-don), Galen Rupp (GAY-lun), Leonidas Watson (lee-oh-NIE-dus)
REGIONAL WOMEN’S PREVIEW
Women’s event leaders include NCAA indoor 60 hurdles champ Virginia Powell of USC (100, 11.15; 100 hurdles, 12.75), Pac-10 meet 400 record holder Monique Henderson of UCLA (200, 22.86; 400, 50.91), Chloe Jarvis of Cal (800, 2:04.53), Iryna Vashchuk of USC (1,500, 4:16.02), Katy Trotter (steeple, 10:18.15) and Sara Bei of Stanford (5,000, 15:41.57), Christine Spence of UNLV (400 hurdles, 57.30), USC’s 4x100 (43.66) and 4x400 relays (3:33.78), Sharon Day of Cal Poly (high jump, 6-2 3/4), returning NCAA pole vault champion Chelsea Johnson of UCLA (14-1 1/4), NCAA indoor pentathlon runner-up Amy Menlove of BYU (long jump, 21-4 3/4), NCAA indoor triple jump runner-up Erica McLain of Stanford (45-2 1/2), Pac-10 hammer record holder Jessica Cosby of UCLA (shot put, 57-10; hammer, 217-5), Ilona Rutjes of Arizona (discus, 189-9) and Neely Falgout of Boise State (javelin, 180-1).
REGIONAL MEN’S PREVIEW
Men’s event leaders include James McSwain of Washington State (100, 10.19), Marvin Anderson of USC (200, 20.35), Domenik Peterson of ASU (400, 45.15), Pac-10 1,500 champion Jon Rankin of UCLA (800, 1:47.11), Paul Hoffman of Idaho State (1,500, 3:39.26), Ben Bruce of Cal Poly (steeple, 8:33.70), NCAA indoor 5K champ and outdoor 10K leader Ian Dobson of Stanford (5,000, 13:27.45; 10,000, 27:59.72 (10K is not a regional event)), returning NCAA 110 hurdles runner-up Eric Mitchum of Oregon (13.56), Brandon Johnson of UCLA (400 hurdles, 49.18), ASU’s 4x100 (38.71) and 4x400 (3:02.77) relays, NCAA indoor high jump champ Jesse Williams (7-5 3/4), Robison Pratt of BYU (pole vault, 18-4 1/2), NCAA indoor long jump runner-up Trevell Quinley of Arizona State (long jump, 26-9 1/2), Rodrigo Mendes of BYU (triple jump, 56-0), Sean Shields of Arizona (shot put, 65-7 3/4), Michael Robertson of Stanford (discus, 202-5), and Mattias Jons (hammer, 227-11) and returning NCAA champion Gabriel Wallin (javelin, 248-6) of Boise State.
DUCK WOMEN’S PREVIEW: #2 Seed Malone Will Defend Jav Title.
The Duck women come off their highest Pac-10 tally last weekend (68) since 1998 (84) and featured 13 individuals that netted 16 top-eight finishes in 12 events. On the regional scene, 15 women have combined for 18 marks in 12 events. The javelin stands as UO’s best chance for multiple NCAA invites led by three-time NCAA qualifier, two-time All-American recent Pac-10 champion Sarah Malone (#5 nationally, 177-1). The Newberg, Ore., native raised her school record to 179-7 last year in the Texas Relays and moved to second all-time in Pac-10 history, then added top-three finishes in the 2004 West Regional (first, 173-1), NCAA Champs (third, 178-1) and Olympic Trials (second, 177-11). Another pair of All-Americans that redshirted last year ? redshirt juniors Roslyn Lundeen and Elisa Crumley ? finished top six in the West Regional in 2003 (fourth/third), respectively. The last two meets, Lundeen threw season bests in the Pac-10 Champs (third, 162-8) and Pac-10 heptathlon (159-0) and took eighth in the latter event (452-point hep PR, 4,935). Crumley has been slowed by her recovery from arm surgery last year and owns a season best of 144-10, while her personal best of 179-7 from 2002 ranks second in school history. Oregon’s most versatile athlete, junior Lauryn Jordan, will be in for another busy weekend after she scored in four Pac-10 events in the span of eight days in Los Angeles (high jump, second, two-inch PR 5-10; heptathlon, fourth, 279-point PR/NCAA prov. 5,299; triple jump, fifth, 40-9 1/2, w:0.9; and long jump (eighth, 5 1/2-inch PR 19-9, w:2.0)). The first-year Duck now ranks top-10 all-time for UO in the high jump (fifth, 5-10), long jump (10th, 19-9), triple jump (fourth, 40-11 1/2) and heptathlon (sixth, 5,299). Senior Sofie Abildtrup clocked a 1.11-second season best in the Pac-10 400 prelims (53.48) and placed five positions better than her pre-meet seed in the final (fourth, 54.13). In the 2004 regular season, she also joined the UO all-time charts in the 100 (10th, 12.01) and 200 (23.93), and in 2005 owns outdoor season bests of 24.32 and 53.48 in the 200 and 400, respectively. Redshirt junior Sara Schaaf placed fifth in the Pac-10 800 for the second straight season (2:06.91) two weekends ago. Her 1.61-second season best and .98-second personal best (over her 2:07.89 clocking from the ’04 West Regional) also moved her to 10th on the UO all-time list, and passed Ellen Schmidt (2:07.1, 1977). Senior Kayla Mellott ran a .02-second personal best in the Pac-10 400 hurdles final this year (fourth, 60.13) and ranks seventh all-time for UO, while freshman Kasey Harwood looms just behind on the UO all-time list in eighth (60.73) with her personal best from the Oregon Invitational. In the distances, redshirt senior Laura Harmon repeated eighth in the Pac-10 5,000 for the second straight season in Los Angeles two weeks ago. Last year in Northridge, Calif., in the West Regional (17:21.57), she logged a 13-second personal best (third, 16:33.17) and earned an NCAA invite. She followed with an NCAA invite in cross country in 2004 (All-America 31st) and indoors in the 5,000 in ?05 (15th, 17:24.21-sick). Sophomore pole vaulter Emily Enders leaped a six-inch outdoor season best in the Pac-10 pole vault in L.A. (seventh, 12-11 1/2) and was only 2 3/4 inches off her PR (13-2 1/4) from the 2004 Pac-10 Champs. Last year in the West Regional finale, she tied for fifth (13-1 3/4) with then-teammate Kirsten Larwin and won the tiebreaker to earn an NCAA invite. Redshirt senior Bree Fuqua took fourth in her West Regional shot put debut last year with a then-PR (52-8 3/4) that ranked her second in school history. This year, she moved atop the UO shot put list with her Pepsi Team Invite best (53-11). The Polson, Mont., native was an NCAA qualifier last year (24th, 49-5) and also is 1 foot, four inches from 10th all-time in the discus for the Ducks (165-7 in ?04, 165-4 in ?05). Redshirt junior hammer thrower Brittany Hinchcliffe has upped the school record by more than eight feet this year with a current season best of 199-2 and placed fifth in the league showdown two weeks ago (189-5). She competed Washington State for two seasons prior (2001-02, 02-03), and owned a hammer best of 186-11 from her sophomore season in 2003. Last year as a redshirt in Eugene she threw 200-3 and ranked 29th in the U.S.
DUCK MEN’S PREVIEW: Ducks Will Attack By Land, Air & Sea.
