The Oregon track and field meet schedule for the outdoor season could look very different next year.
Director of Track and Field Vin Lananna has not yet reached an agreement to bring back the Oregon-UCLA dual meet, held this year and last year at Hayward Field. Now, under a possible NCAA mandate, the NCAA West Regional – held this weekend at Hayward Field – may no longer exist past this year.
Greg Walker, Oregon track and field sports information director, said the NCAA entertained proposals as early as fall 2008 to alter the qualification format for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which will be June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Currently, nationals qualifiers have to pass through one of four regionals: East, Mideast, Midwest and West. (Heptathletes, decathletes and 10,000m runners are exempt from regional competition, moving straight from the conference level to nationals based on the nation’s top performances.) Top-five finishers in regional events automatically qualify for nationals; athletes who fail to finish in the top five but hold a top-12 regional mark may be chosen to attend nationals as at-large competitors. (For relay teams, the top three automatically qualify; marks in the top 10 are placed in the at-large pool.)
Walker said new proposals may reduce the number of regionals from four to two – or eliminate them altogether. Conference championships would subsequently gain greater importance.
Lananna has been an outspoken critic of regional meets, but he clarified his stance before reporters on Tuesday.
“Whether the University of Oregon thinks it’s a good idea or a bad idea, it is the way,” he said. “You get into a situation in track and field where you don’t like the heat that you’re in, you don’t like the time of day, the pole vaulters don’t like the crosswinds, you don’t want to run into a headwind, but everyone’s got to line up and get it done. That’s what we’ve got to do this weekend.
“My concern for the regional meet has never been as a disadvantage to the University of Oregon or, really, any of the Pac-10 schools, schools that have a lot of athletes that are bubble athletes. This is a great way to get them to the NCAAs. Any way I would be concerned with is the top-end kids, where we ask them week-in and week-out to go and compete and earn their spot. A particular distance or a particular time should validate their position in the NCAAs.”
One such ‘bubble’ athlete is Oregon jumper Vernell Warren, whose long jump of 24 feet, 11 inches during the Pac-10 Championships has him ninth on the West regional marks list. Warren’s best chance of making nationals is gunning for that coveted fifth-place spot or higher.
“I missed out last year (on attending regionals) by about half of an inch,” the sophomore from Portland said. “I like how the regional’s set up. It just comes down to whoever has it on any given day.”
The regional meet has further significance for Oregon’s seniors, as it will be their final event at Hayward Field as a collegian.
“I try not to think about that,” said senior Lucy Cridland, the surprise Pac-10 runner-up in the discus throw. “It’ll be hard. This is my home. It’ll be really weird to leave it.”
Cridland, ranked second in the regional behind Pac-10 champion Sarah Stevens of Arizona State, has never before been to nationals. Barring forces beyond her control, she should be able to attend for the first time, and receive one last round of applause from the Hayward faithful.
“This is actually a really cool opportunity heading into this weekend,” Lananna said.
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