Track Teams Heat Up Outdoor Season in Desert
EUGENE – After they wrap up final exams this week, the University of Oregon track and field teams head to the Arizona State Invitational, Friday-Saturday, March 23-24 at ASU, while a trio of multi-event newcomers will compete in the Jim Click Multi-Events, Thursday-Friday at the University of Arizona.
Oregon’s Tempe-bound travel contingent is composed of its sprints, jumps, throws and multi-events unit, and features four All-Americans, senior hammer throwers Britney Henry and Brian Richotte, junior sprinter Irie Searcy and sophomore javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich, and another NCAA veteran in senior pole vaulter Emily Enders.
Three new multi-event athletes – freshmen decathletes Ashton Eaton and William Pua’a and heptathlete Erin Funkhouser – will make their season event debuts in a pair of Oregon’s most decorated events historically.
Looking ahead, UO’s distance runners will compete the following weekend in the Stanford Invitational, Fri.-Sat., March 30-31 in Stanford, Calif.
More meet information is available at the www.thesundevils.com , www.arizonaathletics.com and www.gostanford.com websites.
Last weekend, the Ducks kicked off their outdoor season at home in the Oregon Preview (3/17) and scored 15 wins (6W, 9M), 10 regional qualifying marks (5W, 5M) and meet records courtesy of Yurkovich (PR 184-6) and sophomore Rebekah Noble (2:04.70) in front of a meet record crowd (5,699). Other noteworthy marks from the men’s team were turned in by senior Ryan Brandel (javelin, first, 213-2), redshirt junior Michael McGrath (1,500m, first, 3:44.25) and redshirt sophomore Mark Lewis (shot put, first, 55-2 3/4).
Oregon’s next home meet, the 18th annual Pepsi Team Invitational, follows Sat., April 7 and will welcome USC, Kansas State and Washington. The Trojans, Ducks and Huskies finished first, second and fourth in the Pac-10 Championships last year, while the respective women’s teams placed third, fifth and seventh in the ’06 league clash. At the national level, all three Pac-10 programs finished top-25 in the nation outdoors last year in Sacramento (USC M-9th, W-2nd; Oregon M-12th, W-11th; Washington M-22nd, W-21st). Kansas State perennially boasts one of the nation’s top field event corps and spotlights high jumper Scott Sellers who cleared 7-4 1/2 as a freshman in ’06 and placed third in the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
ASU INVITATIONAL MEET INFORMATION
Friday
First Duck Event: 5:00 p.m. – Women’s Hammer
Last Duck Event: 6:30 p.m. (approx.) – Men’s Hammer
Saturday
First Duck Event: 10:30 a.m. – Women’s Discus
Last Duck Event: 8 p.m. (approx.) – Men’s 4x400m Relay (rolling running event schedule starting at 5:30 p.m.)
Teams (Men and Women unless otherwise noted): Arizona State, Adams State, Ashland (Ohio), BYU, Dartmouth, Manhattan, Michigan (W), Missouri, Northern Arizona, Ohio State (M), Oregon, Purdue, UC Davis, UNLV (W), Washington, Western New Mexico, Wyoming, Xavier (Ohio)
Men's Pronunciation Key: Jared Huske (HUS-key), Alexey Shkuratov (schkure-AH-tov). Women's Pronunciation Key: Keshia Baker (KEY-shuh), Lucy Cridland (CRIHD-land), Eniko Eros (IN-uh-kuh air-OSCH), Ashley McCrea (mc-CRAY), Tara Rhein (RINE), Irie Searcy (I-ree SEER-cee), Rachel Yurkovich (YERK-o-vich)).