Oregon comes off a conference-leading first or second place finish the last four years, and sports 11 NCAA veterans, including eight individuals that have combined for 12 All-America awards (including two NCAA titles and two more runner-up honors). Looking at regional seedings, returning NCAA 110 hurdle runner-up and junior Eric Mitchum leads the 110 hurdles and repeated as the Pac-10 champion two weeks ago (13.59) and was only .03 seconds off his season best from the Mt. SAC Relays (13.56) that ranks him sixth nationally. The Calumet City, Ill., native is also a 400 hurdles regional qualifier and ran a .68-second season best in the league finale (sixth, 51.47) that was only .20 seconds off his PR from Pac-10s in ’04 (51.27) that ranks him 10th all-time for UO. NCAA indoor pole vault champion Tommy Skipper is on the mend from arthroscopic left knee surgery in March and made his outdoor debut in early May in the Oregon Twilight (first, 17-0 3/4). He tried to boost the team’s scoring in the Pac-10 Champs, but 1 1/2 weeks of practice and tricky wind conditions wreaked havoc on his approach, and he ultimately no-heighted at 17-4 1/2. However, the Sandy, Ore., native still contributed two points to the UO scoring column in the javelin (seventh, 207-3) in his season debut. The repeat Pac-10 javelin scorer took his three throws consecutively since he was competing simultaneously in the pole vault, then skipped his three chances in the final. In March 2005, Skipper won the collegiate indoor pole vault crown (18-4 1/2), then underwent a knee scope soon after to repair a torn meniscus that he competed on in February and March. Last year in the outdoor championship run, he won crowns in the Pac-10 (18-3 1/4), West Regional (Pac-10 and UO record 18-10 1/4) and NCAA (18-8 1/4) Championships. The UO sprint crew tallied 67 points in the Pac-10 affair ? more points than four of the nine Pac-10 teams. Senior Kedar Inico pulled the surprise of the meet for the Ducks with his win and .95-second season best in the 400 (45.61) thanks to a surge in the final 100 past ASU’s Domenik Peterson and UCLA’s Craig Everhart. Inico entered the meet with a prior UO outdoor best of 46.56 and junior college best of 46.30, but ranked second in the prelims with a new best of 45.89, then ran another .28 seconds faster to win the final (45.61). The second-year Duck from Queens, N.Y. moved to third all-time for UO, one place ahead of junior teammate Matt Scherer (45.95 PR from ?04). Scherer added fourth in the league 400 final (46.11) in a season best, while in past regional finales he took fourth in 2003 and 2004. Both sprinters ran on school records in the Pac-10 second day in the 4x100 (39.29, .51-second school record) and 4x400 (3:03.27, .22-second school record). The 4x400 also included lead-off and third legs by Travis Anderson (PR 46.90) and A.K. Ikwuakor (PR 47.59). The latter member has proved the unit’s most improved for the hurdle corps, and has chopped .16 seconds off his preseason 110-hurdle best (14.09) to a current best of 13.93 from the Drake Relays in late April that tied him for sixth all-time at UO. In the 400 hurdles, he has dropped 1.33 seconds off his preseason best (52.32), and now ranks ninth in UO history (50.99), just ahead of Mitchum (10th, 51.27). Two weekends ago in the conference clash, he took third in the 110 hurdles (13.96, w:0.5, .03 seconds off PR) and fifth in the 400 hurdles (PR 50.61), while last year he was fifth in the West Regional and 23rd in the NCAA prelims with a then-PR (14.09). In the distances, a pair of Ducks pulled the 5,000-10,000 double in Los Angeles ? freshman Galen Rupp ( 5K, fourth, 13:57.43 / 10K, 2nd, 29:28.09) and redshirt senior Eric Logsdon (5K, sixth, 14:04.14; 10K, fourth, 29:34.16). In late April, Logsdon posted an eight-second personal best in the 5,000 (fifth, 13:40.21) in the Cardinal Invitational to join the school’s hallowed all-time list at the eight spot. Indoors in ?05, he logged school records in the mile (4:01.86) and 5,000 (13:49.99). Already an All-American twice in the outdoor 5,000 and in cross country, Logsdon added All-America honors in March in the 3,000 (seventh, 8:04.27) after he owned a regular season best (7:54.29) that ranked second in UO history. In previous West Regionals, he took fifth in 2004 and third in ?03. After he joined the squad for spring term in late March, Rupp quickly reeled off a pair of heralded efforts at Hayward Field in the Oregon Invite 5,000 (eighth, 13:50.10-fell at 2K) and Oregon Twilight (10,000, second, NCAA auto. 28:15.52). That latter race broke former Duck Rudy Chapa’s 1976 U.S. junior record (28:32.7) by more than 16 seconds, ranked him third in the U.S. in ?05 and second in the NCAA, and moved him to third all-time for UO behind World Championships vets Bill McChesney Jr. (27:50.82, 1982) and his prep coach Alberto Salazar (28:06.12, 1979). Redshirt senior Brett Holts is a four-time Pac-10 top-five steeplechaser (fifth in ?05, third in ?04, second in ?03, fourth in ?02), and has finished 11th and fifth in the regional in 2004 and ?03, respectively. The Bend, Ore., native Holts was a steeple All-American in 2004 (seventh) and NCAA qualifier in ?03 (22nd-prelim), and also earned All-America honors in cross country in ?02 (43rd). Sophomore Kyle Alcorn won his steeplechase section in the 2004 West Regional (eighth overall, then-PR 8:54.97) and may have challenged for an NCAA invite if he was inserted into the faster section. The Fresno, Calif., area native won the U.S. junior title in College Station, Texas last June (9:10.37), and led Americans in the World Junior Championships in Grossetto, Italy last July (16th-prelims, 8:55.02). Redshirt senior Leonidas Watson ranks top five nationally in the long jump (third) and triple jump (fifth), and his ?05 outdoor bests of 25-10 3/4 and 53-8 1/2 rank seventh and fourth, respectively, in school history. In the recent Pac-10 Champs, he placed third in the long jump (25-0 1/2), then took the lead on his final triple jump effort (PR 53-8 1/2), before he was passed on the next and final attempt of the meet by USC’s former NCAA indoor champion Allen Sims (54-6). Indoors in ?05, Watson led the nation two weeks late in the season with his indoor school record (25-11), that he duplicated in the NCAA indoor finale (fourth, 25-11) ? one inch behind NCAA runner-up Trevell Quinley of ASU (26-0). After he loomed as the team’s most improved player on the basketball court in the Pac-10 slate, redshirt sophomore Jordan Kent rejoined the track and field team in late March. On the long jump runway, he scored in his Pac-10 debut (fifth, 24-3 3/4 ? six inches of season best). On the oval, he moved to seventh and fifth all-time in the UO history books with his first-day efforts in the Pac-10 prelims of the 100 (10.41) and 200 (20.82). On the second day he came back to place fifth in the 100 (10.55, w:-0.1) and anchor the school-record relay, that also included an opening leg by junior Richard Del Rincon. The first-year Duck made things interesting the first day in the Pac-10 meet with ninth-place finishes in the 100 and 200 (10.50/21.10) on UCLA’s Drake Stadium nine-lane track. On the second day, he improved to fourth in the 100 final (10.54) and fifth in the 200 (21.27). After they tied for sixth and eighth in the Pac-10 pole vault, redshirt junior Jon Derby and redshirt sophomore Davis Moore will compete in the West Regional pole vault for the third and second times in their careers, respectively. Derby tied for 18th in the 2003 West Regional, while both no-heighted last year in Northridge. Derby cleared 17-6 1/2 indoors in early March to net an NCAA invite, while Moore was a prep All-American as a senior in 2002. Sophomore Brandon Tower turned in an 11-inch personal best in the Pac-10 discus (ninth, PR 171-7) and missed scoring by one foot, five inches. Senior Paul Etter has added four feet to his personal best in the hammer this season (203-4) and ranks eighth all-time for UO. In the Pac-10 Champs, he ended one place better than his pre-meet seed thanks to his second-best throw ever (second, 201-11). Last year in the West Regional he placed fifth (193-0) and followed with 24th in his NCAA debut (193-8). The Pac-10 javelin field witnessed an auspicious debut by junior Lars Mueller Laursen. The first-year Duck from Copenhagen, Denmark took second (222-2) and took only two throws in his first meet for UO after he arrived shortly before the spring term which started in late March. The former Danish national runner-up arrived with a 2004 personal best of 233-6, but had been slowed the first two months of the season by a slight reocurring back injury. Junior Matt Adams earned his regional invite with a personal best (203-3) from the Pepsi Team Invite in Eugene in early April, and last year was a JC area All-American for Glendale Community College in Arizona.
TENTATIVE MEET SCHEDULE
West Regional Championships
Hayward Field (Oregon), Eugene
Friday-Saturday, May 27-28, 2005
FRI., MAY 27
12:00 M Discus (Brandon Tower, Flt. 2, #7)
12:30 M High Jump (Jeff Lindsey, (#12)
3:00 W Pole Vault (Hannah Moore, #11: Emily Enders, #14)
3:15 W Hammer (Katie Kersh, Flt. 1, #10: Brittany Hinchcliffe, Flt. 2, #3)
3:30 M Javelin (Matt Adams, Flt. 1, #12: Lars Laursen, Flt. 2, #1)
