Spread across the Northwest, six Oregon indoor track and field athletes took home NCAA provisional or automatic qualifying marks
this weekend.
In Nampa, Idaho, at the Athletes.com Invitational, sophomore Tommy Skipper easily cleared the NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 18 feet, 1/2 inch by vaulting 18-6 1/2, a full foot higher than the next vaulter at the Idaho Sports Center.
“I was pleased to come in and compete right away,” said the 2004 NCAA outdoor pole vaulting champion. “But technically, I made too many mistakes.”
Skipper, who made his winning height of 18-6 1/2 on his second
attempt, missed three tries at 19 1/4.
“Tommy had a great shot at nineteen feet, but barely knocked it off on his way down,” Oregon pole vault coach Mark Vanderville said. “He dropped his legs a little too soon and hit the bar on the way up.”
Sprinters Kedar Inico and Matt Scherer also qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held in March, earning provisional marks in the 400 meters. Senior Inico took home the gold with a 46.95-second sprint, just ahead of junior Scherer, who ran a 47.04.
Inico’s time was the second fastest all-time Oregon indoor
400-meter mark, 0.54 seconds off Scherer’s record run last year. Both runners easily bested the NCAA provisional mark (47.25) and were within one second of the automatic qualifying time (46.05).
“The sprinters have looked good,” assistant coach Dan Steele said. “We’re hoping to take it up a notch next weekend in Flagstaff.”
Oregon sprint distance athletes will travel to Flagstaff, Ariz., for the Mountain T’s Invitational Feb. 3.
In Seattle, Duck middle-distance and field-event athletes competed in the Dempsey Indoor Center in the Washington Invitational.
Senior Eric Logsdon, an All-American in outdoor track (5,000 meters) and cross country, earned an automatic NCAA bid in the 3,000 meters. Logsdon, a Canby native, finished fourth in the unusually tough field with a time of 7:54.29, beating the NCAA automatic mark of 7:56.00. Logsdon’s finish was only 0.03 seconds behind Steve Fein’s indoor school record (7:54.26).
“I knew I was in good shape and could be close to if not under eight minutes,” Logsdon said.
On the field, senior Leonidas Watson earned a provisional mark in his first long jump effort of the season. The St. Louis native finished second at with a leap of 24-6 1/2. Watson holds the Ducks’ all-time indoor long jump record (25-6 1/4) and finished ninth in last year’s NCAA Indoor finale.
For the women, senior Laura Harmon, finished fourth in the 5,000
meters with a 16:29.17 effort, her first 5K of the year. Harmon met the NCAA provisional mark of 16:45 with little trouble and was within 20 seconds of the automatic mark of 16:10.
“It was a good opener,” Harmon said. “But I also know that it’s likely not fast enough to qualify for nationals, so I’ll have to come back and run faster in two weeks.”
Duck athletes will travel around the country in the next several weeks in preparation for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships in Seattle Feb. 25 and 26, and the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 11 and 12.

Beau Eastes is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald