In the 2001 NCAA Championships at Hayward Field, Oregon finished a disappointing 60th place with only two overall points, both supplied by Sarah Malone’s seventh place finish in the javelin.
Becky Holliday just took care of the 2002 version for the Oregon women’s track and field team.
The Oregon junior, in her first season competing for head coach Tom Heinonen’s squad, placed third Wednesday at the 2002 NCAA Championships in the pole vault. The finish earned Oregon six points, good enough to triple last year’s total.
And the squad still has four more athletes to go.
Holliday, whose top height this season was 14 feet, 1 and 1/4 inches, finished her day in Baton Rouge, La., at a disappointing 13-05 1/4.
However, with the top finisher — UCLA’s Tracy O’Hara — winning at a height of 13-09.25, it was not the best of days for the pole vault contingent down in the Bayou.
“I had a bad day on the wrong day,” Holliday said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening, clearly disappointed with her finish. “I felt great. It was just that my rhythm was totally off. I just did not feel good on the runway.”
The transfer from Clackamas Community College passed at heights of 12-03.50 and 12-09.50 before clearing 13-01.50 on her first try.
She missed her first two tries at 13-05.25, but cleared it on her final attempt. However, that would be the last time Holliday would clear the bar in an Oregon uniform this season. She missed three tries at 13-09.25, a height that would have tied her with O’Hara for the top spot.
Liberty’s Andrea Wildrick missed her attempt at 13-09.25 in a playoff againt O’Hara, thus Wildrick finished in second place.
“I just had much better expectations for myself,” Holliday said. “I just think I put too much pressure on myself.”
If there was a silver lining, though, it was that O’Hara, and not Arizona’s Amy Linnen took the title. O’Hara, has now won two NCAA titles — her first coming in 2000 — while Linnen, a sophomore at Arizona, failed to earn a height.
“I was really happy for her,” Holliday said of O’Hara, a close friend. “I’m glad she won it in her senior year.”
Next season, Holliday will be that senior looking for the title. She will also be the second-ranked pole vaulter in the NCAA.
“I guess I’m looking forward to next year,” she said.

Ducks’ Javelin trio next up
With Holliday already coming through with a third-place performance, Oregon’s attention now turns to the javelin.
Sophomore Sarah Malone and freshmen Elisa Crumley and Roslyn Lundeen head to the Baton Rouge, all ranked in the top 12 in the nation.
While Malone is used to the big-time spotlight that is placed on the NCAA Championships, Crumley and Lundeen will be experiencing it first-hand for the first time. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will wilt under the intense scrutiny.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be like,” Lundeen said before a practice at Hayward Field last week. “I’m assuming huge. I’m just totally excited to be getting the opportunity to go there.”
Unlike Lundeen, Crumley has had a chance to witness the NCAA Championships after attending the 2001 version in Eugene. She still owns the copy of the videotape her father took while at Hayward, and is looking forward to Louisiana.
While Crumley and Malone have been relatively healthy for most of the season — Malone having only suffered a pull midway through the 2002 campaign, is now OK — Lundeen has not had the same fate. An elbow injury has bothered her for most of the season.

However, Lundeen said she is has been recuperating well and is at her healthiest point in quite awhile. But she still has her obstacles entering the final meet of the 2002 season.
“There’s a lot of changes I’m having to make and I’m trying to get myself back into the rhythm of things,” she said. “So it’s a challenge right now.”
Lundeen enters the meet ranked 12th in the nation, while Malone is the highest ranked of the three Ducks at No. 4, and Crumley follows that up at No. 8. The three represent Oregon’s best chance to earn quality points at the NCAA Championships.
“On one hand, I’m really nervous because it’s NCAAs,” Crumley said. “But on the other hand, I have to remember I just have to do the same thing that I’ve been doing.”