4:00 W 4x100 Prelims
4:15 M 4x100 Prelims (Del Rincon, Scherer, Inico, Kent, Ht. 2, Ln. #7)
4:30 W 1,500 Prelims
4:45 M 1,500 Prelims
5:00 W 100 Hurdles Prelims
5:15 M 110 Hurdles Prelims (Eric Mitchum, Ht. 2, Ln. 2; A.K. Ikwuakor, Ht. 2, Ln. 5)
5:30 W 400 Prelims (Sofie Abildtrup, Ht. 2, Ln. 7)
5:40 M Shot Put
5:45 M 400 Prelims (Matt Scherer, Ht. 1, Ln.4: Kedar Inico, Ht. 2, Ln. 4)
5:50 M Long Jump (Leonidas Watson, Flt. 2, #3)
5:55 W Long Jump“ (Lauryn Jordan, Flt. 1, #3)
6:00 W 100 Prelims
6:15 M 100 Prelims
6:30 W 800 Prelims (Sara Schaaf, Ht. 2, Ln. 5)
6:45 M 800 Prelims (Roderick Dotts, Ht. 2, Ln. 3)
7:05 W 400 Hurdles Prelims (Kayla Mellott, Ht. 1, Ln. 8)
7:20 M 400 Hurdles Prelims (AK Ikwaukor, Ht. 2, #5)
7:35 W 200 Prelims
7:55 W 5,000 (Laura Harmon)
8:15 M 5,000 (Eric Logsdon, Galen Rupp)
SAT., MAY 28
11:00 W Discus (Bree Fuqua, Flt. 1, #10)
12:30 W High Jump (Lauryn Jordan, Flt. 1, #16)
2:30 M Pole Vault (Jon Derby #6, Tommy Skipper, #8, )
2:40 M Hammer (Paul Etter, Flt. 2, #4)
2:45 W 4x100
2:45 W Javelin (Elisa Crumley, Flt. 1, #6; Rachael Wallace, Flt. 2, #3; Roslyn Lundeen, Flt. 3, #9; Sarah Malone, Flt. 3, #11)
2:52 M 4x100 (Del Rincon, Scherer, Inico, Kent)
3:00 W 1,500
3:07 M 1,500
3:15 W 100 Hurdles
3:25 M 110 Hurdles (Mitchum, Ikwuakor)
3:35 W 400 (Abildtrup)
3:42 M 400 (Inico, Scherer)
3:50 W 100
3:57 M 100
4:00 W Shot Put (Bree Fuqua, Flt. 2, #10)
4:05 W 800 (Sara Schaaf)
4:10 W Triple Jump (Lauryn Jordan, Flt. 2, #5)
4:12 M 800
4:15 M Triple Jump (Leonidas Watson, Flt. 2, #4)
4:25 W 400 Hurdles (Kayla Mellott)
4:35 M 400 Hurdles (A.K. Ikwuakor)
4:45 W 200
4:52 M 200 (Jordan Kent, Ln. 8)
5:05 W 3,000 Steeple ***
5:35 M 3,000 Steeple *** (Brett Holts, Ht. 2, #11; Kyle Alcorn, Ht. 2, #16)
6:05 W 4x400 Relay ***
6:20 M 4x400 Relay *** (Ht. 2, Ln. 7)
*** Sections against time
Note: all events finals unless otherwise noted
Oregon West Regional Men’s Rankings
Event - Regional Ranking (NCAA Ranking) - Duck Outdoor Season Best
100- 8th (41st-t), Jordan Kent, 10.41
100- 14th (79th-t), R. Del Rincon, 10.50
200- 7th (33rd), Jordan Kent, 20.82
200- 11th (46th-t), R. Del Rincon, 20.93
200- 15th (74th ), Kedar Inico, 21.08
400- 2nd (8th), Kedar Inico, 45.61
400- 5th (20th), Matt Scherer, 46.11
800- 11th (38th), Roderick Dotts, 1:49.05
1,500- 16th (57th), Kyle Alcorn, 3:45.58c
1,500- 23rd (81st), Eric Logsdon, 3:46.50
Steeple- 8th (19th), Brett Holts, 8:47.12
Steeple - 12th (36th), Kyle Alcorn, 8:53.77
5,000- 5th (11th), Eric Logsdon, 13:40.21
5,000- 10th (22nd), Galen Rupp, 13:50.10
10,000- 2nd (5th), Galen Rupp, 28:15.52 (Non-Regional event)
10,000- 14th (57th), Eric Logsdon, 29:34.16 (Non-Regional event)
110H- 1st (6th), Eric Mitchum, 13.56
110H- 4th (32nd), A.K. Ikwuakor, 13.93
400H- 5th (14th), A.K. Ikwuakor, 50.61
400H- 11th (44th), Eric Mitchum, 51.47
4x100- 4th (8th), 39.29
4x400- 2nd (4th), 3:03.27
HJ- 12th-t (46th-t), Jeff Lindsey, 6-10.75
PV- 10th (30th-t), Tommy Skipper, 17-0.75
PV- 16th-t (55th-t), Jon Derby, 16-6.75
PV- 16th-t (55th-t), Andy Young, 16-6.75
LJ- 2nd (3rd), L. Watson, 25-10.75
LJ- 6th (36th), Jordan Kent, 24-9.5
TJ- 3rd (5th), L. Watson, 52-9.25
DT- 22nd (81st), Brandon Tower, 171-7
HT- 9th (33rd), Paul Etter, 203-4
JT- 6th (16th), Lars Laursen, 222-2
JT- 20th (60th), Tommy Skipper, 207-3
JT- 22nd (77th), Matt Adams, 203-3
Dec.- 2nd (15th), Andy Young, 7,329 (Non-Regional event)
Oregon West Regional Women’s Rankings
Event - Regional Ranking (NCAA Ranking) - Duck Outdoor Season Best
400- 4th (35th), Sofie Abildtrup, 53.48
800- 11th (32nd-t), Sara Schaaf, 2:06.91
5,000- 13th (61st), Laura Harmon, 16:39.37
400H- 10th (56th), Kayla Mellott, 60.13
- 15th (80th), Kasey Harwood, 60.73
HJ- 6th-t (26th-t), Lauryn Jordan, 5-10
PV- 12th-t (35th-t), Emily Enders, 12-11.5
PV- 22nd-t (59th-t), Hannah Moore, 12-5.5
LJ- 13th (76th-t), Lauryn Jordan, 19-9
TJ- 9th (66th-t), Lauryn Jordan, 40-11.5
SP- 5th (16th), Bree Fuqua, 53-11
DT - 13th (44th), Bree Fuqua, 165-4
HT- 4th (17th), B. Hinchcliffe, 199-2
HT- 24th (78th), Katie Kersh, 179-7
JT- 2nd (5th), Sarah Malone, 177-1
JT- 5th (16th), Roslyn Lundeen, 159-0
JT- 20th (63rd), Rachael Wallace, 149-10
JT- 26th (81st), Elisa Crumley, 144-10
Hep.- 7th (22nd), Lauryn Jordan, 5,299 (Non-Regional event)
2005 UO WOMEN’S OUTLOOK: Field Events Again Pace Charge in ?05.
The field events again lead the Oregon women’s charge in 2005 with a trio of double All-Americans back in the javelin ? redshirt juniors Elisa Crumley (12th in ?02, 13th in ?03) and Roslyn Lundeen (seventh in ?02, eighth in ?03) and 2004 Olympic Trials runner-up Sarah Malone (seventh in ?02, third in ?04). The pole vault sports another pair of NCAA veterans in redshirt junior Hannah Moore and sophomore Emily Enders who made NCAA trips indoors and outdoors in ?04, and finished 13th (12-11 1/2) and 15th (12-9 1/2), respectively. Senior Bree Fuqua enjoyed a successful debut campaign for UO in 2004 with an NCAA trip outdoors in the shot put thanks to her then-personal best in the West Regional (fourth, 52-8 3/4) that left her second all-time for the Ducks. She was also a scorer in both the shot put (fourth, 52-5 1/2) and discus (fifth, 162-2) in the Pac-10 Champs. Senior Sofie Abildtrup paced the Ducks in all three sprint events in her debut season in ?04, and ranked top-10 outdoors all-time for UO last year in the 100 (10th, 12.01), 200 (seventh, 23.93) and 400 (third, 52.92), then added an NCAA trip in the 400. Redshirt senior Laura Harmon has made three straight NCAA trips, including invites in the 5,000 indoors in ?05 (15th) and outdoors in ?04 (18th) that book-ended an All-America honor in her NCAA harrier debut in ?04 (31st). Two newcomers in particular expect to challenge for NCAA invites this weekend. Redshirt junior hammer thrower Brittany Hinchcliffe ranked 29th in the U.S. with her 200-3 best as a redshirt in ?04, and junior transfer Lauryn Jordan just missed an NCAA indoors in the pentathlon in ?05 (3,894). The latter addition from San Joaquin Valley Community College arrived with the team’s top preseason PRs in the high jump (5-8 1/2), long jump (19-10) and heptathlon (4,895), and its second-best mark in the triple jump (40-8 1/4) ? while all four marks would have ranked top-10 in school history.
2005 DUCK MEN’S SEASON PREVIEW: UO Flexes Depth Around the Track.
The UO men return after a best-ever sixth-place NCAA indoor finish in March, thanks to a school record nine qualifiers and eight All-America honors ? including another pole vault crown from sophomore pole vaulter Tommy Skipper (18-4 1/2). The Duck sprint and hurdle crew ranks among the nation’s best with a pair of indoor All-American indoors in the 400 in ?05 ? senior Kedar Inico (sixth) and junior Matt Scherer (ninth) ? joined by 2004 NCAA outdoor 110 hurdle runner-up and junior Eric Mitchum, a three-time All-American and school record holder in the 110 hurdles (13.38). The UO 4x400 relay ran school records indoors in ?05 (3:04.17) and outdoors in ’04 (3:03.49), and followed with fifth-place finishes in both NCAA chases. Skipper is the top returning outdoor collegiate pole vaulter with his 2004 Pac-10 record (18-10 1/4) but missed eight weeks of the outdoor slate after left knee surgery in March ? an injury he competed through three indoor meets that included an NCAA win (18-4 1/2) and USA runner-up finish (18-2 1/2). Last year, he won the NCAA outdoor crown (18-8 1/4) and took second indoors (18-4 1/2), and also broke the school indoor record with a mark of 18-8 3/4. Redshirt senior Leonidas Watson has rewritten the school long jump and triple jump indoor records several times the past two seasons. He sports indoor bests of 25-11 and 52-10 1/4, and was an All-American indoors in ?04 (ninth) and ?05 (fourth, PR 25-11). Redshirt seniors Eric Logsdon and Brett Holts have combined for seven All-America honors in cross country and track and field. Logsdon has won three honors in the 5,000 on the oval indoors in ?05 (seventh) and outdoors in ?04 (seventh) and ?03 (eighth) and in cross country in 2003 (29th) and ?02 (41st). This past indoor season in a five-week span, he also sped to school indoor records in the mile (4:01.86) and 5,000 (13:49.99) and moved to #2 in the 3,000 (7:54.29). Holts is a four-time top-five Pac-10 placer in the steeplechase and was an All-American over the NCAA barriers in ?04 (seventh), and in cross country in ?02 (43rd). Senior hammer thrower Paul Etter was an NCAA qualifier in ?04 in the hammer and a top-six placer in his 2004 Pac-10 and West Regional debuts (sixth/fifth). Other Ducks with NCAA experience include redshirt sophomore sprinter Jordan Kent (200, 20th, 2003), junior 110 hurdler A.K. Ikwuakor (110 hurdles, 23rd-prelims, 2004), indoor heptathlon All-American and redshirt junior Ryan Voge (10th, 2005) and redshirt junior decathlete Andy Young (13th, 2004). Top newcomers include junior sprint transfer Richard Del Rincon (100 10.23w-10.40; 200 20.57w-20.87) and freshman Canadian steeplechaser Chris Winter (8:54.94). Recent Danish national javelin runner-up Lars Mueller Laursen (javelin 233-6) joined the team for the spring term, as did freshman distance star and Portland native Galen Rupp ? the U.S. junior record holder for the 3,000 (8:03.57), 5,000 (13:37.91) and 10,000 (28:15.52).
NEWCOMERS TO WATCH: Del Rincon, Hinchcliffe and Jordan Go Green in ?05.
