It was fitting that senior distance runner Katie Crabb earned her NCAA qualifying mark at the Nebraska’s Last Chance Meet in Lincoln, Neb. The six-time NCAA participant was in danger of missing her final chance at a nationals berth with a mile time that was three seconds too slow.
Crabb disposed of any doubt with a four-second, personal-best win in the mile in a time of four minutes, 42 seconds, surpassing the qualifying mark of 4:43.
“Katie ran a controlled race and followed the rabbit early,” Oregon women’s coach Tom Heinonen said on a released statement. “But when the pace slowed at the half, she took control and never looked back. She now has six days to get ready for the prelims at NCAAs and won’t have to wait for a call this week.”
Crabb’s time, the fastest women’s mile at Oregon in 13 years, moved her to fourth on the all-time Oregon record book after ranking 10th previously.
Teammate Holly Speight was not as successful in her NCAA pursuit. The senior pole vaulter failed to improve upon her NCAA provisional mark of 12 feet, 6 inches and placed fifth at 11-10 3/4.
Speight ranks 34th nationally and is unlikely to receive an NCAA bid.
Two other Ducks are more certain of receiving NCAA bids. Sophomores Jason Hartmann (5,000 meters) and Jason Boness (high jump) both have provisional marks in their first years of indoor competition.
Hartmann has a season best 14:05 in the 5,000, which ranks him 10th nationally.
Boness is ranked 14th nationally with a mark of 7-2 1/4 in the high jump.
Other Duck men with provisional marks include senior Rian Ingram in the shot put (57-5) and freshman Trevor Woods in the pole vault (17-2 3/4).
The remainder of the Oregon women’s team took to the outdoors for the first time this season at the Linfield Icebreaker Meet in McMinnville, Ore.
Eight Ducks combined for ten wins as Oregon dominated the middle-distance events, hurdles and throws.
Newcomers Cameo Davis and Ann Sullivan led 1-2-3 sweeps in the hurdle races. Sullivan, a freshman from Omak, Wash., won the 100 hurdles in a time of 14.78, leading junior Jenny Kenyon and Davis to the tape.
Davis, a junior transfer from Lane Community College, returned to win the 400 hurdles in a time of 1:05.6 to edge sophomore Alicia Snyder-Carlson by one tenth of a second. Sullivan and Kenyon placed third and fourth respectively.
Sophomores Mary Etter and Jordan McDaniels were double winners in the throws. Etter won the shot put and discus by large margins with throws of 45-5 and 149-11, respectively. She also turned in a second place performance in the hammer.
McDaniels won the hammer throw and javelin with respective tosses of 168-1 and 138-11. McDaniels also placed second in the discus and fifth in the shot put.
Freshman Annette Mosey won her first race in a Duck uniform, winning the 800 meters in a time of 2:15.
Sophomore Eri MacDonald won the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:39.
The Ducks make their home debut on March 17 at the Oregon Preview..