TENTATIVE OREGON ENTRIES
Men’s Events (* athletes listed alphabetically)
100m – Alexey Shkuratov
200m – Phillip Alexander, Marcus Dillon, Alexey Shkuratov
400m – Zach Ancell, Chad Barlow
110m Hurdles – Marshall Ackley, Jared Huske, Alexey Shkuratov
400m Hurdles – Marshall Ackley, Jared Huske
4x100m
4x400m
Pole Vault – Marshall Ackley, David Moore, Colin Witter-Tilton
Long Jump – Alexey Shkuratov
Hammer – Brian Richotte
Javelin – Matt Adams, Ryan Brandel, Jamie Slade, Alex Wolff
Women’s Events (* athletes listed alphabetically)
100m – Ashley Bridenbeck, Keshia Baker, Irie Searcy
200m – Keshia Baker, Ashley Bridenbeck, Kavina Hall, Irie Searcy, Leah Worthen
400m – Kavina Hall, Leah Worthen
100m Hurdles – Kasey Harwood
400m Hurdles – Kasey Harwood, Amanda Santana
4x100m
4x400m
High Jump – Eniko Eros, Emily Gillespie, Kasey Harwood, Jasmine Kelly
Pole Vault – Emily Enders, Eniko Eros, Tara Rhein
Discus – Lucy Cridland
Javelin – Ashley McCrea, Kara Meeuwsen, Rachel Yurkovich
2007 MEN’S PREVIEW
Oregon has unquestionably positioned itself among the nation’s top men’s teams with its first string of five consecutive top-two Pac-10 Championships team finishes dating back to 1965. The Men of Oregon’s recent fortunes at the NCAA level have proven equally bright with top-15 NCAA outdoor finishes five of the past six years, and its first three top-10 NCAA indoor team finishes in that same stretch. This year, a new generation of future greats will team with several of Oregon’s greatest athletes to extend the tradition of the nation’s most recognized program. Senior pole vaulter Tommy Skipper is only the second Duck to ever win four NCAA track titles, and is the Pac-10 and school record holder (19-0), Duck indoor holder (18-8 3/4) and a USA Championships medalist both outdoors and indoors. Junior Galen Rupp was an NCAA 10,000m runner-up as a freshman in 2005, and added a pair of All-America awards indoors in ’06 and ’07 in the 3,000m and 5,000m. Last fall, he became the fifth Duck runner since 1980 to finish top-10 in the NCAA Cross Country Championships with his sixth-place effort. Keeping true to tradition, UO’s championship experience reaches the span of the track and is shared by a pair of All-America sprinters – redshirt senior Jordan Kent (4x100m, 4x400m) and sophomore Derrick Jones (4x100m) – redshirt senior Colin Veldman (hammer) and redshirt junior Michael McGrath (mile). UO’s recruiting class – ranked third nationally by Track and Field News magazine – is anchored by one of its deepest groups of new distance runners ever. Freshmen A.J. Acosta (1,500m, 2-mile), twins Eric and Matthew Dettman (distance medley relay) and Diego Mecado (10,000m) were national champions in 2006, and the group also includes seven Foot Locker Championships qualifiers. Two other freshmen — Ryan Waite and Andrew Wheating — ran 800m legs on NCAA provisional distance medley relay teams indoors in ‘07. A pair of sprint transfers from Lane Community College, juniors Phil Alexander and Marcus Dillon, teamed with freshmen Chad Barlow and Ashton Eaton to run three NCAA provisional times indoors in the 4x400m. UO’s field event corps has been equally boosted with five pole vaulters that arrived with personal bests in the 16-foot range, and All-America hammer thrower Brian Richotte who transferred from Radford and ranked 15th in the U.S. in 2006 (223-3).
