After three hours of competition at the Oregon Twilight meet Saturday, the crowd at Hayward Field was thirsty for some real competition, after most of the Oregon athletes blew away theirs.
As the crowd clapped rhythmically for the racers of the 5,000, Eugene-native Clare Taylor decided to give her hometown crowd a free show. Taylor went neck-and-neck with Courtney Babcock of the Mountain West Track Club and ended up with the fastest American time this year, and second-fastest in the world.
“I felt confident in my kick,” Taylor said. “The conditions were optimal for running well.”
Taylor beat out a field that included former Olympian and ex-Duck Annette Peters, 2000 Olympian Michiki Shimizu of Japan and Jenny Crain, who had America’s best time in 2001 heading into Saturday’s meet, which was held in cool, windy conditions.
Highlighting the collegiate action at the Twilight was Oregon freshman Sarah Malone, who continued her rise to national prominence in the javelin throw. Malone won the event Saturday with a throw of 174 feet, which could have put her first on the national collegiate list, depending on the rest of the weekend’s action. The throw beat the nation’s previous best of 173-9, set by Southern California’s Inga Stasiulionyte last weekend.
“I was surprised this happened today,” Malone said. “Things are just coming together right now.”
The throw broke Malone’s old school record of 169-3, which she set at the Oregon Invitational two weeks ago. It also moved Malone closer to the Oregon record with the old implement, Lynda Hughes’ mark of 202-3 from 1982. Malone said she’s now seriously considering the Pacific-10 Conference title in the event.
“A national championship would be huge, but Pac-10 is what I’m shooting for,” Malone said. “I’m just going to give it all I’ve got, and hopefully things will come together at that meet.”
Malone was one of nine Ducks to score season bests Saturday. Sprinters Lucretia Larkin and Olivia Diane-Callier teamed up to run season bests in the 400 hurdles, and took first and second in that event. Freshman Jill Hoxmeier notched season bests in the discus and hammer throw.
Also scoring season bests in their events were Alicia Snyder-Carlson in the 800, Catherine Tenedios in the high jump, Jamie Burk in the discus and Sara Dinsmore in the javelin.
As a team, the Ducks failed to qualify any new athletes for the Pac-10 meet to join the 19 already qualified athletes.
Besides the 5,000, two other races featured post-collegiate talent Saturday. In the 1,500, former Oregon standout Marie Davis was edged by Nathalie Cote and Vicky Lynch-Pounds, two Canadian stars who crossed the line only .16 seconds apart. Davis finished just over three seconds behind the top two.
In the women’s steeplechase, Janet Tujillo and former Duck Lisa Karnopp-Nye squared off and finished only .5 seconds apart. Tujillo won with a time of 10:09.7.
Despite all the serious competitions Saturday, the Twilight featured some fun events, too. Area middle school students got a chance to compete in the middle school mile. The men’s race was marred by a false start as many of the middle schoolers tripped over each other, but was quickly re-started and ran successfully. Also, the Oregon coaches recognized experienced Hayward Field volunteers with a service pin presentation.
The evening was capped with the “seniors’ last lap,” where this year’s graduating Ducks took one last victory lap around Hayward Field. Many of the Ducks in that last lap will return for the NCAA Championships in Eugene in three weeks.
Oregon will now travel to Berkeley, Calif., for the Pac-10 Championships, which will take place Saturday and Sunday.