Oregon’s Sarah Malone competed with consistency at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships last weekend. As a team, however, the Ducks hoped for placement and cumulative scoring improvements from last year’s outcome, instead of just a consistent finish.
By Sunday’s conclusion, Oregon ended the Pac-10 outdoor season in seventh place for the third-straight season. The Ducks scored 68 points, which was a 10-point improvement on their final team score from 2004, but not enough to escalate their previous conference ranking.
Stanford sustained its lead through the first day and collected 173 points to claim its first women’s conference championship. At the same time, the Cardinal broke UCLA’s streak of eight consecutive Pac-10 titles. The Bruins finished with 125 points on their own turf, Drake Stadium.
Oregon’s javelin unit earned 18 of the 36 points the team scored on Saturday.
Malone, who had finished second for Oregon in three previous championship appearances and was the Pac-10’s top javelin thrower this season, broke out of her runner-up shell.
The fifth-year senior gained two feet of separation on her fourth toss, which measured 170 feet, 9 inches — the same measurement she recorded in the preliminary round — to win the event after she fouled on her first two throws. Until that, Washington State’s Jenna Dean held the top mark of 168-11 from her second throw.
“I’m a little rusty since I haven’t done as much in practice as I would have liked the past two weeks, but that’s not an excuse,” said Malone, who recorded a mark exceeding 170-feet for the third consecutive meet. “It’s nice to finally have a chance to win, although it’s not as big a deal for me. It’s more an honor for all the people who have gotten me here — my parents who were here again cheering me on today, coaches, and all my friends.”
Redshirt junior Roslyn Lundeen threw her spear a season-best distance of 162-8 to finish third and collect six points for the Ducks. Senior Rachael Kriz Wallace racked up two points with a career-best 149-10.
Oregon’s Lauryn Jordan scored 13 points over the two days. A week earlier, Jordan contributed five points to the team score with a fourth-place finish in the heptathlon championships. The junior-transfer finished fifth in the triple jump (40-9 1/2) on Sunday.
“I came in fairly fatigued and had some cramping beforehand,” Jordan said after competing in her final event, “so I’m glad to get a good mark and more points for the team.”
On Saturday, she soared to a two-inch personal record and second-place finish in the high jump with a 5-10 clearance. Washington State’s Robin Mikesh won the event as she cleared the same height as Jordan in one less attempt.
“The whole high jump field was cheering for me and that helped get me going,” said Jordan, who is now tied for fifth on Oregon’s all-time list. “They were saying I was getting great height, but I just needed to arch my back. I was a little surprised I went that high because I hadn’t even practiced it this week.
“My approach was off, but I still got my
regional qualifier, so I can’t be too disappointed.”
Jordan’s 19-9 mark in the long jump was good enough for an eighth-place finish.
Junior Brittany Hinchcliffe tallied four points for Oregon in the hammer throw with a fifth-place toss of 189-5. Senior teammate Bree Fuqua finished sixth in the shotput with a 50-9 1/4 heave, good for three points.
On the track, Oregon senior Kayla Mellott experimented with her stride, which in turn improved her personal record in the 400-meter hurdles for the second time this season.
“It’s maybe not the smartest time to try a new strategy, but I tried to keep 16 strides for the first seven hurdles for the first time ever,” said Mellott, who clocked in at 60.24 to finish fifth. “I ended up with a PR, so that was rewarding, although I was hurting a little at the end, which is usually the strongest part of my race.”
Senior sprinter Sofie Abildtrup stomped out a fourth-place finish in the 400 in a time of 54.13. Junior Sarah Schaaf finished fifth and recorded a personal record in the 800 with a time of 2:06.91.
“I went out and wanted to keep some contact with the leaders and also stay relaxed,” Schaaf said. “They kind of pulled me along from there, and I just tried to stay as strong as possible. Now I’ll look forward to regionals and staying healthy.”
Senior distance runners Magdalena Sandoval and Laura Harmon finished sixth and eighth, respectively, which added a combined four points to Oregon’s team score. The Ducks scored four more points and concluded the meet by finishing fifth (3:42.09) in the 4×400 relay.

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