2007 WOMEN’S PREVIEW
The UO women also enjoyed a ground-breaking first season under the guidance of director of track and field Vin Lananna in 2006 and look to raise the bar even higher in ’07. The Ducks made a return to the national spotlight with an 11th-place finish and five All-America honors in the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships — their best tallies in each category since 1993. Earlier in the year, UO’s first-ever All-America indoor recipients in the distance medley relay (seventh) and 800m (Rebekah Noble, second) keyed the Ducks to their third, top-25 NCAA indoor team finish. The Ducks took added pride in their Pac-10 Championships fifth-place team finish and their highest score in a decade (97 points). In 2006, sophomore Rebekah Noble cruised to Pac-10, Regional and NCAA wins outdoors in the 800m and was a narrow NCAA runner-up indoors. She later added her second straight U.S. junior title and a World Junior Championships 800m bronze medal – Team USA’s first top-three event finish. Oregon’s national-class field event corps is paced by Britney Henry who ranks fifth all-time on the collegiate hammer throw list. In ’06, she claimed her first All-America honors in 2006 and is a two-time NCAA qualifier and three-time USA Championships participant. Sophomore javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich was an All-American as a freshman after she won Pac-10 and West Regional titles in the trademark Duck event. Senior Emily Enders also made an NCAA outdoor trip in ’06 thanks to her second top-five regional finish and will try to become only the second Duck pole vaulter to qualify for three NCAA Outdoor Championships. Two other young Ducks followed their lead and made their NCAA debuts in ’06 — junior Kasey Harwood (400m hurdles) and redshirt sophomore Kalindra McFadden (heptathlon). Harwood sped to the four fastest times of her career in the Pac-10 and West Regional meets in ’06, and McFadden led collegiate freshmen on the national heptathlon list (5,428). Oregon’s newcomer class, ranked eighth nationally by Track and Field News magazine, welcomes several capable of immediate contributions in the Pac-10, Regional and NCAA Championships. The UO sprint corps features junior transfer Kavina Hall and freshman Keshia Baker who should vie for Pac-10 points in various events. The distances welcome a trio of freshmen — Nicole Blood, Keara Sammons and Bria Wetsch — that were top-12 Foot Locker Championships finishers and national-class track performers. The jumps unit added several of the Pac-10’s top signees in Hungarian junior national pole vault champion Eniko Eros, Oregon and Washington high jump state champions Emily Gillespie and Jasmine Kelly, and horizontal jumper Katie Gallagher — a Canadian junior national triple jump runner-up in 2006 and a two-time World Youth Championships long jump participant.
2007 MEN’S INDOOR WRAP-UP
In February, junior Galen Rupp continued to rewrite the UO record books with new school records in the 3,000m and 5,000m (7:54.19 / 13:38.62) and placed fourth and third, respectively, in the NCAA Indoor Championships to help the Ducks finish in a tie for 19th place. That team place also stood as UO’s fifth top-20 NCAA indoor finish ever, and all of which have come the past six years. Graduate student and Radford University transfer Brian Richotte made his second NCAA trip in the weight throw and first for the Ducks (11th, 67-8 3/4). He competed in five indoor meets — all with marks of 67-4 or better. For comparison’s sake, UO’s previous school record (67-7) was set by former NCAA qualifier Adam Kriz in 2003. All-America freshman A.J. Acosta also represented UO in the NCAA Indoor Championships (13th) after he ran the nation’s top mile time by a freshman (4:00.37) and moved to third all-time for Oregon. Senior Tommy Skipper ranked third nationally in the pole vault (18-1) but unfortunately missed the NCAA Championships with a calf muscle strain. UO’s distance medley relay ran four NCAA provisional marks that rank top-five in school history, including a school record of 9:37.95 by Acosta, Dillon, and juniors A.J. Casteel and Michael McGrath. Other NCAA provisional marks during the indoor slate came from junior Phil Alexander (400m, 47.18), McGrath (mile, 4:02.58), Acosta (3,000m, 8:02.80), sophomore Scott Wall (3,000m, 8:02.86) and freshman Ashton Eaton (heptathlon, 5,370).
