Track Has Twilight Meet, Pac-10 Multi on Slate
THIS WEEK
Friday’s Twilight Meet (3:30 p.m. at Historic Hayward Field) marks both a beginning and an end. The season’s final home meet will be a farewell victory lap for 18 Oregon seniors. But it will also be the beginning of a push to the 2008 Summer Olympics for a large number of elite athletes who will be competing at Historic Hayward Field for the first time this year. The throws in particular bear watching -- more on that later.
And not to be overlooked, six Oregon student-athletes begin competition in the 2008 Pac-10 Track & Field championships Friday and Saturday at Arizona State.
DELAYED TV
OSN on Comcast SportsNet (Comcast Cable channel 37): Mon., May 12, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.; Tues., May 14, 4 p.m. & 10 p.m.; Wed., May 14, 9 a.m. & 6 p.m.
THE SENIORS
The University of Oregon will recognize its 18 senior track and field student athletes Friday at the Twilight Meet. The 10 seniors on the men’s side have won a pair of Pac-10 titles and own a couple of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships (2005, 2007). Half the group are native Oregonians.
The list includes All-American Phil Alexander (Keizer), A.J. Casteel (Wilsonville), Joaquin Chapa (Portland), Vincent D’Onofrio (Castro Valley, Calif.), two-time All-American Marcus Dillon (New Orleans, La.), Mike McGrath (Portland), Carlos Trujillo (Middleton, Idaho), Esteban Trujillo (Middleton, Idaho), Scott Wall (Ft. Collins, Colo.) and Patrick Werhane (Beaverton).
The eight senior women helped Oregon take fifth in the Pac-10 at the 2006 meet. It was the Ducks’ best showing in seven years. They also led Oregon to an 11th-place at the 2006 NCAA Championships, which was the Ducks’ highest finish in 14 years.
The eight are Ashley Bridenbeck (Lake Oswego), All-American Dana Buchanan (Beachburg, Ontario), Kavina Hall (Fairfield, Calif.), Kasey Harwood (Polson, Mont.), Emily Mathis (Klamath Falls), Sarah Pearson (Eugene), All-American Irie Searcy (Portland) and Liddell Steele (Bend).
The senior ceremony is scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m.
PAC-10 HEPTATHLON/DECATHLON
While the Twilight Meet rounds out the regular season for most of the team, the championships season has begun for the six Ducks -- three men, three women -- in action at the Pac-10 Championships multi-events Friday and Saturday at Arizona State. For the men, the competition marks the beginning of Oregon’s title defense and the Ducks have the league’s top decathlete in sophomore Ashton Eaton. The 7,792 points he scored March 27-28 at Sacramento State are five points better than Rickey Moody of Washington State’s best (7,787). Eaton took second at the Pac-10 meet (7,123) in 2007. The men also have sophomore Marshall Ackley, ranked sixth in the Pac-10 (6,356), and junior Alexey Shkuratov, who is competing in his first decathlon of the season, but was sixth at the Pac-10s two years ago as a freshman (6,720).
In the heptathlon, Oregon’s Brianne Theisen and Kalindra McFadden rank second and third in the Pac-10 behind Arizona State’s Jacquelyn Johnson (6,143 points). Theisen, a freshman from Humboldt, Sask., recorded her mark of 5,575 at Sacramento State, while McFadden, a junior from Bozeman, Mont., just missed a PR with 5,420 points at the Mt. SAC Relays. McFadden placed sixth in both the 2006 (5,036) and 2007 (5,115) Pac-10 championships. The Ducks’ heptathlon corps is rounded out by Sophomore Erin Funkhouser. The Grass Valley, Ore., native ranks 10th in the Pac-10 (4,696) and finished 10th at the Pac-10 meet last season (4,450).
ELITE THROWERS
The Twilight Meet will see some of the nation’s best throwers who have begun to converge on Eugene in anticipation of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. Among the featured athletes are Olympian women’s javelin thrower Kim Kreiner and men’s hammer thrower A.G. Kruger.
Kreiner headlines the women’s javelin field (7 p.m.). The current American record holder (210-7) is a four-time USA champion (?01, ?04, ?05, ?06), won the 2004 Olympic Trials and captured gold at the 2003 Pan Am Games. Dana Pounds is also a contender in the women’s javelin with an entry throw of 195-8, while Lindsey Blane (182-3) and former Duck Sarah Malone (186-10) have both gone over 180 feet.
The invitational men’s hammer (6:30 p.m.) features Kruger, the two-time defending USA outdoor champion. The 2001 NCAA Division II champion for Morningside College (Sioux City, Iowa) has a personal-best throw of 260-0, and could make a run at the U.S. record of 270-9 ? set by current Oregon assistant coach Lance Deal in 1996. Kruger was the runner-up at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. He’ll have to contend with four others who have all gone over 230 feet, including Michael Mai (245-6), Travis Nutter (237-10), Nick Owens (233-7) and Lucais MacKay (230-11).
Every athlete in section two of the women’s hammer (4:25 p.m) has thrown over 210 feet. The three leaders in that pack are Amber Campbell (230-3), Krystal Yush (227-3) and Bethany Hart (225-0).