Top Duck women’s newcomers in 2005 include junior and San Joaquin Valley CC transfer Lauryn Jordan (PRs ? heptathlon 5,299, HJ 5-10, LJ 19-11.5-indoors, TJ 40-11.5), redshirt junior and Arizona State transfer Mandi Fitz-Gustafson (1,500 4:37.86, steeple 10:51.81), freshman sprinter Julie Schmidt-Scherer from Copenhagen, Denmark (200 24.45, 400 54.97) and redshirt junior and Washington State transfer Brittany Hinchcliffe (HT 200-3). Other notable women’s newcomers include freshman Kasey Harwood (800 2:12.02-i, 400H 60.73), Katie Leary (1,500 4:36, 3,000 10:00.38), sophomore and Boise State transfer Emily Mathis (800 2:13.98, 1,500 4:39.98), freshman Kalindra McFadden (200 25.00, 100 hurdles 14.64, HJ 5-4.5) and freshman Sarah Pearson (1,500 4:32.85, 3,000 9:56.92). Although she has to redshirt the '05 campaign because of transfer rules, junior Britney Henry has upped her personal best by more than eight feet (217-10) since her arrival last fall in Eugene, and the former LSU school record holder (207-9) was an NCAA and Olympic Trials qualifier in 2004. The men’s newcomer list is headlined by junior sprinter and Grossmont JC transfer Richard Del Rincon (100 10.40-10.23w, 200 20.87-20.57w), junior Danish javelin thrower Lars Mueller Laursen (233-6), freshman and North Vancouver, B.C. native Chris Winter (steeple 8:54.94), and juniors and Lane CC transfers Cody Fleming (decathlon 6,980, DT 154-2) and Brian Bartow (decathlon 6,671, JT 209-0). Other men’s newcomers that will vie for Pac-10 and West Regional invites include junior and Glendale Community College transfer Matt Adams (JT 203-3, DT 156-1) and North Bend, Ore., native Brian Wuethrich (JT 202-0).
DUCK WOMEN’S NEWCOMERS
Ashley Bridenbeck, Fr., Lake Oswego, Ore. - 100 12.1, 200 25.56
Heather Fitz-Gustafson, Fr., The Dalles, Ore. - 800 2:18, 1,500 4:39.43. 3,000 10:27.33
Mandi Fitz-Gustafson, RJr.-TR, The Dalles, Ore. - 800 2:16.9, 1,500 4:37.86, Steeple 10:51.81
Kasey Harwood, Fr., Polson, Mont. - 800 2:12.01, 300H 44.10, 400H 60.73
Britney Henry, Jr.-TR, Spokane, Wash. - HT 217-10, JT 119-0
Brittany Hinchcliffe, RJr.-TR, Olympia, Wash. - HT 200-3, DT 154-11
Lauryn Jordan, Jr.-TR, Stockton, Calif. - HJ 5-10, LJ 19-10, TJ 40-9 1/2, Hep 5,299
Katie Leary, Fr., Klamath Falls, Ore. - 1,500 4:36, 3,000 10:00.38
Emily Mathis, So.-TR, Henley, Ore. - 800 2:13.98, 1,500 4:39.98
Kalindra McFadden, Fr., Bozeman, Mont. - 200 25.00, 100H 14.64, HJ 5-4.5
Sarah Pearson, Fr., Eugene, Ore. - 800 2:15.4, 1,500 4:32.85, 3,000 9:56.92
Irie Searcy, RFr., Portland, Ore. - 100 12.6-h, 200 25.6-h, 400 57.77
Julie Schmidt-Scherer, Fr., Copenhagen, Denmark - 200 24.45, 400 54.97, LJ 18-5 1/4
DUCK MEN’S NEWCOMERS
Matt Adams, Jr.-TR, Chino Valley, Ariz. - JT 203-3, DT 156-1
Brian Bartow, Jr.-TR, Grants Pass, Ore. - Dec. 6,671, JT 209-0
Nick Dalton, Sr.-TR, Clevedon, New Zealand - 1,500 3:50, 3,000 8:30
Richard Del Rincon, Jr.-TR, LaMesa, Calif. - 100 10.40 / 10.23w (w:3.7), 200 20.87 / 20.57w, 400 47.92
Montrell Dunn, Jr., Las Vegas, Nevada - LJ 23-10, TJ 49-7, 49-10w
Cody Fleming, Jr.-TR, Sparks, Nevada - Dec. 6,980, HJ 6-7, DT 154-2
Rob Gillespie, Fr., Eugene, Ore. - 400 49.12, 800 1:53.21
Steve Green, RFr., Malta, Mont. - TJ 46-0-ind, 45-7-hs
Michael Hill, Jr.-TR, Bend, Ore. - HT 169-1
Lars Mueller Laursen, Jr.-TR, Copenhagen, Denmark - JT 233-6
Galen Rupp, Fr., Portland, Ore. - 1,500 3:45.3, Mile 4:01.8, 3,000 8:03.57, 5,000 13:37.91, 10,000 28:15.52
Joel Sauvain, Fr., Canby, Ore. - 1,500 3:58, 3,000 8:44
Pat Swick, Fr., Las Vegas, Nevada - 800 1:59, 1,600 4:22,, 3,200 9:22, 5K 15:04.45
Jacob Tolbert, RFr., San Jose, Calif. - LJ 22-10, TJ 45-9 1/4
Scott Wall, Fr., Portland, Ore. - 3K 8:18.50, Steeple 9:26.89, 5K 14:30.18
Patrick Werhane, RFr., Beaverton, Ore. - 1,500 4:08, 3K 8:34.56, 5K 14:50.46, 10K 30:49.95
Chris Winter, Fr., North Vancouver, B.C. - 1,500 3:52.66, 3,000 8:31.17, Steeple 8:54.94
J.K. Withers, Fr., Santa Rosa, Calif. - 800 1:53.21, 1,600 4:10.7, Mile 4:13.15, 3,000 8:36.17
Brian Wuethrich, Fr., North Bend, Ore. - JT 202-0, SP 56-3 (HS)
PAC-10 MEN’S RECAP: UO Cashes in Victory Thanks to Points from 21 Ducks.
LOS ANGELES (5/14-15/05) ? The Men of Oregon won their fifth Pacific-10 Conference team title by a convincing 17 1/2-point margin over the host UCLA (152-134 1/2) and Arizona State (third, 122). USC followed in fourth place (106), ahead of Washington (fifth, 75 1/2), Stanford (sixth, 66), Arizona (seventh, 65), California (eighth, 60 1/2) and Arizona (ninth, 36). UO claimed both of its titles on the final day courtesy of senior Kedar Inico (400, 45.61 - #3 UO all-time) and junior Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, 13.59, w:0.5). Inico entered the meet ranked fourth with his indoor season best of 46.41, while Mitchum ? the returning Pac-10 champ - led the Pac-10 rankings before the meet with his 13.53 clocking from the Mt. SAC Relays in mid-April. Inico added key legs on school records in the 4x100 (second, 39.29, .61-second school record) and 4x400 relays (second, 3:03.27, .22 seconds faster than their record from the 2004 Pac-10 Champs (3:03.49)). Mitchum also scored in the 400 hurdles (sixth, 51.47) and Sunday’s clocking was a .68-second season best, and only .20 seconds off his PR from Pac-10s in ’04 (51.27). Other final day scoring efforts for the Duck men’s sprinters came from junior Richard Del Rincon (100, fourth, 10.54, w:-0.1 - .04 seconds off season best from Saturday’s prelims (10.50); 200, fifth, 21.27, w:1.4), redshirt sophomore Jordan Kent (100, fifth, 10.55, w:-0.1 - .14 seconds off personal best from prelims (10.41 #7 UO all-time), junior Matt Scherer (400, fourth, 46.11 season best), senior Roderick Dotts (800, sixth, 1:49.05 - 1.41-second Duck best, only .64 seconds off pre-Duck best (1:48.41, ’03)), and junior A.K. Ikwuakor (110 hurdles, third, 13.96, w:0.5 ? second-fastest time of his career; 400 hurdles, fifth, 50.61 ?.28-second PR that moved him up one spot on UO all-time list to eighth). The UO men’s distance troops sealed the win in the penultimate event, the 5,000, courtesy of freshman Galen Rupp (fourth, 13:57.43) who ran most of the race’s second half solo in his final position, and redshirt senior Eric Logdson (sixth, 14:04.14) who moved up several placings in the second two miles of the race. The Canby, Ore., native Logsdon scored for the fourth straight season in the league 5K after he placed top-six in 2004 (fourth, 14:14.86), 2003 (sixth, 14:15.05) and 2002 (fourth, 14:28.30). The evening before in the 10,000, Rupp took second (29:28.09) and Logsdon began his first conference double (fourth, 29:34.16). Eventual winner Robert Cheseret of Arizona (first, 29:16.48) ran on Rupp’s shoulder in the final kilometer before he seized the lead for good with 500 meters remaining en route to a 20-meter win. In the last hour of the meet, redshirt senior Leonidas Watson took the lead in the triple jump with his daily best and 11-inch outdoor PR of 53-8 1/2 on his final jump. However, event favorite and former NCAA indoor champ Allen Sims of USC took the lead one attempt later on the final jump of the meet (54-6). Watson entered the meet seeded second with his prior season best of 52-9 1/4 from the Golden Bear Invite in Berkeley (4/16) and still ranks fourth all-time in UO history, now only 1 1/4 inches behind Gregg Bleakney (53-9 3/4, 1998). The first day in the horizontal jumps, Watson was less than a foot off his season best (third, 25-0 1/2) and Kent was only six inches of his season best his Pac-10 long jump debut (fifth, 24-3 3/4). Other second-day field event points for the Ducks came from junior Jeff Lindsey in the high jump (sixth-tie, 6-10 3/4 ? two-inch outdoor season best), while sophomore discus thrower Brandon Tower (ninth, 171-7) missed the eighth and final scoring spot in the discus by one foot, five inches (173-0). The Ducks capped the first day in first place with 63 1/2 points after eight events, and were followed by Arizona State (second, 49), UCLA (third, 45), California (fourth, 38), and Arizona (fifth, 34). Key first-day scoring efforts included Paul Etter (hammer, second, 201-11), Lars Mueller Laursen (javelin, season debut, regional qualifier and UO #9 all-time 222-2), Brett Holts (steeplechase, fifth, 8:48.84 ? 1 1/2 seconds off his season best), Kyle Alcorn (steeplechase, seventh, 8:56.11 ? 2.33 seconds off personal best) and the pole vault trio of redshirt junior Jon Derby (sixth-tie, season best-tie 16-6 3/4), redshirt sophomore David Moore (eighth-tie, 16-0 3/4) and redshirt junior Andy Young (eighth-tie, 16-0 3/4) who all scored their first Pac-10 points in the event. The Ducks’ lone disappointment came midway through the first day as sophomore Tommy Skipper no-heighted at his opening pole vault bar of 17-4 1/2. The Sandy, Ore., native opened the day two hours earlier with seventh place in the javelin in his season event debut (207-3). His daily best came on his second of three consecutive tries from the prelims since he was also slated to compete simultaneously in the pole vault, and he skipped his three chances in the javelin final to focus on the pole vault. The returning Pac-10, West Regional and NCAA outdoor champion Skipper had missed nine weeks of outdoor competition previous season after he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in mid-March to repair a torn meniscus in the left knee that he competed on in three indoor meets ? including his NCAA title and USA Championships indoor finishes in March and February, respectively. The Pac-10 pole vault record holder (18-10 1/4) had opened his outdoor slate the weekend prior at home in the Oregon Twilight (17-0 3/4), and had been practicing on the outdoor pole vault runway for less than two weeks.
