Rachel Yurkovich let go of any lingering injury concerns and let the javelin fly.
On her first throw of the outdoor season, Yurkovich launched the javelin 184 feet, 6 inches.
It marked a 4-foot-8-inch personal record and moved her closer to Sarah Malone’s school record of 186-10.
“I didn’t really have a big goal, I just wanted to throw good today and take advantage of the day and the weather,” Yurkovich said. “It was a good start to the season, so hopefully I can be consistent this year, and keep it up and not get hurt. I’m excited.”
One year ago, Yurkovich had a career-high throw of 179-10 in the Oregon Preview. Saturday, she did it again on a clear sunny day at Hayward Field. Last year she never exceeded that mark, partially because of back problems and the accompanying concerns.
“Even on a better day, it still affects you because you run down the runway and stop all of a sudden, you know, you’re a little scared of what could possibly happen,” Yurkovich said. “So even though I might have been feeling better at times, I think psychologically, there were some issues.”
Yurkovich’s effort highlighted a day of quality efforts by the Oregon women. Ashley McCrea achieved the javelin regional qualifying standard with a throw of 152-3 and finished in second behind Yurkovich. Megan Maloney placed second in the hammer at 174-6.
Afterwards, Leah Worthen bent over briefly to catch her breath, offering her thoughts on a tiring first outdoor track meet.
It was a long day for Worthen and Oregon’s sprinters featuring newcomers Kavina Hall, a transfer, and freshman Keshia Baker, who all competed in five events.
“We deserve some kind of medal for doing this,” Worthen said. “We’re dead, but we said we came into this as a training day so we’re going to go get in the ice and just hang out for a while.”
With a breeze keeping temperatures cool, Worthen earned second in the 200 meters in 25.00 seconds and second in the 400 at 56.57. Oregon mixed up its athletes in the 4×400 relay to see how different athletes would mesh.
“Great weather, great atmosphere, the sun was out,” said Worthen. “An athlete gets in this weather and we’re just ready to go. Our bodies, even if mentally we’re tired, our bodies are always ready to run on a day like this.”
Baker did the most with her outdoor debut with a first place finish in the 400 in 56.47.
Hall beat out Lauryn Jordan, a former Oregon athlete, in the 200 meters. She sped past Worthen and Jordan for first in a personal best-time of 24.82 seconds.
“Lauryn Jordan’s an excellent sprinter, Hall said. “To be able to PR after running three events, was a huge surprise to me, but it was a great success.”
There were nerves, but now Hall and Baker can just focus on competing, Worthen said.
“Now that their first meet’s out of the way, they’re really going to come out, especially at our next meet, and just be more comfortable and be more focused on what they should be doing rather than focused on all the excitement and everything else going on,” Worthen said.
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