Henry Stakes Ducks' Sixth Pac-10 TF Athlete of Week
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. ? In Monday’s fifth and final edition of the Pacific-10 Conference Track and Field Athlete of the Week, University of Oregon redshirt senior Britney Henry claimed UO’s sixth honor of the season in an announcement by commissioner Tom Hansen.
In the Oregon Twilight last Saturday, the returning All-American from Spokane, Wash., tied her Duck hammer throw school record (first, 221-7) with a three-foot season best and topped a field featuring many of the nation’s top post-collegians.
Her daily best moved her into the Pac-10 lead and third overall among collegians this year. Her six-throw series also included marks of 216-7, 213-5 and 219-4 - all in the neighborhood of her previous season best of 218-2 that ranked her 10th among Americans last week.
Henry entered the meet as the fourth seed based on previous season bests, and edged four other post-collegiate throwers ranked top-15 nationally this season and their meet marks/places follow ? Loree Smith of the New York Athletic Club (second, season best 221-5), Bethany Hart (third, 220-6), Jen Leatherman (fourth, 218-4) and Cari Soong (sixth, 196-3).
Henry won similar honors for the women’s field event category in her first official season for the Ducks in ’06, thanks to her 13-foot hammer school record in the Mt. SAC Relays (second, 221-7) last April.
Also honored Monday in the other categories for their performances last weekend were Pac-10 decathlon and heptathlon champions Jake Arnold of Arizona and Diana Pickler of Washington State and UCLA men’s pole vaulter Mike Landers (17-9 - #2 among collegians in ?07).
In prior editions of the league’s weekly honor, UO junior Galen Rupp was honored last Tuesday for his Cardinal Invitational 10,000m win (27:33.48) on April 29 that rewrote the American collegiate and UO school records (27:38.50 / 27:50.82). The Portland, Ore., native’s time also moved him to seventh all-time in U.S history and improved on his former best of 28:15.52 from the 2005 Oregon Twilight that broke the U.S. junior record.
The previous week, Rupp and sophomore Rebekah Noble were honored for the men’s and women’s track event categories for their performances Friday-Saturday, April 20-21 in the Oregon Invitational at Hayward Field in Eugene. Noble logged a 1.52-second 800m season best (first, 2:03.22) and moved to second among collegians in ’07. Rupp kicked to a thrilling win in the 5,000m (13:30.49) and moved him to sixth all-time for UO with the fastest time by a Duck since 1982.
The Ducks scored similar honors the first two weeks of the honor in ’07 courtesy of senior javelin thrower Ryan Brandel and junior sprinter Phil Alexander. Brandel was honored Monday, April 16 for his 12-foot, five-inch personal best in the Mt. SAC Relays invitational javelin section (238-0, 72.54m) that moved him to third all-time for Oregon behind former Duck NCAA champions John Stiegeler (252-10, 2001) and Art Skipper (251-8, 1992). Alexander was honored the week before on Monday, April 9 after the first-year Duck played a part in two wins (100m, 4x100m) and another runner-up finish (200m) in the Pepsi Team Invitational in Eugene.
Oregon scored three similar honors last year courtesy of Henry and then-seniors Eric Mitchum and Matt Scherer. Scherer was honored for his wins in the Oregon Invitational 400m (personal best 45.90), 4x100m (41.81) and 4x400m (3:13.23). Mitchum was spotlighted in early April 2006 for three wins (110m hurdles, 13.68W, w:4.1; 400m, 52.09; 4x100m, 40.33) and another runner-up finish (4x400m, 3:11.31) in the Pepsi Team Invitational.
Another current Duck - senior Tommy Skipper ? received similar honors as a freshman in 2003 after he won the Pac-10 Championships decathlon (7,589) with a mark that still ranks him eighth all-time for UO.
Looking ahead, the rest of UO’s 28-person men’s and women’s travel squads compete in the remaining 20 events of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, next Saturday-Sunday, May 12-13 at Stanford University. More meet information is located at the www.GoStanford.com and www.Pac-10.org websites.
Two weeks later, the Ducks host the NCAA West Regional Championships at Hayward Field for the second time in three years on Friday-Saturday, May 25-26. The top collegians from the states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington will vie for top-five individual event and top-three relay event finishes in return for invitations to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Wednesday-Saturday, June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. Tickets are available online at www.GoDucks.com or by calling the UO athletic department ticket office at 1-800-WEB-FOOT (541.346.4461 locally).
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