Facing fields of up to 30 competitors at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays this weekend, the Oregon women’s track and field team made its presence felt in California.
Sophomore Mary Etter took on a field of 28 athletes Saturday at Mt. SAC and defeated all 28. Etter threw the discus almost 176 feet, two feet short of an NCAA automatic distance.
Charyl Weingarten made some noise in the javelin throw, tossing the implement 157 feet to finish second at Mt. SAC Saturday. The mark, a personal record by almost 10 feet, put Weingarten on the NCAA Provisional list for the first time.
Junior Niki Reed, third on the national list of pole vaulters, finished fifth at Mt. SAC with a vault of 13 feet.
Friday, sophomore Amanda Brown shone at Mt. SAC, winning the long jump with a leap of 18-10 3/4. Brown beat 13 other athletes for first.
Also on Friday, junior Jenny Kenyon and freshman Ann Sullivan both scored personal bests in the California Invitational Heptathlon at Azusa Pacific University. Kenyon finished fourth, while Sullivan ended 11th in the 27-athlete field.
“Both the heptathletes made major steps today,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said.
Decathlete Billy Pappas, who had been originally slated as the only men’s competitor for Oregon, pulled out of the event because of a small injury.
Although no results for Sunday’s action were available, the Ducks scored high marks Friday and Saturday.
Sophomore Jenny Brogdon and freshman Rachael Kriz competed in both the Mt. SAC Relays and the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational. The pair also managed to jump the same height each day. Brogdon and Kriz cleared 5-5 Friday at Pomona-Pitzer, then both jumped 5-4 1/4 against better competition Saturday at Mt. SAC.
Many other Duck athletes competed at Pomona-Pitzer. Senior Maureen Morrison improved on her performance at the Washington Dual Meet a week ago by throwing the hammer 182-1. Sophomore Jordan McDaniels became the fifth Oregon thrower to qualify for the Pac-10 meet by tossing the hammer 170-7.
Two Davises had big weekends in California. Janette Davis, a sophomore middle distance runner, finished ninth in the 400 at Pomona, while junior Cameo Davis finished seventh in the 400 hurdles and competed in the 100 hurdles.