SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? In the first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Cal State Sacramento’s Hornet Stadium, the University of Oregon men and women braved rainy conditions and temperatures in the mid 50s to low 60s in a host first day prelims.
The men’s 4x100 relay of juniors Richard Del Rincon and Matt Scherer, senior Kedar Inico and redshirt sophomore Jordan Kent stole the Duck men’s headlines with a .07-second school record in the event prelims (seventh, 39.22). The quartet have now run eight of the fastest 11 times in school history this season, and topped their previous school record of 39.29 from their Pac-10 Champs runner-up finish in mid-May at UCLA.
Florida led the event prelims (38.91), ahead of Tennessee (second, 29.02) and Arkansas (third, 39.20). The Ducks were one of three league teams that advance to Friday’s final with USC (fourth, 38.92) and Arizona State (fifth, 39.19), while Washington (11th, 39.43) missed the ninth and final spot by only .08 seconds.
In the 110 hurdles, junior Eric Mitchum also advanced to his event final with a pair of qualifying marks in the prelims and semifinals Wednesday. The Calumet City, Ill., native and returning NCAA runner-up ended the evening with the round’s fastest time (13.62, w:-0.8), by .04 seconds over defending NCAA champion Josh Walker of Florida (second, 13.66, w:-1.1) and South Carolina’s Jason Richardson (third, 13.68, w:-1.1). Fellow Duck A.K. Ikwaukor was disqualified from the event when he false-started just to the right of Mitchum in the second of the two semifinal sections.
In the prelims more than two hours before, Mitchum and Ikwuakor and ranked fourth and eighth in the field with times of 13.65 (w:-0.6) and 14.02 (w:-0.6), while Ole Miss senior Antwon Hicks ran 13.57 (w:-0.6) to top the field by .13 seconds.
In the 400 prelims, senior Kedar Inico and junior Matt Scherer advanced to Friday’s semifinal after they ranked ninth (46.52) and 14th (46.46) in the first round prelims, respectively. Inico finished second in the fifth and final heat, while Scherer was fourth in the third heat, and both ran under a steady rain that started 25 minutes before.
Texas Tech junior Andrae Williams led the 400 field (first, 45.41), ahead of Baylor senior Darold Williamson (second, 45.71) and Florida State freshman Ricardo Chambers (third, 45.77). Entering the meet, Inico and Scherer ranked 11th and 12th in the NCAA field based on their season bests of 45.61 and 45.75 that also rank them third and fourth in school history.
“Eric (Mitchum) is a competitor and doesn’t worry about times, more on rising to the occasion of the field,” Oregon men’s assistant coach Dan Steele said. “He positioned himself well for the final, and they’re going to have to run a great race to beat him. The (4x100) relay could have gone faster, but Matt got a little excited on the second leg and left a little early. But he’s also a smart guy and made the adjustment to ease up and still get the stick from Richard, and they’re all ready to go faster in the final. A.K. knew he would have to run the best race of his life to make the final, and probably got a little anxious. Kedar and Matt got a little lucky that the times weren’t that fast overall in the 400. Kedar sat back a little too much on the backstretch but recovered OK at the end, and Matt said he felt kind of flat, but he’s a strong runner and should be fine.”
In distance qualifying, redshirt senior and two-time outdoor 5K All-American Eric Logsdon earned the sixth and final automatic qualifier from the second section of the event prelim (13:55.27). The Canby, Ore., native’s heat featured five runners within .73 seconds of each other, led by Michigan junior Nick Willis (first, 13:54.24) and Stanford senior Ian Dobson (second, 13:54.30). Logsdo’ns time was faster than all three of his NCAA efforts in prelims (14:02.66, 2003) and finals (13:59.00, 2003; 14:22.05, 2004) the past two seasons
“It went pretty much as expected,” Logsdon said. “Besides the humidity, the (rainy, cool) weather was pretty good for distance running. The race unfolded like I wanted, and I was able to sit back and kick at the end, somewhat like Regionals but with less drama.”
All four time-based qualifiers for the final came out of Logsdon’s second heat, while the much slower first heat also featured a tight first through fifth margin separated by .67 seconds led by Colorado sophomore Brent Vaughn (first, 14:21.04) and William and Mary senior Ed Moran (second, 14:21.35). Logsdon looks ahead to the 5,000 final, which is the penultimate event on Saturday evening.
In the 3,000 steeplechase prelims, sophomore Kyle Alcorn and Brett Holts missed advancing to Friday’s final and ranked 16th (8:44.72) and 19th (8:48.11) in the prelims, respectively. Alcorn missed the 14th and final time qualifier by 2.40 seconds (12th was 8:42.32), although the Buchanan, Calif., native ran a one-second personal best that also met the USA ?B’ qualifying standard (8:45.50) and just missed the ?A’ standard (8:44.50). Holts was another four seconds back in the second heat in which he placed ninth in his third NCAA appearance. Alcorn and Holts entered the meet seeded 18th and 13th, respectively, based on their personal bests in the West Regional two weeks ago in Eugene (8:45.62 / 8:42.03).
