Thunder, Ashton, Ducks Roll in Des Moines
DES MOINES, Iowa -- It was moving day -- quite literally -- for Oregon Wednesday at the 2008 NCAA Track & Field Championships at Drake Stadium.
Ashton Eaton used a record-setting 400 to move to the lead of the decathlon, Nicole Blood, Zoe Buckman, Andrew Wheating and Alex Wolff paced a contingent of nine Ducks who moved on from Wednesday’s qualifying rounds and the Oregon traveling party was forced to move from its hotel due to the threat of severe flooding along the Des Moines River.
"The first day, you put yourself in a position to really do something on the second day and I think we were very successful a that," said Oregon director of track and field Vin Lananna. "I thought we did a very nice job today."
The first day of the NCAA Championships was plagued by showers and thunderstorms in the early going, but it certainly didn’t bother Eaton, who capped his first day by running an NCAA Championships record in the decathlon’s 400 meters. He won the event -- his third victory of the day -- in a time of 47.25. That mark earned him 946 points to boost his first day total to a personal-best 4,289.
Senior Jangy Eddy of Tennessee was second with 4,238 points, while Washington State senior Rickey Moody was third with 4,048 points.
Eaton opened the competition with the top time in the 100 meters, 10.64, and then set an outdoor personal best in the long jump with an effort of 25-feet, 2.5-inches, which was also the leading jump of the decathlon. The sophomore from Bend, Ore., notched his career mark despite a 2.6 miles per hour head wind.
After throwing a personal-best 41-11.5 in the shot put (17th), Eaton cleared 6-5 in the high jump, an inch off his top mark, to tie for seventh.
He followed that with his run in the 400, which broke the NCAA decathlon record of 48.52, set by Wisconsin’s Joe Detmer in 2006 at Sacramento, Calif. Eaton’s time was more than a second better than second-place Addy’s 48.52.
"He was really well-prepared for this meet," said Oregon associate head coach Dan Steele. "He wanted to break the record. He was ready to run."
Wheating made it 10 wins in 10 races in 2008 by winning heat three of the men’s 800 meter preliminaries. He finished in 1:48.88, ahead of Northern Iowa’s Tyler Mulder who came in at 1:49.34. Wheating’s time was the fastest 800 of the day, as he advanced to Thursday’s semifinals as the top overall seed.
Buckman cruised to a second place finish in her women’s 800 meter preliminary heat, running a time of 2:06.51, finishing behind Brigham Young’s Carlee Clark-Platt (2:06.41). The sophomore from Canberra, Australia, had the fifth-fastest preliminary time overall to advance easily to Thursday’s semifinals.
In the women’s 5,000, both Nicole Blood and Sarah Pearson advanced to Friday night’s final. Blood, a sophomore from Simi Valley, Calif., ran sixth in heat two in a time of 16:48.73 to automatically advance, while Pearson took ninth in the same heat and advanced on time with a mark of 16:57.53.
The first two Ducks to advance on Thursday were Wolff and junior Mike Simmons in the men’s javelin. Wolff was 10th in the preliminaries with a throw of 213-01. The sophomore from Newberg, Ore., was seeded 22nd, but moved up 12 spots to advance to Friday’s final. Simmons, from Happy Valley, Ore., placed 12th with a toss of 211-06 and was the final competitor to advance. Corey White of USC had the best throw of the preliminary round, 233-04.
Freshman Melissa Gergel advanced to Friday’s final in the women’s pole vault by clearing the bar at 13-5.25. She was one of 15 competitors to clear 13-5.25. Based on fewest misses, Gergel will be seeded second in the finals. The Glenwood, Ill., native missed just once in clearing four bars on Wednesday.
Junior Chris Winter ran seventh in his heat of the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase in a time of 8:52.57, but advanced to Friday’s final based on time. He had the 13th-best preliminary mark overall.
"For Oregon, this NCAA meet is all about laying the foundation for the future and it was exciting to see a lot of our underclassmen advance and experience success at the national level."
In the men’s hammer, which was delayed 2:30 as a result of the weather, senior Colin Veldman took seventh in the preliminaries with a throw of 213-4 to advance to Friday’s finals. Freshman Jordan Stray had a best attempt of 192-7 and was 23rd in the opening round, but did not advance.
A handful of Ducks competed for the final time in 2008 on Wednesday. Senior Kasey Harwood ran 1:00.43 women’s 400 meter hurdles to finish sixth in her heat, sophomore Keshia Baker clocked 56:12 and was sixth in her heat of the women’s 400 meters and sophomore Colin Witter-Tilton no-heighted in extremely conditions in the men’s pole vault. Senior Carlos Trujillo was ninth in his preliminary heat in the 5,000 meters (14:39.50) and did not advance.
Regarding the hotel, the Ducks decided to relocate to the EconoLodge, on higher ground four miles from the river, after the team’s original hotel, the Embassy Suites on the River, was becoming dangerously close to being flooded as of Wednesday evening. City streets one block from the Embassy Suites were closed due to the flooding, and the Des Moines River was threatening to overflow its banks, though local officials were optimistic about avoiding the catastrophic flooding that occurred in 1993.
Heavy rain showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast for the Des Moines area through mid-afternoon Thursday, before a clearing pattern moves in for the weekend.
Looking forward to Thursday at Drake Stadium, the highlights for Oregon will include Eaton completing the decathlon, three-time Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional champion Rachel Yurkovich in the preliminaries of the women’s javelin, Buckman and Wheating in their respective 800 meter semifinals, preliminary 1,500 meter heats for A.J. Acosta (men) and Alexandra Kosinski (women) and Daniel and Diego Mercado in the final of the men’s 10,000 meters.
"Ashton is going to be in the mix," said Steele. "He’s going to have to have a great day if he wants to win, but he’s going to be in there."
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