Monday was May Day, and depending on this weekend’s results, the Oregon women’s track and field team could be yelling “Mayday” by Sunday night.
The Ducks will travel to Irvine, Calif., Sunday for the Steve Scott Invitational. Two Oregon runners will compete at the Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., today.
The Ducks have five athletes on the NCAA provisional or automatic lists, and 16 on the Pacific-10 Conference qualifying list. The number of Oregon athletes on the NCAA lists is the smallest in the Pac-10.
The Ducks will try to change all that in Irvine this weekend. Several Oregon athletes will have legitimate chances to score NCAA marks, especially in the field events. Senior Maureen Morrison is looking to make the NCAAs for the first time in the hammer throw. She has thrown the hammer four feet short of the NCAA provisional distance, and she will compete Sunday in the hammer.
“As a whole, the throwers and field units are the core of this team,” freshman javelin thrower Sarah Malone said.
Malone will try to build on her school-record throw in the javelin last weekend. Malone threw the implement a record distance of 169 feet, 3 inches. She says her goal is to throw at least 180 feet — if not this weekend then another time this season.
“I had one throw in a warm-up in high school that was over 180,” Malone said. “I know it’s in me.”
Charyl Weingarten and Sara Dinsmore will try to promote themselves from Pac-10 to NCAA qualifiers in the javelin Sunday.
In the pole vault, Niki Reed and Holly Speight will try to improve their NCAA standings, while freshman Kirsten Riley will try to make it onto the NCAA provisional list a week after jumping a Pac-10 height.
“I want to try to get a provisional mark,” Riley said. “I just want to keep on improving.”
Sophomore Mary Etter will try to start a May march up the NCAA list Sunday, and will try to improve upon her current position of fifth nationally. Morrison, who has qualified for the Pac-10s in the discus, could throw an NCAA provisional mark in that event as well.
In the long jump, sophomore Amanda Brown hit a personal best, Pac-10 qualifying mark of 19-2 early in the season, but she hasn’t been able to match or better that mark in three meets since then. She’ll get a chance Sunday.
In the high jump, sophomore Jenny Brogdon and freshman Rachael Kriz will shoot for NCAA heights. Both qualified for the Pac-10 meet with jumps of 5-7 more than a month ago.
In the track events, senior Hanna Smedstad and sophomore Eri Macdonald will kick off the weekend’s action at the Cardinal Invite at Stanford today. Smedstad will run the 5,000, in which she has already run a Pac-10 qualifying time, while Macdonald will compete in the 800. Macdonald has already qualified for the Pac-10s in that event and joins Smedstad, freshman Ann Sullivan, junior Cameo Davis and freshman Tara Struyk as the only Oregon runners to qualify for the Pac-10 meet.
In preparation for next week’s Pac-10 heptathlon, Sullivan and junior Jenny Kenyon will compete in multiple events at the Steve Scott. Kenyon is entered in the long jump, 200 and 100 hurdles, while Sullivan will take on the fields in the 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles. The Pac-10 heptathlon takes place in Berkeley, Calif., one week before the rest of the Pac-10 events.