The Oregon women’s track and field team didn’t quite make the splash it hoped in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, finishing in seventh place with 61 points.
But several individual performers stood out.
“The women’s squad is continuing to mature and grow,” Track and Field Director Vin Lananna said in a media release. “The throws did fantastic and did their part against the nation’s top throws conference. We have a lot of talented athletes and there is a bright future for them, too.”
Thrower Britney Henry won the hammer competition with a slim win over USC’s Eva Orban. She made her farthest throw on her second attempt to finish first at 217 feet, 10 inches. Orban made her longest throw on her fourth attempt to finish second at 217-8.
Henry and Orban have faced off multiple times in the past, including the Pepsi Invitational when Orban won with a throw of 218-9.
Sophomore javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich won her competition with a throw of 174-11. Sophomore Ashley McCrea was third at 150-05 and Kara Meeuwsen fifth at 147-03.
“I look at this time of year as a new season,” Yurkovich said in a media release. “We compete every other week, so we get a little break between competitions. This is a great meet because you’re focusing on helping your teammates. I didn’t focus on changing anything technical today, because that’s something I concentrate more on in practice.”
Sophomore Lucy Cridland again achieved a personal best in the discus. The Portland native finished eighth with a throw of 162 feet, 3 inches. It marked the fourth time out of the last five meets that she has had personal bests.
Sophomore Rebekah Noble sat out the preliminary 800 meters race Saturday as a late scratch. Lananna made the decision after Noble complained of tight hamstrings earlier in the week, according to The Register Guard, and decided to rest her with the rest of the championship portion of the season to come.
With the highly-anticipated match-up between Noble and California’s Alysia Johnson dissolving, Johnson easily won the finals in 2:01.74 and easily ahead of the second place finish of Stanford’s Ashley Freeman in 2:06.12. Oregon freshman Zoe Buckman was third in 2:07.48.
Freshman Keshia Baker ran third in the preliminary round of the 400 hurdles in 54.62 seconds, then placed a non-scoring ninth in the finals in 54.90. Teammate Irie Searcy, who took eighth in the preliminary round in 55.14, was eighth in the finals at 54.79.
Freshman Nicole Blood finished sixth in the 1,500 in 4:25.24.
Freshman Keara Sammons placed fourth in the 10,000 in 35:51.13. Teammate and sophomore Zoe Nelson finished close behind in seventh place at 36:22.18.
Nelson placed sixth in the 5,000 at 16:50.42 and Sammons was eighth at 16:57.87.
Sophomore Leah Worthen, who was trying once again to secure a regional qualifying time in the 400 hurdles, finished ninth in preliminaries in 1:02.10 and finished the final in ninth at 1:05.48.
Senior Emily Enders earned fifth place in her last appearance at the Pac-10 Championships. Her best mark was 12-9 1/2. Teammates freshman Eniko Eros and sophomore Tara Rhein were 13th and 14th respectively with jumps of 11-11 3/4.
Sophomore Kalindra McFadden placed 17th in the long jump at 17-8 1/4.
[email protected]
Team Scores
1. Arizona State 158
2. Stanford 134.33
3. UCLA 118.5
4. USC 113
5. Washington St. 67.83
6. Arizona 62
7. Oregon 61
8. California 54.33
9. Washington 49