Abby Andrus is anticipating a return to the NCAA Championships.
Andrus, a redshirt senior from Peoria, Ariz., set a new personal best in the heptathlon this past Saturday at the first portion of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
“I was really happy with it,” Andrus said. “It was just solid all the way around. Overall, I was pretty satisfied.”
Her total score of 5,325 points beat her previous best by 22 points and ranks her fifth on Oregon’s all-time list. Andrus sits right behind two-time All-American Jennifer Thomas at 5,452 points, who posted the mark in 1998.
Andrus said she feels really good heading down the final stretch of the season.
“I’m just trying to recover from this weekend,” Andrus said. “I felt like my hurdles were good, along with my high jump and the 800. I felt really prepared for it and physically, I felt really fresh.”
Andrus achieved a personal best in the high jump when she cleared the bar at 5 feet, 5-3/4 inches. She also won the 800-meters by with a time of 2 minutes, 18.48 seconds — two seconds faster than Arizona State’s Jackie Johnson, the eventual winner of the two-day heptathlon event.
Andrus’ personal coach Rock Light said they met right before the 800 to discuss how she was going to approach the race.
“I asked Abby what her plan was going in,” Light said. “And she said she had to take it out from the start and try to get away and she did. She ran a season best and made it look smooth. Afterwards, she was extremely happy and proud.”
In the long jump, Andrus finished fifth with a mark of 18-02 1/2, only a foot behind first-place finisher Grace Vela of Washington.
Andrus “had a good decent jump on a day that nobody jumped well and everybody struggled with the crosswinds,” Light said.
Andrus is also going to compete in the team competition at the Pac-10 Championships in Tucson, Ariz., this weekend. She will participate in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400 relays.
Andrus’ efforts helped her significantly for a return trip to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, in four weeks. Her point total boosted her up to 12th nationally; other conference championships will take place soon. It is expected that the top 24 heptathletes will be invited to the national stage.
Nevertheless, Andrus is confident her score is good enough.
“I will probably most likely make nationals,” she said.

Getting back
Junior Sarah Malone, Oregon’s javelin record holder, is looking to recover from an injury suffered two weeks ago.
Malone said she hurt her rib area while practicing javelin throws, which prevented her from competing in the season’s last meet, the Oregon Twilight, at Hayward Field.
However, Malone does not anticipate the injury having a big effect on her come the Pac-10 Championships starting this Saturday.
“I just got to rest a little bit,” Malone said. “It’s not bothering me enough to really hurt me that bad. I don’t think it’s going to hamper me at all.”
Malone has breezed through her competition, winning the javelin event in the past three meets she’s participated in. One of those meets includes the Texas Relays five weeks ago, where she broke her own school record with a throw of 179-7, and also defeated her strongest rival, USC’s Inga Stasiulionyte, who will also compete this weekend.
Stasiulionyte, the 2001 NCAA Javelin Champion and two-time NCAA runner up, will pose the biggest challenge, Malone said.
“She’s going to be my competitor,” Malone said. “My biggest competition at nationals too, so it’ll be a good competition and I’m looking forward to it.”