2007 WOMEN’S INDOOR WRAP-UP
The Duck women’s team tied for 21st in the recent NCAA Indoor Championships and featured three All-America performances. Sophomore Rebekah Noble repeated second in the NCAA 800m with a new personal best (2:04.70). The two-time U.S. junior champion became the first Duck female distance runner, and third Duck female overall, to score multiple indoor All-America honors in her career after she also took second as a freshman in ‘06. Redshirt senior Lauryn Jordan wrapped up her collegiate eligibility and broke her indoor school record in the long jump three times indoors. She was an NCAA qualifier with her final personal best (20-6 1/2), and earned All-America honors with her ninth-place NCAA finish (20-1 1/2). All-America senior Britney Henry placed eighth in her NCAA Championships weight throw debut (66-7). The Spokane, Wash., native entered the year with a school record of 61-1 1/4, and topped that with +65-foot throws in all four regular season meets, including a best of 68-4 1/2. UO’s other women’s NCAA qualifier, senior pole vaulter Emily Enders, added 6 1/2 inches to her best qualifying mark of the season (13-6 1/4) in the final weekend of the regular season. That mark moved her to third all-time for UO, and scored her first NCAA indoor trip that later led to a tie for 13th place with her second-best career mark (13-1 1/2). Other Ducks with NCAA provisional marks indoors included the 4x400m relay of junior Kavina Hall, Noble, sophomore Leah Worthen and freshman Keshia Baker (3:37.48) which ran school records three times indoors in ’07, the distance medley of senior Dana Buchanan, Baker, Noble and freshman Nicole Blood (11:19.58 – UO #2 all-time), Blood (mile, 4:46.73; 3,000m, 9:29.87), freshmen Keara Sammons (5,000m, 16:31.71 – UO #4) and Eniko Eros (pole vault, 12-11 3/4), and Jordan (pentathlon, school record 3,957).
OREGON TRACK CLUB ELITE MAKES DEBUT
Eugene track and field fans can cheer on another ‘home’ team on Hayward Field this season with the addition of the Oregon Track Club Elite post-collegiate program under the guidance of Frank Gagliano. The long-time Georgetown mentor most recently headed the Nike Farm Team in Stanford, and in 2004, worked with 32 athletes who competed in the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials - including two Olympians – Jonathan Riley (5,000m) and Nicole Teter (800m).
COACHING PROFILES
Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna returns for his second season as director of track and field, and was already very familiar with the confines of Hayward Field. The former Stanford head coach guided the league rival Cardinal men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs to five NCAA team titles and 35 top-10 NCAA team finishes in his 11-year career from 1992-2003.
Other members of the 2006-07 track and field staff include assistant athletic director Michael Reilly, assistant coaches Kelly Blair LaBounty (women’s hurdles, decathlon/heptathlon, second year), Lance Deal (throws, fifth year), Robert Johnson (jumps, women’s sprints, second year), Andy Powell (men’s distances, second year), Dan Steele (men’s sprints, hurdles, pole vault, fifth year), volunteer coaches Jennifer Ashcroft (pole vault, first year), Akobundu Ikwuakor (men’s sprints, first year), Maurica Powell (women’s distances, second year) and Cari Soong (throws, first year) and director of operations Colleen Wrenn.
HAYWARD FIELD – AMERICA’S FAVORITE HOME FOR TRACK & FIELD
At the heart of the recent buzz in Track Town, USA is venerable Hayward Field – the centerpiece of the community’s and University’s successful bid for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. Founded in 1919, the facility has welcomed nine NCAA Championships since 1962 – the most in modern history – along with six U.S. championships and three Olympic Trials. On the northeast side of the facility, Powell Plaza was unveiled in 2005 as a grand entranceway for spectators, and its external displays detail Oregon’s rich track and field tradition. A new, four-lane, 400-meter warm-up track was added on the southwest edge of the track in 2006, and a new walkway for the west grandstands was completed in the winter of 2006. A new lighting system will officially be unveiled for the Oregon Invitational distance carnival, Fri., April 20, and other improvements are planned in the next year in the lead-up to the ’08 Olympic Trials.
QUALIFYING 101
Over the course of the 2007 outdoor campaign, Duck individuals will try to meet regional qualifying event standards as they bid for invitations to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Regional event standards are based on the 100th best performance nationally from 2006, and all conference champions are also automatically invited to their respective regional. Qualifiers then compete head-to-head in their respective regional among four national sites that host two-day meets on Fri.-Sat., May 25-26, with the Ducks hosting the meet for the second time in three years.