PAC-10 WOMEN’S RECAP: Malone Strikes Gold in Javelin.
LOS ANGELES (5/14-15/05) ? Stanford won its first Pac-10 track and field team title and became only the fourth league school to turn the trick. The Cardinal tallied 173 points to edge returning champion UCLA (second, 125) and Arizona State (third, 118). USC followed in fourth (99), ahead of California (fifth, 82), Washington State (sixth, 74 1/2), Oregon (seventh, 68), Washington (eighth, 42 1/2) and Arizona (ninth, 36). The javelin accounted for almost 1/3 of the Ducks’ points, and was paced by redshirt senior Sarah Malone who won her first Pac-10 javelin women’s title (170-9) after she finished second her three previous appearances. The Ducks featured three other top-nine finishers ? redshirt juniors and All-Americans Roslyn Lundeen (third, 4 foot 8-inch season best 162-8) and Elisa Crumley (ninth, 144-3), and redshirt senior Rachael (Kriz) Wallace (seventh, 4 foot 1 inch personal best 149-10). Junior Lauryn Jordan added another 18 points to the Duck cause, with top-eight efforts in the high jump (second, two-inch PR 5-10), (triple jump, fifth, 40-9 1/2, w:0.9) and long jump (eighth, 5 1/2-inch PR 19-9, w:2.0) and the heptathlon (fourth, 279-point PR 5,299) the week before. The first-year Duck now ranks top-10 all-time for UO in high jump (fifth, 5-10), long jump (10th, 19-9), triple jump (fourth, 40-11 1/2) and heptathlon (sixth, 5,299). Also on the horizontal runway, senior Clarice Hayward-Lee finished three places higher than her triple jump pre-meet seed (ninth, 39-4 1/2, w:0.0), and senior Maegan Traver fouled her three preliminary attempts. On the oval, senior Sofie Abildtrup finished top five in the Pac-10 400 for the second straight year (fourth, 54.13) after she ran a 1.11-second season best in the prelims (fourth, 53.48) that was only .56 seconds off her PR from the ’04 Pac-10 prelims (52.92). The second-year Duck closed the meet as the anchor on the 4x400 relay which ran a 1.01-second season best (fifth, 3:42.09) and matched its pre-meet seeding. Three other Ducks lined up in the 400 prelims and challenged for season bests ? senior Michelle Donovan (400, 10th, 56.71 - .96 seconds from last qualifier and .11 seconds off PR), and freshmen Julie Schmidt-Scherer (400, 11th, 56.85 - .20 seconds off season best) and Irie Searcy (400, 13th, season debut 57.77) ? but failed to advance to the finals. In the 400 hurdles, senior Kayla Mellott lowered her personal best by .02 seconds (fourth, 60.13, 60.24-p), after she entered the meet ranked fifth in the Pac-10 with her personal best of 60.15 from the Oregon Invite (4/23). Freshman Kasey Harwood also ran her first race after an ankle injury in early May and took 12th in the prelims (62.69) Redshirt junior Sara Schaaf paced the distances in the 800 (fifth, 2:06.91, 2:08.81-prelims) with a .98-second personal best in the final that put her 10th on the UO all-time as she passed Ellen Schmidt (2:07.1, 1977). In the 5,000, redshirt senior Magdalena Sandoval led more than five laps in the first 2/3 of the race as she chased a regional qualifier in the +75-degree conditions. She ultimately held on for sixth against the nation’s deepest conference (17:07.66) in her outdoor season 5K debut, but was 15 seconds off the regional standard of 16:52.00. Fellow redshirt senior Laura Harmon moved up during the race to repeat eighth (17:12.64) ? the same place she took in 2004 in Tucson. In the steeple the first day, redshirt junior Mandi Fitz-Gustafson took 14th in her third Pac-10 race and first for the Ducks (11:28.54). In the field events, sophomore Emily Enders leaped a six-inch outdoor season best in the pole vault (seventh, 12-11 1/2) and was only 2 3/4 inches off her PR (13-2 1/4) from the 2004 Pac-10 Champs. The Everett, Wash., native entered the meet ranked in a tie for 18th with her indoor and prior outdoor season best of 12-5 1/2. Redshirt junior Brittany Hinchcliffe took fifth in the hammer (189-5) ? one place below her pre-meet ranking based on her season best and school record of 199-2 from the Pepsi Team Invite. Redshirt senior Katie Kersh followed in ninth (172-0) ? five places better than her pre-meet seeding. Redshirt senior Bree Fuqua notched her second straight top-six finish in the shot put (sixth, 50-9 1/4). The next day in the discus (ninth, 162-6), she was only 2 feet, 10 inches from her season best (165-4).
UO - PACIFIC-10 CONFERENCE CHAMPS RESULTS (5/14-15/05)
Women's Results
400 - 5, Sofie Abildtrup, 54.13 (53.48-p)
400 - 10-p, Michelle Donovan, 56.71
400 - 11-p, Julie Schmidt-Scherer, 56.84
400 - 13-p, Irie Searcy, 57.77
800 - 5, Sara Schaaf, 2:06.91 (2:08.81-p)
Steeple - 14, Mandi Fitz-Gustafson, 11:28.54
5K - 6, Magdalena Sandoval, 17:07.66
5K - 8, Laura Harmon, 17:12.64
400H - 4, Kayla Mellott 60.13 (60.24-p)
400H - 12-p, Kasey Harwood, 62.69
4x100 - DNF
4x400 - 5, Donovan, Harwood, Schaaf, Abildtrup, 3:42.09
HJ - 2, Lauryn Jordan, 1.78m, 5-10
HJ - 9, Rachael (Kriz) Wallace, 1.78m, 5-5
PV - 7, Emily Enders, 3.95m, 12-11.5
PV - NH, Hannah Moore, 3.65m, 11-11.75
LJ - 8, Lauryn Jordan, 6.02m, 19-9 (w:2.0)
TJ - 5, Lauryn Jordan, 12.43m, 40-9.5 (w:0.9)
TJ - 9, Clarice Hayward-Lee, 12.00m, 39-4.5 (0.0)
TJ - F, Maegan Traver
SP - 6, Bree Fuqua, 15.47m, 50-9.25
DT - 9, Bree Fuqua, 49.54m, 162-6
HT - 5, Brittany Hinchcliffe, 57.73m, 189-5
HT - 9, Katie Kersh, 52.43m, 172-0
JT - 1, Sarah Malone, 52.04m, 170-9
JT - 3, Roslyn Lundeen, 49.58m, 162-8
JT - 7, Rachael (Kriz) Wallace, 45.68m, 149-10
JT - 9, Elisa Crumley, 43.97m, 144-3
Hep - 4, Lauryn Jordan, 5,299
Hep - 8, Roslyn Lundeen, 4,935
Men's Results
100 - 4, R. Del Rincon, 10.54, w:-0.1 (10.50, w:-0.3)
100 - 5, J. Kent, 10.55, w:-0.1 (10.41-p, w-0.3)
200 - 5, R. Del Rincon, 21.27 w:1.4 (21.10, w:1.4)
200 - 4-p, Jordan Kent, 20.82 w:-0.5; DNS-Final
400 - 1, Kedar Inico, 45.61 (45.89-p)
400 - 4, Matt Scherer, 46.11 (46.47-p)
800 - 6, Roderick Dotts, 1:49.05 (1:50.78-p)
Steeple - 5, Brett Holts, 8:48.84
Steeple - 7, Kyle Alcorn, 8:56.11
5K - 4, Galen Rupp, 13:57.43
5K - 6, Eric Logsdon, 14:04.14
5K - 15, Kyle Alcorn, 14:33.69
5K - 16, Brett Holts, 14:42.46
10K - 2, Galen Rupp, 29:28.09
10K - 4, Eric Logsdon, 29:34.16
110H - 1, Eric Mitchum, 13.59 w:0.5 (13.69-p, w:0.6)
110H - 3, AK Ikwuakor, 13.96 w:0.5 (14.21-p, w:0.6)
400H - 5, AK Ikwuakor, 50.61 (52.35-p)
400H - 6, Eric Mitchum, 51.47 (52.18-p)
4x100 - 2, Del Rincon, Scherer, Inico, Kent, 39.29
4x400 - 2, Anderson, Inico, Ikwuakor, Scherer, 3:03.27
HJ - 6t, Jeff Lindsey, 2.10m, 6-10.75
HJ - NH, Cody Fleming, 1.95m, 6-4.75
PV - 6t, Jon Derby, 5.05m, 16-6.75
PV - 8t, Andy Young, 4.90m, 16-0.75
PV - 8t, David Moore, 4.90m, 16-0.75
PV - NH, Tommy Skipper
LJ - 3, Leonidas Watson, 7.63m, 25-0.5, nwi
LJ - 5, Jordan Kent, 7.41m, 24-3.75, w:0.0
TJ - 2, Leonidas Watson, 16.37m, 53-8.5, w:1.0
DT - 9, Brandon Tower, 52.30m, 171-7
DT - 18, Cody Fleming, 42.24m, 138-7
HT - 2, Paul Etter, 61.54m, 201-11
JT - 2, Lars Mueller Laursen, 67.71m, 222-2
JT - 7, Tommy Skipper, 63.18m, 207-3
JT - 13, Brian Wuethrich, 57.60m, 189-0
JT - 15, Matt Adams, 56.34m, 184-10
JT - 16, Cody Fleming, 56.25m, 184-6
Dec - 2, Andy Young, 7,165
Dec - 4, Cody Fleming, 6,980
THE ROAD TO SACTO: Explaining the Outdoor Regional System.
