The Oregon track and field team returned from a flooded Des Moines, Iowa with a torrent of individual honors of their own – including a pair of national champions.
Ashton Eaton and Rachel Yurkovich led the Duck men and women to 11th and 8th place finishes, respectively, at the NCAA Championships that took place June 11-14.
Eaton led the decathlon, which took place the first two days of the meet, most of the first day before having to come from behind in the last events to win. He set a 28-foot personal best in the javelin throw to get within striking distance of the leader, Tennessee’s Jangy Addy, before passing him in the 1,500 meters.
The sophomore from Bend finished with 8,055 points and moved him to third-best all-time at Oregon. He is the first Oregon decathlon champion since Santiago Lorenzo won the event in 2001.
“Going into the 1,500, we had a plan,” associate director of track and field Dan Steele said in a media release. “It wasn’t just to cover the spread and beat Addy, but also to get 8,000 points, because those opportunities don’t come along that often.
“This is just a glimpse of his future,” Steele said. “He’s ready to take it to a new level.”
Yurkovich, a junior from Newberg, closed the meet with a Saturday victory in the women’s javelin. After taking the lead on her first throw of the finals, she relinquished it only for one round, before taking it back for good with her third throw. Her winning toss of 185 feet, 7 inches came in the fifth round.
“I was wanting to get a little better with each throw,” she said. “I just want to say, ‘finally!’ There are a lot of people who have been waiting just as long as I have to be No. 1 in the nation. It feels great, but I’m happy it’s over.”
The high school national record holder, Yurkovich placed seventh and fifth in her first two years before breaking through this year. She is the fifth Duck to win a national championship in the event and first since 1993.
Andrew Wheating just missed out on making it three Duck champions in the men’s 800m. He moved into third with about 150 meters to go before passing USC’s Duane Solomon with about 25 meters to go.
Using a late burst, Wheating almost caught Jacob Hernandez of Texas, but came up just short. Hernandez won in 1:45.31, while Wheating crossed the line in 1:45.32. Wheating’s time is the third-best in school history.
“I might have broke a little too late,” he said.
Also garnering top-four finishes were 5,000m runner Nicole Blood, heptathlete Brianne Theisen and 800m runner Zoe Buckman.
In Friday night’s women’s 5,000m, Blood finished third in a time of 15:49.22, as she was unable to hold off Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri who was second in 15:46.08. Texas Tech junior Sally Kipyego ran away with the race early, and finished with a NCAA meet record of 15:15.08.
Theisen was just off her previous season best of 5,765, but held off Penn State’s Gayle Hunter by one point to finish fourth with 5,710. Arizona State’s Jacquelyn Johnson won her fourth NCAA heptathlon championship with 6,053 points.
Buckman, who entered the final with the fastest qualifying time, was in first place coming into the homestretch was unable to hold on and finished fourth in 2:04.69, less than a second behind the winner, Geena Gall of Michigan.
The Duck women also got a point from freshman pole vaulter Melissa Gergel and finished with 27 points, their best since finishing fourth with 35 points in 1993.
The men were aided by seventh-place finishes from hammer thrower Colin Veldman and javelin thrower Alex Wolff, totaling 22 points, good for a tie for 11th with Northern Iowa. Mike Simmons and A.J. Acosta also won All-American honors.
Men’s cross country to visit White House
The national champion men’s cross country team will be honored at the White House tomorrow along with 19 other NCAA championship teams. The team will get a tour of the White House before meeting with President Bush.
“It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to visit the White House,” said Oregon associate athletic director Vin Lananna. “We are so proud to be able to represent the University of Oregon and the city of Eugene as national champions.”
The team will give the President a pair of custom Nike running shoes with “Prez” inscribed on them.
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