Here at the Emerald, we have a 90-year history of archives that we can examine for the sake of institutional knowledge and historical framing. Here’s a glimpse of that Emerald history with a weekly feature, giving you a look into what was happening this day in the past.
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Unlike other years, athletes have to prove their abilities once more before taking the big step to the NCAA Championships.

Top 5 or bust: Track heads to regionals: Women’s track and field

May 30, 2003
Jesse Thomas | Emerald archives
In the first-ever NCAA West Regional Championships this weekend, the Oregon women’s team is sending 21 individuals and a 4×400-meter relay to do battle in Stanford.
The idea for the new system came from the U.S. Track Coaches Association in hopes the meet would lower the stresses of earning national marks early in the season.
Athletes who place in the top five of their event for each of the four regions are automatically qualified for nationals. An additional six to eight athletes per event nationally will be invited based on season performance.
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With the crazy amount of success our sports teams have seen in the past year, it’s easy to forget that we haven’t been a national name in athletics for very long. For example, on this day nine years ago, Jesse writes about the need for a track team to qualify in the top five and get to NCAA nationals.
It wasn’t a bad year for football or basketball; in fact, a Luke Ridnour-led@@http://www.nba.com/playerfile/luke_ridnour/@@ basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament that year. And a football team captained by a young Kellen Clemens@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22878@@ won eight games en route to a close Sun Bowl loss against a better Minnesota Golden Gophers team.
But with the level of success we’ve hit this year, it’s good to remember our roots: That it was once top five in track or bust for us.