In contrast to the indoor season where athletes qualify based on season bests that meet NCAA automatic and provisional qualifying standards, the outdoor season relies on a head-to-head regional system that features four, two-day regionals, drawn in a vertical fashion geographically. This year, Eugene is one of four sites that will host a regional Fri.-Sat., May 27-28, and regional qualifying standards are based on the 100th best performance nationally from 2004 (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 individual regional event and top three relay placers automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, nearly two weeks later (June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif.). Besides the automatic advancers from each regional, an additional 4-8 athletes nationally per event are 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 placed top eight in the regional. Coaches hope that the easier regional qualifying standards (compared to previous national automatic/provisional standards) enable 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. The switch to the regional method was made prior to the 2003 season, the same year the championships field sizes were increased approximately 40 percent. Most individual events were previously 18-21 deep with relays inviting 11-12 entries, and 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.
TRACKWIRE NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPS PREDICTIONS
Available online since the 1997 season, the Trackwire 25 has established itself as the most widely respected and reported ranking of Division I collegiate track & field teams. During the collegiate track season, weekly updates are available via email, and free registration is available at www.trackwire.com. The Trackwire 25 is compiled by respected track & field statistician Gary Verigin.
Men’s Top 25 Teams
1. Arkansas, 62
2. Florida, 44
3. Oregon, 43
4. LSU, 41
5. Florida State, 36
=6. Arizona State, 32
=6. Nebraska, 32
8. Stanford, 31
9. Indiana, 30
=10. Arizona, 29
=10. Tennessee, 29
=12. USC, 24
=12. Auburn, 24
14. Wisconsin, 23
=15. UCLA, 22
=15. Mississippi State, 22
17. Texas, 21
18. Texas Tech, 20
19. Georgia, 19
20. Boise State, 18
21. Michigan, 17
22. Virginia Tech, 14
23. BYU, 13
24. Baylor, 12
25. UTEP, 11
UO Men’s Individuals
400 - 4th, Kedar Inico
5K - 11th, Eric Logsdon
10K - 6th, Galen Rupp
110 Hurdles - 3rd, Eric Mitchum
4x400 Relay - 4th
4x400 Relay - 4th
Pole Vault - 1st, Tommy Skipper
Long Jump - 4th, Leonidas Watson
Triple Jump - 5th, Leonidas Watson
Javelin - 9th, Lars Mueller Laursen
Women’s Top 25 Teams
1. Texas, 64
2. South Carolina, 53
3. UCLA, 51
4. Miami, 39
5. Tennessee, 36
6. Stanford, 35
7. Georgia, 30
8. USC, 24
9. Nebraska, 22
10. Washington State, 21
=11. Alabama, 19
=11. Arizona State, 19
=13. Cal Poly, 16
=13. Colorado, 16
=15. Wyoming, 15
=15. North Carolina, 15
=17. Kansas State, 14
=17. Colorado State, 14
=19. Duke, 13
=19. NC State, 13
=21. Arkansas, 12
=21. Baylor, 12
=21. Boise State, 12
=24. Oklahoma State, 11
=24. Texas Southern, 11
UO Women’s Individuals
JT - 3rd, Sarah Malone, UO
2004 REGIONAL RECAP: Skipper Flies to Pac-10 Pole Vault Record.
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Based on top-five finishes in the second annual West Regional Championships at Cal State Northridge, the Duck men and women earned 15 NCAA invites (11M, 4W) against the top teams from the West Coast. Teamwise, the UO men and women placed fourth and ninth with 63 and 29 points, respectively, while UCLA won the men’s and women’s team titles with 141 points each. In the men’s pole vault, Tommy Skipper reassumed the national lead with a Pac-10 record clearance of 18-10 1/4, and won the event by more than a foot over UCLA’s Yoo Kim and BYU’s Robbie Pratt (second-tie, 17-7). Skipper’s mark was an outdoor personal best by seven inches over his previous best set the prior meet in the Pac-10 finale (18-3 1/4). He also broke the former outdoor league record of 18-9 1/4 set by Stanford’s Toby Stevenson in 2000, while only one other Pac-10 vaulter - recent two-time NCAA indoor champion Brad Walker of Washington - has gone higher, albeit indoors (19-1 1/4 in 2003). The Sandy, Ore., native Skipper passed the initial three heights before he opened at 17-3 and needed two attempts to clear. He followed with a first-attempt make at 17-7 to take the lead from UCLA’s Kim. At the next height of 17-11, the three remaining jumpers all missed their first two tries, and Skipper was the only to make his third attempt, thus guaranteeing the victory. At the next bar of 18-3, Skipper cleanly matched his second all-time best outdoor mark (and his prep national record from last year), then again skied over the following height of 18-6 1/2. He made his third straight first attempt, this time at a Pac-10 record of 18-10 1/4 to break the Pac-10 outdoor record, then asked the bar move up to 19-1 1/2 (5.83), but missed his three attempts on his biggest pole in his bag ? one that was arguably too small to adequately clear 19 feet for the first time. In the sprints, five Duck entries automatically advanced to the Austin, Texas collegiate finale ? Matt Scherer (400, fourth, PR 45.95), Eric Mitchum (110 hurdles, first, 13.72), A.K. Ikwuakor (110 hurdles, fifth, then-PR 14.13), Brandon Holliday (400 hurdles, fourth, 51.02) and the 4x400 (second, UO then-No. 2 all-time 3:03.93). In the distances, Kyle Alcorn won the B section of the steeplechase (8:54.97) and his 12-second personal best and even-paced effort was barely three seconds from the fifth and final overall qualifier (8:51.67). In the steeple’s faster section, Brett Holts tried to overcome a slight foot injury and vied for a top-five finish going into the final lap before he eventually ended 10th in his heat and 11th overall (8:58.69). The Bend, Ore., native ran the first mile between 8th-10th places, then progressively moved up three places to a high of fifth on the homestretch heading into the final lap, before he was passed in the final 200-300 meters by several runners. In the 5,000, Eric Logsdon (fifth, 14:13.45) earned a repeat NCAA invite. In the high jump, Jeff Lindsey and Teddy Davis tied for third at 7-1 as Lindsey cleared 7-1 the third time outdoors in 2004, and Davis upped his personal best by 3/4 inches. In the javelin, senior Adam Jenkins took eighth for the second straight season in the regional showdown (210-7). Hammer thrower Paul Etter took the fifth and final event invite (193-0) by three inches over Cal’s Rhuben Williams (sixth, 192-9). On the women’s side, Sarah Malone claimed her third NCAA trip in the javelin and won by six feet, seven inches (173-10) over Washington’s Megan Spriesterbach (second, 167-3) and USC’s Inge Stasiulionyte (third, 166-2). Malone opened with a throw of 164-5 (50.12m) to lead the field by one centimeter after the initial round over Stasliounyte. Malone then improved to 171-10 (52.39m) and 173-10 (52.98m) on her second and third throws then fouled or passed her three throws in the final. In the shot put ring, Bree Fuqua took advantage of a daily best on her first throw (52-8 3/4) to eventually hold on to fourth place. The Polson, Mont., native enjoyed a 3 1/4-inch personal best and her first-ever NCAA invite after registering NCAA provisional marks indoors for the Ducks in 2004, and in years prior for her former Wisconsin squad. In the 5,000, Laura Harmon passed four runners in a 68-second final lap en route to a third-place finish in the 5,000 and a 13-second personal best (16:33.17), rewriting her former best of 16:46.97 from the Stanford Invite in late March. Sara Schaaf ran a personal best in the 800 prelims (2:07.89), and added eighth in the final (2:10.46). In preliminary track action the first day, Sofie Abildtrup ranked 10th in the 400 prelim (54.42) and missed the ninth and final qualifying spot for the final by .41 seconds. Her prelim time was the fourth of the season under 54.50 after she joined the Ducks with a prior personal best of 54.16 as a first-year transfer from Herning, Denmark. The Ducks got one NCAA automatic invite in the pole vault and almost added another as Emily Enders won a jump-off for fifth place with teammate Kirsten Larwin. Enders and Larwin tied at 13-1 3/4 with makes on their second tries at that height. In the ensuing jump-off, Enders cleared 12-5 1/4, while Larwin missed her three chances at that height. The following Monday, Larwin earned an NCAA at-large invite based on her season best of 13-6 1/4 from the Pac-10 Champs.
2003 REGIONAL RECAP: Women’s Jav Trio Nab NCAA Invites.
STANFORD, Calif. (5/30-31/03) ? 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 placed 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 pole vault 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 who 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 in the event finals. 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 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 the then-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 he led 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 first-year 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, then-freshman 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. In the distances, Brett Holts netted 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 then-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) after he ranked fourth in the prelims the day before (1:50.20). 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).
2004 Women’s West Regional Champions
100 - Tonette Dyer, San Diego St, 11.24 (w: 1.0).
200 - Tonette Dyer, San Diego St, 22.91 (w: 0.6).
400 - Monique Henderson, UCLA, 50.65.
800 - Kali Baker, Nevada, 2:04.99.
