Track Teams Showcase Talent in Oregon Preview - University of Oregon Athletics

The Ducks’ home opener, the Oregon Preview, will showcase virtually all of the team’s top talent this Saturday, March 18 at historic Hayward Field.

Oregon single-day regular season home meet ticket prices for 2006 follow: $ 7 for reserved seats, $ 5 for adult general admission (GA), $ 3 for kids (ages 2-17) and senior citizen GA (ages 62 and older), and $ 2 individually for group rates of 10 or more. Call the Duck ticket office at 1-800-WEB-FOOT or (541) 346-4461 for more information.

The Oregon Preview meet also has a special Bi-Mart 2-for-1 Day ticket offer, where fans can pick up a coupon at area Bi-Mart stores good for two reserved seats for the price of one.

Oregon Men’s Meet Preview

The men’s sprints will feature several members of last year’s All-America and school record 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays from 2005 that will step up a distance into less-familiar events, and includes seniors Richard Del Rincon (400) and Travis Anderson (800) and Matt Scherer (800).

All-American and senior and school record holder Eric Mitchum will compete the 110-meter hurdles ? an event he won Pac-10 and West Regional titles in 2004 and ’05. Mitchum will be joined by freshman Walter Thurmond III who ranked third on the team indoors (8.15) and fifth all-time in the 60-meter hurdles, and took eighth in USA Junior Championships 110-meter hurdles in 2005.

Fellow frosh Jared Huske will make his collegiate 400-meter hurdles debut, and ranked 10^th nationally in the event among preps in ’05 (52.49).

Oregon’s youthful men’s distance unit will funnel its talent into a pair of events. Top 1,500 meters entries include redshirt freshman Christopher Winter and former prep state champion Andrew Perri. The 3,000 meters tentatively includes recent indoor All-American Galen Rupp, and 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships veteran Patrick Werhane, along with several up-and-comers.

In the field, NCAA high jump veteran Jeff Lindsey opens his final campaign for the Ducks, and placed top-six in the Pac-10 Championships as a sophomore (fourth) and junior (sixth). Junior and recent NCAA indoor pole vault champion Tommy Skipper is one of four Pac-10 scoring vets for the Ducks in the event that also includes 20005 NCAA qualifiers and redshirt seniors Jonathan Derby and Andrew Young, and redshirt junior David Moore.

The men’s throws will spotlight Duck newcomer and junior transfer Colin Veldman who owns the team’s top personal bests in the shot put (58-10), discus (184-6) and hammer (211-0). The Moorpark Junior College transfer already broke the school shot put record indoors in ’06 (58-8 3/4).

Redshirt freshman Mark Lewis, an offensive lineman for the football team, was a former California high school state shot put champion from ’04, and threw 54-2 indoors last month. Freshmen Matthew Maloney and Alex Wolff ranked first and fourth nationally among preps last year in the javelin (231-5 / 213-5), and junior transfer Ryan Brandel was a regional qualifier last season for Sacramento State thanks to his personal best (212-0).

Oregon’s decorated decathlon corps will compete in several events. Redshirt senior Andrew Young finished top-13 overall the past two NCAA decathlons, and the returning Pac-10 runner-up is a three-time, top-five Pac-10 placer. Senior Cody Fleming was also fourth in the league decathlon last year, and freshman Alexey Shkuratov will try for similar decathlon honors this season.

Oregon Women’s Meet Preview

In the sprints, freshman Leah Worthen will make her Duck debut in the 100 meters and 200 meters. The Coos Bay, Ore., native was a state champion in the 400 meters in 2004 and ’05, and runner-up in the 200 as a senior.

Sophomore teammate Kasey Harwood will run her specialty, the 400-meter hurdles, and ranks eighth all-time for UO (60.73). Redshirt sophomore Amanda Santana is entered in the same event - her first home race at home since 2004 after she redshirted in ?05.

The distance unit is arguably the most improved area on the UO women’s team and several newcomers will don the Oregon jersey at home for the first time.

Graduate student and Cornell transfer Amber McGown will step down a distance to the 800 meters after she ran UO’s second-ever fastest indoor mile last weekend in the NCAA Championships prelims (4:41.48).

Junior and Hawai’i transfer Dana Buchanan joined McGown on UO’s All-America distance medley relay that took seventh in the NCAA indoor finale last weekend, and will move up to the 3,000 meters Saturday, and will be joined by sophomore teammate and Eugene native Sarah Pearson.

In the 1,500 meters, redshirt senior Sara Schaaf will also step up an event, and the two-time, fifth-place Pac-10 finisher in the 800 meters ranks 10^th all-time for UO with her best from the ’05 league finale (2:06.91).

UO’s pair of NCAA pole vault veterans ? junior Emily Enders and redshirt senior Hannah Moore ? are slated for duty and own outdoor and indoor personal bests of 13-3 1/4 and 13-5, respectively.

The javelin unit is bursting with talent and showcases a pair of returning All-Americans in redshirt seniors Roslyn Lundeen and Elisa (Crumley) Reynoso, and a pair of prep All-Americans and former Oregon state prep champions Ashley McCrea and Rachel Yurkovich.

The hammer corps should make equal noise on the national scene. Redshirt senior Brittany Hinchcliffe upped the school record almost eight feet last year to 199-2. Redshirt junior Britney Henry will make her Duck debut this weekend, and her unattached season best last year (223-8) is tops among collegiate returnees and ranked ninth in the U.S. last season. Freshman Megan Maloney was a prep All-American last season and ranked third among preps (169-5) last year.

UO’s heptathletes look forward to a busy day and include returning NCAA qualifier Lauryn Jordan and redshirt freshman Kalindra McFadden. Jordan placed in four Pac-10 events last season and claimed fourth in her Pac-10 heptathlon debut in ’05. McFadden was an NCAA provisional qualifier indoors in ’06 in the pentathlon with a school record tally (3,929).