Except for the 10K and heptathlon/decathlon (which still operate on an automatic/provisional standard system similar to the indoor season), 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 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.). Besides the automatic advancers from each regional, an additional 6-8 athletes nationally per individual event are invited by the NCAA Championships selection committee based on a season performance list (in case of injury, illness, etc.) as long as that athlete finished top eight in the regional.
A list of various regional and national qualifying standards is available in the STATISTICS dropdown link at the top of the www.GoDucks.com track and field page.
OTHER UPCOMING MEETS AT HISTORIC HAYWARD FIELD
In April, the Ducks renew their famed scored meet legacy in the Pepsi Team Invitational (Sat., 4/7) against three other top teams from across the nation – field event power Kansas State, returning Pac-10 champion USC and Northwest rival Washington. Two weeks later, the Ducks' biggest home stop of the year, the Oregon Invitational (Fri.-Sat., 4/20-21), welcomes many of the nation's fastest and strongest. Distance fans can look forward to a high-powered Friday evening Distance Carnival for races 1,500 meters through 10,000 meters on the well-lit famous oval. Saturday's schedule will feature elite track races and field events spread throughout the afternoon, including a 3 1/2-hour High Performance Event window in the late afternoon showcasing several of the meet's top performers. The Oregon Twilight (Sat., 5/5) concludes the UO regular season schedule two weeks later, and the evening meet will be optimal for athletes seeking an opportunity to tune-up for the championship season or achieve NCAA and USA qualifying performances.
GET YOUR TICKETS
Fans are streaming to Hayward Field in record numbers lately. The Oregon Preview last weekend featured a meet record 5,699 spectators that easily surpassed the previous record of 4,291 from last year. The Ducks also set an attendance record in '06 for the Oregon Invitational (Sat. - 6,389, old mark 5,177, 1987), and welcomed the second-largest crowds to the Pepsi Team Invitational (5,004, record 6,149, 1987) and Oregon Twilight (4,776, record 6,392, 1987). Oregon single-day regular season home meet ticket prices for 2007 follow: $9 for reserved seats, $6 for adult general admission (GA), $4 for kids (ages 2-18) and senior citizen GA (ages 62 and older), $4 individually for group rates of 10 or more or $15 for the Family Ticket Price deal (2 adults and 3 children). Tickets are also now available for the NCAA West Regional, Fri.-Sat., May 25-26, and ticket prices follow: All-Session (Fri.-Sat). - Reserved $20, Adult GA $15, Senior Citizen/Child $10, College Student $10; Single-Day: Reserved $12, Adult GA $10, Senior Citizen/Child $7, College Student $7. Ticket are available online at www.GoDucks.com or call the Duck ticket office at 1-800-WEB-FOOT or (541) 346-4461 for more information.
TRACK TOWN WELCOMES BACK WEST REGIONAL
In the heart of the collegiate postseason slate, Oregon fans old and young can look forward to the NCAA West Regional Championships (Fri.-Sat., 5/25-26) as the West Coast's top athletes from Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington will vie for top-five individual finishes and top-three relay placings to earn bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships two weeks later.
HAYWARD FIELD IN A NEW LIGHT
Hayward Field will host its first official meet under its new lighting system in the distance carnival portion of the Oregon Invitational, Fri., April 20. Eight 110-foot light poles have been placed the past several months via cranes, along with an additional lighting system that is fixed to the top of west and east grandstands. Approximately 540 metal halide 1,500-watt lamps are powered by a new transformer, which sits beneath the west grandstand, next to a generator that can provide exit lighting for spectators in case of an emergency. New wiring also is in place for future improvements to the stadium's press box and sound system. The lighting system can be set at tree different settings, and will likely use 60 foot-candles for evening track meets and 30 foot-candles for practice.
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