The Pacific-10 Championships, the meet athletes and coaches have been talking about all season, is finally here.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Oregon women’s track and field team will attempt to improve on its seventh-place finish from last year. Oregon athletes Lauryn Jordan and Kasey Harwood both emphasized the Ducks’ chances this weekend at Hayward Field.
Oregon is already off to a good start, having earned nine points in the heptathlon held last weekend to tie for second with Washington State, one point behind Arizona State.
“We are going to make a big jump,” Jordan said. “We are going to surprise some people, and we are looking forward to that.”
Oregon coaches have emphasized the importance of the Pac-10 Championships all season.
“That really gives our team a focus that we can all work on,” Harwood said.
Defending champion Stanford and runner-up UCLA headline the team competition. Stanford broke UCLA’s stretch of eight consecutive Pac-10 titles last year and returns sprinter Chauntae Bayne, who is in the Pac-10’s number two seed in the 400-meter race. Long distance runner Arianna Lambie is the Pac-10 leader in the 1,500 and 5,000. UCLA counters with Nicole Leach, first in the 400 (52.27) and first in 400-meter hurdles (56.89).
In other challengers, USC boasts leading marks in four events, and Arizona State has Amy Hastings and Victoria Jackson, both in the top three in the Pac-10 in the 5,000 and 10,000.
Track Web site trackwire.com lists five Pac-10 teams in its college Top 25, including No. 3 USC, No. 6 Arizona State, No. 10 UCLA, tie No. 11 Stanford (with North Carolina) and No. 13 Oregon as of May 9.
Jordan is competing in multiple events Saturday and Sunday, one weekend after earning third place in the Pac-10 heptathlon. Cold weather conditions and competition the day before left Jordan with tight hamstrings last Sunday, which affected her jumps.
“As long I’m healthy this weekend, I should do good,” she said.
Jordan, the Pac-10 leader in the long jump, will compete in the long jump and triple jump, but could also run the 100 and 200.
Wednesday afternoon, Oregon head coach Vin Lananna tried shifting the focus away from the 800 for Rebekah Noble.
“We concentrate on the Pac-10s, but we look a little bit beyond it and look to the NCAAs and look to the World Junior trials and to the World Juniors in Beijing,” Lananna said. “We are playing around with her events this weekend.”
Harwood and Amanda Santana are each making a second Pac-10 appearance in the 400 hurdles.
Santana finished in 12th place in 2004 in 62.46 and Harwood matched Santana’s finish last spring in 62.69.
Last season, Harwood dealt with a nagging hamstring injury and coaches adjusted this year by taking it slower with her.
“It’s come up hurting every once and a while,” Harwood said. “Now that it’s coming down to championships, there’s nothing to lose really.”
This spring is Emily Enders’ third go around in the pole vault. She earned seventh last year and fifth in 2004. She is seeking a top-five finish this year, Enders said. Her season best this year of 13 feet, 5 3/4 came in the Trojan Invitational.
Rachel Yurkovich grabbed attention early this season when she threw the javelin 179-10 in the Oregon Preview. Since then, she’s won three home meets at the Pepsi Invitational (163-10), Oregon Invitational (164-5) and Oregon Twilight (163-1).
Though she was successful in her coaches’ eyes, Yurkovich thought fans’ expectations could be unreasonable by achieving so much so early.
“It definitely puts a lot of pressure on me and I think that’s something that got to me halfway through the season,” Yurkovich said. “I wasn’t happy with my performance every meet and Sarah (Malone) told me, ‘You cannot focus on (breaking your personal record) every time, because you are going to be disappointed every time, and you are going to end up hating it.’”
Britney Henry set an Oregon and Pac-10 record earlier this season when she threw the hammer 221-7 at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
This weekend, Oregon is the sole team to enjoy the comforts of home and all its benefits.
“We know this facility inside and out,” Enders said.
Sleeping in comfy beds close by doesn’t hurt either.
“We can go home – do our own thing and get the sleep that we need,” Harwood said.