UO Quartet Win Titles in Regional Day 1
EUGENE ? In the NCAA West Regional’s second appearance at historic Hayward Field, the University of Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams continued their run for more postseason success Friday, and advanced six individuals to the upcoming collegiate finale.
On the men’s side, senior Tommy Skipper made his final home meet as a Duck a special one with a new outdoor Pacific-10 Conference record of 19-0 1/4 (5.80m). The four-time NCAA champion opened with first-attempt clearances at 17-9 (5.41m) and 18-1 (5.51m), then made his second try at 19-0 1/4. Afterwards, he missed his two attempts at 19-3 1/2 (5.88) and declined his final try.
Washington freshman Scott Roth followed in second place (17-5) and cleared the same height and had fewer misses than Mike Landers of UCLA (third, 17-5), Graeme Hoste of Stanford (fourth-tie, 17-5) and Matt Weirich of BYU (fourth-tie, 17-5).
Skipper had won the regional title as a freshman with the former meet record (18-10 1/4), and took second last year (18-1). Friday’s appearance was his second this season after he won his third Pac-10 Championships title two weeks before at Stanford (17-10 1/2).
Also in the pole vault, redshirt senior David Moore placed 18th (16-6 1/4) in his second regional appearance and exactly matched his pre-meet seeding.
On the long jump runway, freshman Ashton Eaton placed fifth with his wind-legal season best (24-6 1/4, w:1.3) ? four places higher than his pre-meet seed based on his prior wind-aided season best of 24-5 1/2w. Eaton’s long jump appearance Friday was his fourth in open competition this year and included a recent fifth-place Pac-10 finish (23-8 1/4).
Washington junior Norris Frederick won the event (26-0 3/4w, w:3.0) over Arizona State’s Matt Turner (second, 26-0 1/4), Cal State Northridge’s Rolando Felizola (third, 24-10w, w:3.4) and Washington State’s Rickey Moody (fourth, 24-8 1/4).
Another Duck - graduate student Brian Richotte - said farewell to the home field crowd with a win in the hammer (221-6). The first-year Duck and Radford University transfer entered the meet as the third seed and eighth-ranked nationally based on his season best of 221-7 that also ranks him fifth in school history.
Washington’s Martin Bingisser followed in second place (217-9), USC’s top seed Adam Midles (third, 216-11), Boise State’s Simon Wardhaugh (fourth, 213-8) and Eastern Washington’s David Paul (fifth, 213-8).
In the 5,000m, junior Galen Rupp rallied to the lead in the final laps to win his first regional title (14:08.03), and beat UCLA’s Austin Ramos (second, 14:09.48), Stanford’s Jacob Gomez (third, 14:11.82) and Hari Mix (fourth, 14:12.16) and Boise State’s Hari Mix (fifth, 14:12.23).
The Portland, Ore., native Rupp entered the meet as the top seed and fourth nationally with his season best (13:30.49), and continued a record-breaking season that included an American collegiate record and top collegiate time this year in the 10,000m (27:33.48).
Three other Ducks finished top 12 in the event Friday ? redshirt sophomore Scott Wall (seventh, 14:14.26), redshirt junior Carlos Trujillo (eighth, 14:15.32) and redshirt sophomore Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott (12th, 14:19.88) ? while freshman Kenny Klotz made his regional debut (17th, 14:31.10).
In preliminary sprint action, junior Marcus Dillon ranked fourth in the 400m prelims (47.24) ? one place better than his pre-meet seed based on his season best of 47.02 from late April. Sophomore Jared Huske also advanced in the 110m hurdles (sixth, 14.02) thanks to his .09-second personal best that moved him eighth all-time for UO, ahead of Don Wright (ninth, 14.04, 1981) and J.J. Birden (10th, 14.05, 1988).
Dillon and Huske also ran on UO’s 4x100m relay with freshman Ashton Eaton and junior Phil Alexander that ranked fourth in a .12-second season best (40.35) and advanced to Saturday’s final.
In the 800m, freshman Andrew Wheating ranked seventh in the prelims (1:50.26) ? just off his season best (1:50.17) from the Oregon Twilight in Eugene three weeks ago that seeded him eighth in the region.
Junior Michael McGrath and freshman A.J. Acosta stood eighth and ninth overall in the 1,500m prelims with times 3:46.14 and 3:51.90, respectively. The pair entered the meet seeded eighth and third in the region based on their season bests of 3:42.40 and 3:45.17.
On the women’s side, sophomore Rachel Yurkovich needed only one throw Friday to win the javelin competition with her opening throw of 178-9, then passed her final five attempts.
The Newberg, Ore., native repeated as the regional champion after she won last year’s meet at Provo (165-2). This year, she is the collegiate leader and ranked second with her personal best and Pac-10 record of 189-11, and is also undefeated vs. collegians in her nine outings this season.
Yurkovich’s win was Oregon’s fourth straight regional title after former NCAA runner-up Sarah Malone set a Hayward Field stadium record in the event in 2005 (186-10) and also won a similar title in ’04 at Northridge.
Sophomore javelin thrower Ashley McCrea also earned an NCAA Championships invitation with her fifth-place finish (159-1). Friday’s mark was her third-best mark of the season and best since she threw 165-2 in the Oregon Invitational a month ago. Her season best of 166-8 from the ASU Clif Bar Invitational from late March ranks her sixth all-time for UO.
Freshman Kara Meeuwsen followed in 18th place in her regional debut (140-0). This season, she ranked third for the Ducks and ninth all-time for UO with her personal best of 148-8 from the Oregon Twilight three weeks ago at Hayward Field.
In preliminary women’s action on the track, sophomore Rebekah Noble and freshman Zoe Buckman advanced to the 800m final and ranked as the second- and fourth-fastest finishes Friday with their times of 2:07.10 and 2:07.20, respectively. Buckman’s time was a .28-second season best, and improved on her former best of 2:07.48 that placed her third in the Pac-10 Championships two weekends ago.
Overall, top seed Alysia Johnson of California led the prelims with a time of 2:06.65.
In the sprints, freshman Keshia Baker (ninth, 54.90) broke 55.00 seconds in the 400m for the fifth straight meet and missed the event final by only .40 seconds. Baker entered the meet seeded 11th in the region with her personal best of 54.43 from the Oregon Invitational.
Complete meet results are available at the www.FlashResults.com website at the http://www.flashresults.com/2007_Meets/outdoor/ncaawest/?&DB_OEM_ID=500 URL address.
At stake in each of the nation's four regionals this weekend are automatic berths for the upcoming NCAA Championships, Wednesday-Saturday, June 6-9, in Sacramento, Calif. The top five finishers from each individual event and the top three relays automatically qualify for the collegiate finale, and each regional's sixth-12th place finishers go into a pool of at-large candidates to fill out the NCAA fields. The top 6-8 athletes in each event from the at-large pool wil be awarded NCAA invitations next week based on their season bests.
Action resumes Saturday in second and final day action at Hayward Field. Field events start at 11 a.m., running events start at 1:30 p.m., and the meet concludes at 4:50 p.m.
Later Saturday evening, several distance events from the Road to Eugene ’08 meet will be held at Hayward Field from approximately 7:15-9:30 p.m.
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