Four of the men’s javelin (5:55 p.m.) throwers have surpassed 240 feet: Eric Brown (251-10), Shae Murray (245-5), Doug Lefler (243-9) and Barry Krammes (243-4).
Another to watch is Kristin Heaston in the women’s shot put (7 p.m.); Heaston’s entry mark is an impressive 61-5.75.
REGIONAL QUALIFIERS
The Ducks already have qualified 40 different athletes (23 men, 17 women) and 53 entries (32 men, 21 women) for the NCAA West Region Championships (May 30-31 at Northridge, Calif.). The regional championships remain as the primary avenue for athletes to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field national meet in most events -- the exceptions being the men’s and women’s 10,000 meters, as well as the decathlon and heptathlon. See the boxes on pages 2-3 for Oregon’s NCAA Regional and NCAA National qualifiers.
RUNNING IN THE TWILIGHT
After the middle school miles, the running portion of the meet begins in earnest at 4:55 p.m. with the B section of the men’s 800 meters. The men’s 5,000 (7:15 p.m.) has an entry from Reebok’s Ryan Kirkpatrick, who boasts an entry time of 13:19.68. Look for Ryan Bailey in the men’s 100 (6:05 p.m.) and 200 (7:05 p.m.). Oregon seniors Marcus Dillon and Phil Alexander will be making their final Hayward runs in the men’s 400 (5:30 p.m.), while Kavina Hall and All-American Irie Searcy will be doing likewise in the women’s 400 (6:15 p.m.). Both the men’s (5:50 p.m.) and the women’s (5:57 p.m.) 800 meters should be fast with Jeremy Mims owing a mark of 1:46.79. Oregon senior Joaquin Chapa is also entered in the men’s 800. The women’s 1,500 meters (7:50 p.m.) features two top athletes in Lauren Fleshman (4:05.62) and Georgie Clark (4:09.00) who have sub-4:10 entry times. The men’s 1,500 -- the final event at 8 p.m. -- will see the likes of Brad Woods (3:37.63) and Gabe Jennings (3:39.00), in addition to Oregon seniors Mike McGrath, A.J. Casteel and Carlos Trujillo. Other races of interest include the women’s 3,000 steeplechase (5:35 p.m.), the men’s 3,000 steeplechase (6:50 p.m.) the women’s 5,000 (6:20 p.m.) and the men’s 400 hurdles (6:40 p.m.).
HISTORIC HAYWARD MAKEOVER
Fans coming to the Friday’s Twilight Meet, the final home meet for the 2008 season, will get a first look at Historic Hayward Field’s Olympic Trials makeover. The most prominent feature of Hayward’s new look is the pair of 57-foot tall bleachers lining the south rim of the track, giving that end of the stadium a new closed-in look. The bleachers are not open for the Twilight Meet, but fans will be allowed to use the passageway underneath them to move back and forth from the east side to the west side of the stadium. All entrances to Hayward Field will be open as usual, and the only advisory fans coming to Friday’s meet should be aware of would be an expected heavy flow of pedestrian traffic through the newly constructed bleachers. Also, the new hammer throw ring will be utilized on Friday; both the men’s and the women’s hammer will see some of the top competitors in the nation in that event.
TEAM RANKINGS
The UO men and women are both ranked in this week’s USTFCCCA top 25. The men are up a spot to No. 13, while the women are in at No. 16.
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
Junior Rachel Yurkovich -- the two-time defending Pac-10 champion -- leads the league and the nation in the javelin (191-01). Nicole Blood leads the Pac-10 in the 5,000 (15:43.82) and ranks second in the 1,500 (4:18.55). Nationally, Blood is third in the 5,000 and ninth in the 1,500. On the men’s side, Andrew Wheating and A.J. Acosta have the top two times -- converted from the mile -- in the 1,500 meters, while Acosta has the top mark in the 5,000 (13:50.20). Wheating ranks second in the 800 (1:47.82). Nationally, Wheating ranks second in the 1,500, while Acosta is fourth. Wheating is also sixth in the 800.
OREGON NCAA QUALIFIERS
Oregon posted its first automatic NCAA qualifiers of the 2008 outdoor season when sophomore Ashton Eaton (Bend, Ore.) eclipsed the decathlon qualifying standard by 292 points with a personal-best 7,792 points March 27-28 at the Sacramento State Invitational. He was joined by freshman Brianne Theisen (Humboldt, Sask.), who earned her ticket to the national collegiate championships in the heptathlon with a personal-best of 5,575. Eaton placed himself sixth on Oregon’s all-time decathlon list with the school’s top showing since 2001, while Theisen already is second all-time on the Ducks’ women’s ledger. The only individual standing in her way of the school record is her coach -- Kelly Blair LaBounty -- who scored 6,038 points in the event 1993. Redshirt freshmen Daniel and Diego Mercado both ran NCAA provisional times in the 10,000 meters April 4 at Stanford. Daniel checked in at 29:04.24, while Diego ran 29:14.58. In the women’s 10,000, both Sarah Pearson (34:29.72) and Zoe Nelson (34:50.59) clocked NCAA provisional times April 18 at the Mt. SAC Relays.