1,500 - Iryna Vashchuk, USC, 4:12.79.
Steeplechase - Ida Nilsson, N. Arizona, 9:43.25.
5,000 - Sara Bei, Stanford, 16:12.26.
100 Hurdles - Sheena Johnson, UCLA, 12.85 (w: 0.8).
400 Hurdles - Sheena Johnson, UCLA, 54.91.
4x100 - Arizona State (Porchea Carroll, Cassandra Reed, Marcia Smith, Kandace Tucker), 44.35. (44.31-prelims).
4x400 - Arizona State (Marcia Smith, Kandace Tucker, Christina Hardeman, Cassandra Reed), 3:31.44.
High Jump - Sheena Gordon, UCLA, 1.88m, (6-2). (two others jumped 6-2)
Pole Vault - Chelsea Johnson, UCLA, 4.21m, (13-9.75).
Long Jump - Sharifa Jones, Arizona, 6.22m, w:0.9 (20-5).
Triple Jump - Kamila Rywelska, BYU, 13.00m, w:0.6 (42-8).
Shot Put - Jillian Camarena, Stanford, 16.96m, (55-7.75).
Discus - Rachel Varner, Arizona, 57.85m, (189-9).
Hammer - Jessica Cosby, UCLA, 65.46m, (214-9).
Javelin - Sarah Malone, Oregon, 52.98m, (173-10).
2003 Women’s West Regional Champions
100 - Natasha Myers, USC, 11.49 (w:1.7). (11.21-p, w:1.5).
200 - Miya Edmonson, USC, 23.72 (w:-0.4).
400 - Monique Henderson, UCLA, 52.01.
800 - Lena Nilsson, UCLA, 2:04.13.
1,500 - Lena Nilsson, UCLA, 4:19.07.
Steeplechase - Lisa Aguilera, ASU, 9:46.30.
5,000 - Sara Bei, Stanford, 16:06.48.
100 Hurdles - Angela Whyte, Idaho, 13.12 (w:1.4).
400 Hurdles - Sheena Johnson, UCLA, 55.88.
4x100 - ASU, 44.58 (Porchea Carroll, Tiffany Greer, Cassandra Reed, Kandace Tucker). (1st, 44.45-prelims)
4x400 - USC, 3:37.05 (Tunisia Johnson, Tracee Thomas, Aleksandra Pieluzek, N. Johnson)
High Jump - Whit. Evans, WSU, 1.79m (5-10.5). (two others jumped 5-10.5)
Pole Vault - Becky Holliday, Oregon, 4.47m (14-8).
Long Jump - Tiffany Greer, ASU, 6.36m w:2.3 (20-10.5). (top wind-legal final mark - 3, S. Jones, Arizona, 6.16m w:1.9 (20-2.5).
Triple Jump - C. Baucham, UCLA 12.80m w:2.6 42-0w (top wind-legal final mark B. Skinner, WSU, 12.51m w:1.4 41-0.5).
Shot Put - Stephanie Brown, Cal Poly, 17.30m, (56-9.25).
Discus - Mary Etter, Oregon, 54.74m (179-7).
Hammer - Cari Soong, UCLA, 65.92m (216-3).
Javelin - Trina Rogers, Boise State, 53.60m (175-10).
Women’s West Regional Records
100 - Natasha Myers, USC, 11.21-p, w:1.5, 2003
200 - Tonette Dyer, San Diego St, 22.91 (w: 0.6), 2004
400 - Monique Henderson, UCLA, 50.65, 2004.
800 - Lena Nilsson, UCLA, 2:04.13, 2003.
1,500 - Iryna Vashchuk, USC, 4:12.79, 2004.
Steeplechase - Ida Nilsson, N. Arizona, 9:43.25, 2004.
5,000 - Sara Bei, Stanford, 16:06.48, 2003.
100 Hurdles - Sheena Johnson, UCLA, 12.85 (w: 0.8), 2004.
400 Hurdles - Sheena Johnson, UCLA, 54.91, 2004.
4x100 - Arizona State (Porchea Carroll, Cassandra Reed, Marcia Smith, Kandace Tucker), 44.31-prelims, 2004.
4x400 - Arizona State (Marcia Smith, Kandace Tucker, Christina Hardeman, Cassandra Reed), 3:31.44, 2004.
High Jump - Sheena Gordon, UCLA, 1.88m, (6-2), 2004
Pole Vault - Becky Holliday, Oregon, 4.47m (14-8), 2003.
Long Jump - Sharifa Jones, Arizona, 6.22m, w:0.9 (20-5), 2003.
Long Jump (wind-aided)- Tiffany Greer, ASU, 6.36m w:2.3 (20-10.5w), 2003.
Triple Jump - Kamila Rywelska, BYU, 13.00m, w:0.6 (42-8), 2004.
Shot Put - Stephanie Brown, Cal Poly, 17.30m, (56-9.25), 2003.
Discus - Rachel Varner, Arizona, 57.85m, (189-9), 2004.
Hammer - Cari Soong, UCLA, 65.92m (216-3), 2003.
Javelin - Trina Rogers, Boise State, 53.60m (175-10), 2003.
2004 Men’s West Regional Champions
100 - Phillip Frances, USC, 10.41 (w: 0.8).
200 - Wes Felix, USC, 20.78 (w: 0.4).
400 - Craig Everhart, UCLA, 44.89.
800 - Tetlo Emmen, Santa Barbara, 1:50.75.
1,500 - Nathan Robison, BYU, 3:44.64.
Steeplechase - Aaron Aguayo, Arizona St., 8:42.79.
5,000 - Robert Cheseret, Arizona, 14:09.86.
110 Hurdles - Eric Mitchum, Oregon, 13.72 (w: 0.4).
400 Hurdles - Brandon Johnson, UCLA, 49.64.
4x100 -Arizona State (Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo, Lewis Banda), 38.92.
4x400 - Arizona State (Steve Fitch, Seth Amoo, Domenik Peterson, Jason Barton), 3:01.77.
High Jump - Teak Wilburn, California, 2.19m, (7-2.25).
Pole Vault - Tommy Skipper, Oregon, 5.75m, (18-10.25).
Long Jump - Allen Simms, USC, 7.68m, w:1.8 (25-2.5).
Triple Jump - Allen Simms, USC, 16.66m, w:2.2 (54-8w). (top wind-legal jump among final marks - 2, Rodrigo Mendes, BYU, 16.20m, w:1.5 (53-1.75)).
Shot Put - Dan Ames, UCLA, 19.59m, (64-3.25).
Discus - Dan Ames, UCLA, 57.71m, (189-4).
Hammer - Dan Ames, UCLA, 62.92m, (206-5).
Javelin - Doug Lefler, Long Beach, 72.35m, (237-4).
2003 Men’s West Regional Champions
100 - Samie Parker, Oregon 10.25w (w:2.8). (1st-prelim, 10.34, w:1.5).
200 - Jordan Kent, Oregon, 20.99 (w:0.8).
400 - Jason Barton, Arizona State, 46.32.
800 - Raphael Asafo-Agyei, USC, 1:50.05 (1st-prelim, 1:49.27)
1,500 - Grant Robison, Stanford, 3:45.63.
Steeple - Jan Eitel, Idaho, 8:45.49.
5,000 - Louis Luchini, Stanford, 13:45.36.
110 Hurdles - Ryan Wilson, USC, 13.54 (w:-0.9) (prelims-1, Tim Bogdanof, Cal, 13.51, w:1.6)
400 Hurdles - Kyle Erickson, UCLA, 50.14.
4x100 - USC, 40.05 (Gary Jones, Wes Felix, Blake Frazier, Phillip Francis)
4x400 - Stanford, 3:07.23 (Milton Little, Gerren Crochet, Curt Goehring, Nick Sebes)
High Jump - Jeff Midgett, UC Riverside, 2.16m (7-1) (one other cleared 7-1).
Pole Vault - Robison Pratt, BYU, 5.56m (18-2.75)
Long Jump - Juane Armon, UCLA, 7.99m w:0.0 (26-2.75).
Triple Jump - Allen Simms, USC, 16.62m w:1.9 (54-6.5).
Shot Put - Dan Ames, UCLA, 19.49m (63-11.5).
Discus - Dan Ames, UCLA, 59.53m (195-4).
Hammer - Nick Welihozkiy, Stanford, 64.62m (212-0).
Javelin - Rob Minnitti, Boise State, 73.55m (241-4).
Men’s West Regional Records
200 - Wes Felix, USC, 20.78 (w: 0.4), 2004.
400 - Craig Everhart, UCLA, 44.89,2004.
800 - Todd Arnold, Washington, 1:49.45-p, 2004.
1,500 - Nathan Robison, BYU, 3:44.64, 2004.
Steeplechase - Aaron Aguayo, Arizona St., 8:42.79, 2004.
5,000 - Louis Luchini, Stanford, 13:45.36, 2003.
110 Hurdles - Tim Bogdanof, Cal, 13.51-prelims (w:1.6), 2003.
400 Hurdles - 1, Brandon Johnson, UCLA, 49.64, 2004.
4x100 -1, Arizona State (Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo, Lewis Banda), 38.92, 2004.
4x400 - 1, Arizona State (Steve Fitch, Seth Amoo, Domenik Peterson, Jason Barton), 3:01.77, 2004.
High Jump - 1, Teak Wilburn, California, 2.19m, (7-2.25), 2004.
Pole Vault - 1, Tommy Skipper, Oregon, 5.75m, (18-10.25), 2004.
Long Jump - Juane Armon, UCLA, 7.99m w:0.0 (26-2.75). 2003.
Triple Jump- Allen Simms, USC, 16.62m w:1.9 (54-6.5), 2003.
Triple Jump (wind-aided)- 1, Allen Simms, USC, 16.66m, w:2.2 (54-8w), 2004.
Shot Put - 1, Dan Ames, UCLA, 19.59m, (64-3.25), 2004.