Overall in the event prelims, Florida State junior Andrew Lemoncello won the first heat that included a fall on the final water jump by race leader Ben Bruce. The senior from Cal Poly immediately rolled back up to move back into fifth at the line for the final auto qualifier (8:35.18). In the second heat, Arkansas sophomore Peter Kosgei dictated the pace the whole way (first, 8:32.97) en route to a .54-second win over UTEP junior Mircea Bogdan (second, 8:33.51).
In the field, redshirt senior Leonidas Watson did not advance in the prelims of the long jump (19th, 23-11), and was only 3 1/2 inches from the 12th and final advancing position (24-2 1/2). Watson opened the day with a leap of 23-9, followed with his daily best on his second try, then ended with a leap of 23-0 3/4. The St. Louis, Mo., native entered the meet seeded third with a season best of 26-0 3/4 from the West Regional that ranked him in a tie for fourth in school history with Uchenna Agu.
Overall in the long jump prelims, Arizona State senior Trevell Quinley paced the field with his daily best on his second attempt (26-1 1/2), followed by Florida sophomore Mike Morrison (25-2 1/2).
In the hammer, senior Paul Etter did not advance to Friday’s final after he finished 19th (197-7), and was 7 feet, 2 inches behind the 12th and final qualifier. Etter was red-flagged for fouls on his first and third attempts, and had his only legal mark came on his second effort. The Everett, Wash., native entered the meet seeded 23rd with a personal best of 206-8 that ranks him eighth all-time for UO and came in the West Regional two weeks ago in Eugene.
In the pole vault prelims, redshirt junior Jon Derby tied for 14th in the pole vault (16-4 3/4), and was one bar from advancing to the final (16-10 3/4) - the final contested height for the 13 advancers to Friday’s final. The North Bend, Ore., native entered the meet seeded 26th with a season best of 16-7 1/4 that tied him for third in the West Regional two weeks ago.
In the fist half of the decathlon, redshirt junior Andy Young stands 18th after five events with 3,442 points. The Newberg, Ore., native posted opening marks of 11.89 (w:-1.8) in the 100 (25th), 21-0 (w:2.7) in the long jump (21st), then weathered rainy conditions to add marks of 6-2 in the high jump (12th) and 49.47 in the 400 (fourth, personal best).
Overall in the decathlon, Montana senior Andrew Levin leads the 27-man field with 4,023 points, ahead of Connecticut senior William Thomas (second, 3,991) and Texas sophomore Donovan Kilmartin (third, 3,954). Other Pac-10 athletes in the field included Arizona sophomore Robert Arnold (ninth, 3,658) and WSU junior and Pac-10 champion Darion Powell (DNF ? foul in shot put).
On the women’s side, in the javelin prelims, a pair of Ducks advanced to Friday’s 12-person final, as redshirt senior Sarah Malone and redshirt junior Roslyn Lundeen ranked fourth (166-8) and 11th (155-2). In the second of three flights, Malone opened with a toss of 151-8, improved to her daily best on her second try, then passed her third attempt. Lundeen followed in the third and final flight and threw 132-7 on her first attempt, fouled her second, then logged her daily best on her third try. The Duck duo have both claimed two All-America honors before, and entered the competition seeded second and 16th overall with season bests of 186-10 and 155-9, respectively. Overall Friday, Virginia senior Inge Jorgensen led the field (first, 172-10), ahead UTEP sophomore Erma-Gene Evans (second, 171-6) and UNC Wilmington sophomore Anna Raynor (third, 167-2).
On the track, senior Sofie Abildtrup advanced to Friday’s 400 semifinals with the final of six time qualifiers (16th overall, 53.61). The Herning, Denmark native finished fifth in the second heat, and entered the meet seeded 27th with a season best of 53.48. UCLA senior Monique Henderson topped the field by .29 seconds (first, 51.56), and was followed by Florida sophomore Tiandra Ponteen (second, 51.85) and South Carolina sophomore Stephanie Smith (third, 52.43).
In the discus prelims, senior Bree Fuqua took 22nd in the prelims (151-6). The Polson, Mont., native Fuqua opened with a toss of 148-7, threw 148-2 on her second try, and ended with her daily best on her third effort. Fuqua entered the meet seeded 27th with a season best of 165-4, and earned her NCAA invite via the at-large method based on her seventh-place regional effort two weeks ago in Eugene. She now looks ahead to a return NCAA appearance in the shot put prelims on Thursday and ranks 12th nationally with her season best and school record of 53-11.
The event prelim was led by Florida senior Rachel Longfors (178-3), over Arizona junior Rachel Varner (second, 175-9) and UCLA sophomore Kamaiya Warren (third, 175-2).
Complete results and second-day heat sheets are available at the www.NCAAsports.com , www.HornetSports.com and www.FlashResults.com websites.
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