Geoff Thurner Oregon Media Services
After a disappointing first day of competition on Thursday, the Oregon women’s track and field team returned with a renewed sense of energy.
The Ducks set new school and personal bests during the final two days of the 77th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin.
Redshirt junior Sarah Malone topped her own javelin school record from two years ago by five inches with a final throw of 179 feet, 7 inches. Malone also edged out some elite company that included current American record holder Kim Kreiner and two-time NCAA runner-up and USC senior Inga Stasiulionyte.
Malone said afterwards that she was happy to finally defeat her two rivals in her first year back after sitting out last season.
“I did really well,” she said. “There was good weather and good competition. (Both of) the girls beat me a few times, so it was good to beat them. I just tried to be a competitor.”
The Newberg native credited a slight headwind to winning her event by a little more than four feet over Stasiulionyte.
“The wind was good,” Malone said. “I was hoping for a little bit of a headwind, even though a lot of people don’t like it.”
The Ducks’ success did not stop there.
Freshman Emily Enders won the B section of the pole vault after surpassing her personal best by 2 1/2 inches at 12-9.
Weather became a problem for the competitors as a small rainstorm caused a 25-minute delay in the action on Friday. All of the field competitors had to deal with a wet and drenched playing surface for the rest of the day. Enders, a Snohomish, Wash., native, said growing up in the Pacific Northwest helped her deal with the rain.
“I thought the weather might affect me, but it worked out fine,” Enders said. “Being from Washington, I guess I was prepared for it and the delay didn’t cause me to get tight at all. This is the biggest meet I’ve probably competed at, but I wasn’t really nervous coming in.
“I’m just happy that I went up to my biggest pole for the first time in a meet and felt pretty good in it.”
The victory gave the first-year Duck a chance to showcase herself against the top collegiate pole-vaulters in the A section of the event. However, Enders could not match her personal best again and ended up in 14th out of 17 competitors with a mark of 12 feet, 3 1/2 inches.
Senior Kirsten Larwin participated in the same event and finished fifth overall at 13-3 1/2 in a tie with Akron senior Kira Sims. UCLA’s Chelsea Johnson won the pole vault after clearing 14-9 on her first attempt.
Other Ducks also achieved personal bests in their respective events. Redshirt junior Bree Fuqua earned an outdoor Oregon personal record of 50-11 1/2 in the shot put. Fuqua, a first-year transfer from Wisconsin, met Pacific-10 Conference and regional standards with the mark and finished eighth overall in the event.
The Oregon women, under new head coach Martin Smith, will return to Hayward Field for the Pepsi Invitational on April 10 to host Colorado, Minnesota and Washington.
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