Discus - 1, Dan Ames, UCLA, 57.71m, (189-4), 2003.
Hammer - Nick Welihozkiy, Stanford, 64.62m (212-0), 2003.
Javelin - Rob Minnitti, Boise State, 73.55m (241-4), 2003.
COACHING UPDATE: Gray Assumes Interim Director Title.
Outdoors in 2005, the Ducks are under the temporary direction of associate athletic director Gary Gray, who stepped into the role of interim director of track and field after the resignation of former coach Martin Smith on Fri., March 18. Gray serves as the department’s compliance director and also held prior titles of assistant athletic director and director of student services since he joined the staff in 1984. The State Center, Iowa native already oversaw the program as part of his administrative duties, and serves in the same capacity for the cross country and wrestling teams.
TYSON ON BOARD: Former Duck Tabbed Interim Men’s Distance Coach. HAYWARD FIELD PROFILE: Eugene Welcomed its Ninth NCAA Finale in ?01.
After the departure of former head coach Martin Smith, former Duck Pat Tyson joined the team in late March as a men’s volunteer distance coach for the spring season. As a student-athlete, the former walk-on was a two-time NCAA competitor for the Ducks in cross country (33rd in 1971, 54th in ?72) as the squad placed first and third, respectively, those seasons for former coach Bill Dellinger. On the track, Tyson ended his collegiate career in ?73 with top-six rankings for the Ducks in the 3-mile (sixth, 13:37.0) and 6-mile (fourth, 28:34.0). After graduation, he quickly began a 31-year prep coaching career that included a pair of initial stops in Seattle. However, he is best known as the men’s distance mentor at Mead High School in Spokane, Wash, and guided the Panthers to 26 combined individual titles (track and cross country) and 12 state cross country team titles since his arrival in 1986. His harrier teams have ranked top-five nationally seven seasons, and last fall his squad took third in the inaugural Nike Team Nationals in Portland. His seven Footlocker National Championships qualifiers rank third-most of any boy’s program nationally, and include a pair of Mead alum ? Matthew and Micah Davis ? that combined for five All-America honors in track and cross country for UO.
PICKS OF THE PAC-10: Five Current Ducks Have Claimed Weekly Honors.
Redshirt junior Andy Young was tabbed the Pacific-10 Conference Men’s Field Event Athlete of the Week after he won the Oregon Invitational decathlon with an NCAA provisional score of 7,329 points on Thu.-Fri., April 21-22. He notched a season best in eight of the 10 events, and only five collegians had scored higher decathlon totals before last weekend. Young was an NCAA decathlon competitor for the Ducks in 2004 (13th - 3 places higher than his seed), and is a two-time Pac-10 top-five finisher in (third in ’04, fifth in ’03). In 2004, Tommy Skipper took UO’s second honor in the fifth and final edition of the award that season (5/10). The then-freshman from Sandy, Ore., won the conference decathlon title in his collegiate event debut with an NCAA automatic score (7,589) that was 89 points above the NCAA automatic 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 final day 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 of 2004 (4/12), Sofie Abildtrup claimed similar honors for the women’s track category. The Saturday before (4/10/04), 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 in 2003, 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). Another current Duck, Sarah Malone, won an honor in early May 2001 for her javelin school record and Oregon Twilight win (174-0).
2005 NCAA INDOOR M RECAP: Ducks Claim Sixth with Eight All-Americans.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (3/11-12/05) ? In the 41st edition of the NCAA Indoor Men’s Track and Field Championships, the University of Oregon men’s team posted a best-ever sixth-place finish and 29 points, thanks to six top-eight efforts in the Randal Tyson Track Center. Individually, the Duck men claimed eight All-America honors among their nine entries, including their first-ever NCAA indoor crown courtesy of sophomore Tommy Skipper (pole vault, 18-4 1/2). Other men’s All-Americans included senior Leonidas Watson (long jump, fourth, 25-11), junior Eric Mitchum (60 hurdles, fourth, 7.73), the men’s 4x400 relay (fifth, 3:05.26), seniors Kedar Inico (400, sixth, 46.62) and Eric Logsdon (3,000, seventh, 8:04.27), and juniors Matt Scherer (400, ninth, 47.15) and Ryan Voge (heptathlon, 10th, 5,209). The only Duck not to place top-10 was redshirt junior pole vaulter Jon Derby who no-heighted. Their sixth-place team finish was the third top-20 NCAA indoor effort in three years as Oregon took ninth in 2002 and 18th in 2004 with 15 and 13 points, respectively. The Ducks also paced the Pacific-10 Conference in the team results, and were followed by Arizona (10th, 20 points), Arizona State and Stanford (13th-tie, 15 points), USC (22nd, 10), UCLA (25th, 9) and Washington (28th, 7), while California and Washington State did not score. The UO men also led the league in NCAA indoor qualifiers (9), ahead of Arizona State (7), Stanford (5), Arizona (4 entries, 3 athletes), UCLA (3), Washington (2), Washington State (2), California (1) and USC (1). Looking ahead to 2006, the Duck men graduate only three scorers and nine points from 2005’s NCAA indoor meet. Overall in the team race, meet host and favorite Arkansas tallied 56 points to edge Florida (second, 46), Wisconsin (third, 43) and Auburn (fourth, 37).
2005 NCAA INDOOR W RECAP: Harmon Debuts on NCAA Indoor Oval.
Oregon’s lone women’s NCAA indoor representative, 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 the first day 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 16:45.00 in the UW Invitational at January’s end (16:29.17). Harmon followed the lead of teammate Magdalena Sandoval who made UO’s first-ever NCAA women’s indoor 5,000 appearance in 2004, and NCAA automatic qualifier with her school record (16:04.40) and a contender for All-America honors until the final kilometer when she faded from seventh to 17th because of a pre-race injury. In the 23rd edition of the NCAA women’s team race, Tennessee won its first NCAA crown with 46 points and became the seventh different school to win the indoor team title. Florida followed in second place (36), ahead of Miami (third, 32), Nebraska (fourth, 29) and South Carolina (fifth, 28).
ALL-AMERICA EQUATION: Breaking down the NCAA Honor.
Based on their NCAA Champs performances, individuals are awarded All-America honors 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 marks in the preceding qualifying round if there are not eight Americans in the event’s final.
2004 OLYMPIC TRIALS REVIEW: Malone Takes Second in Javelin.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (7/9-18/04) ? In the 2004 U.S. finale last July at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium, Sarah Malone claimed UO’s highest placing of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. The Newberg, Ore., native Malone took second in the 12-woman javelin final (Sun., 7/12) with a daily best of 177-11 (54.22m) on her final throw, and was edged only by American record holder and Nike entrant Kim Kreiner (first, 182-7). Her top-three Olympic Trials finish was the first step towards qualifying for the U.S. team for the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece (8/20-29). However, she fell short in subsequent attempts to meet the Olympic ?A’ qualifying standard of 198-5 (60.50 meters) by August 8. At the end of the season, she ranked sixth in the U.S. and 95th in the world with her Texas Relays school record (179-7) from April. Malone made her second Olympic Trials trip after she competed as a prep for Newberg High School in Sacramento in 2000 (eighth-flight, 156-11, 47.84m) ? the same year she ranked third among preps and 38th in the U.S. (Prep implement 172-0). On the men’s side, Eric Mitchum placed seventh in the first of two 110 hurdles semifinals and ranked 14th among the 16 finishers with his clocking of 13.53 (w:0.6) ? his second fastest-ever wind-legal time and third best overall (13.38-NCAA, 13.50w-Texas Relays). Former Duck Micah Harris also competed in the same race on the meet’s final day and ranked eighth in the section and 15th overall among the two races (13.55). Among collegians, Mitchum ranked third in the semifinal results behind Ohio State’s Joel Brown (ninth, 13.39, w:1.6) and Ole Miss’s Antwon Hicks (11th, 13.45, w:0.6). Mitchum ran two rounds the day prior on Saturday (7/17), and clocked times of 13.67 in both the prelims (third-fourth heat, ninth overall, w:-0.8) and quarterfinals (fourth-third heat, 14th overall, w:-1.1). Going into the meet, Mitchum tied for 11th with Harris on the 2004 U.S. season best list in the 110 hurdles with his NCAA runner-up time and school record from mid-June in Austin, Texas (13.38, w:1.2). Looking back over ?04, Mitchum ran 15 sub-14.00 clockings in 16 races overall, including 10 efforts that were faster than his preseason best of 13.73 that ranked him second in school history heading into ?04 behind former UO record holder Harris (13.67, 2002). On the opening event of the opening day of the meet, freshman Tommy Skipper just missed advancing to the pole vault final (Fri., 7/9). The Sandy, Ore., native needed three attempts to clear the opening height of 17-8 1/2, then missed his three tries at 18-0 1/2. The event’s youngest competitor, Skipper tied for 14th overall, and if he would have cleared 17-8 1/2 on one of his first two tries he would have qualified for the 12-man final. The prelims marks were all noticeably hampered by a steady to strong crosswind from right-to-left that caused havoc to many approaches in the short, one-minute window for each attempt. One victim was American record holder Jeff Hartwig who no-heighted at his opening bars at 18-0 1/2. Skipper entered the meet ranked 10th in the U.S. on the 2004 best list that included seven Americans that had cleared 19 feet indoors and outdoors.
ONLINE TRACK RESOURCES
UO Athletics: www.GoDucks.com
Pacific-10 Conference: www.pac-10.org
NCAA Champs: www.ncaasports.com
NCAA Outdoor Host: www.HornetSports.com
NCAA: www.ncaa.org
College Track Results: www.TrackShark.com
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.org
Prefontaine Classic: www.preclassic.com
World Championships: www.helsinki2005.fi
World Rankings: www.tilastopaja.net
Runner’s World: www.runnersworld.com
Trackwire: www.trackwire.com
T&F News: www.trackandfieldnews.com
