Wait and see, wait and see.
That is Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen’s response when asked about the status of freshman javelin thrower Roslyn Lundeen.
After storming through the early part of the 2002 outdoor season — earning an NCAA provisional mark of 166-feet-11 inches at the Arizona State Invitational — Lundeen is in a holding pattern. An elbow injury has kept her out of competition for the last two weeks.
Needing only two feet to earn an NCAA automatic mark and become the third Duck to do so in the javelin — Sarah Malone and Elisa Crumley are the other two — Lundeen is looking forward to competing again.
“I’m feeling probably good enough to throw right now, but I’m going to wait a little bit and hopefully throw at Nebraska next weekend,” she said from the sidelines at Hayward Field on Saturday.
“I’ve always had a problem with the ulnar nerve in my elbow. Originally, we thought maybe that was it, but it’s actually been muscle and ligament damage. It’s mild, and it should heal shortly.”
Oregon did not have much competition Saturday, with only four of the 16 throwers in the event moving to the final round. The other Ducks — Malone, Crumley and Charyl Weingarten — picked up the slack in the event, placing first, second and third, respectively.
The Ducks could have used Lundeen’s throwing ability, but in a non-scoring meet, there was no reason to push the freshman back into competition.
“We’re going to wait another week and figure she’ll be ready to go at Nebraska,” Heinonen said. “We want to get her back into it, and I know she wants to, but she’s so young we just can’t dare risk her future at all.”
Burk ‘victimized’
There were some hurt feelings Saturday at Hayward Field, and for once, it wasn’t because of a poor showing.
Sophomore Jamie Burk appeared to throw for a personal best in the hammer during the first round of competition at the Oregon Invitational. Her supposed mark of 163 feet would have been good enough to move the Beaverton native into the final round, where teammate Jordan Sauvage eventually won the competition with a mark of 175-02.
Had her mark stood, Burk would have gained a personal record by more than eight feet. Her mark, however, was not counted, and Burk had to settle for ninth.
“Jamie Burk, unfortunately, got victimized by an official’s error,” Heinonen said. “It is very unusual in this sport. But it does happen in rare occasions.”
Vanderville sighting
He’s back.
Ten years after starring for the Ducks, Mark Vanderville returned to Hayward Field for the Oregon Invitational. This time, he wasn’t in an Oregon uniform, but he continued the success that followed him around during his days as a Duck.
Granted, Vanderville didn’t come close to the marks that made him the Pacific-10 Conference runner-up in 1990. His final mark in the pole vault was 16-04.75, good enough for fourth place at the Invite, but far below his career best of 17-6, ninth all-time in Oregon history.
Vanderville still had that competitive spirit in him. At least that’s what one of his current pupils, Becky Holliday, thinks.
“It’s cool that my coach still vaults,” she said. “He practices with us and does stuff with us. He’s not sitting there in a chair and getting a gut. He’s out there. I see his technique, and he’s almost perfected it. To watch him, whatever he says, makes me listen to him that much more.”
In addition to being Oregon’s volunteer coach, assigned to the Ducks’ women pole vaulters, Vanderville is a fire engineer at Eugene’s Station 1, located downtown. He is assigned to the pumper and ladder truck.
E-mail sports reporter Hank Hager
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