The Ducks exceeded their expectations once again with this weekend’s performance at the NCAA West Regional in Northridge, Calif.
The Oregon women tallied four top five finishers en route to a ninth place, 29-point finish. More importantly, four Ducks, in addition to heptathlete Abby Andrus, will automatically head to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, in less than two weeks. Another Duck is expected to receive an at-large bid.
UCLA won the meet (141 points) over Southern California (second, 79 points) and Stanford (third, 74 points).
“The women had another impressive showing, and I’m not surprised,” Oregon head coach Martin Smith said. “Coming in, they only had three people that were ranked top five in their events, so to look forward to six NCAA invites is again a testament to their hard work.”
One of the invites includes freshman pole vaulter Emily Enders, who continued her impressive first season at Oregon. The Snohomish, Wash., native earned an automatic NCAA invite at the expense of fellow Duck Kirsten Larwin in a jump-off for fifth place. Both tied after clearing the bar at 13 feet, 1 3/4 inches on their second attempts.
Enders edged out her teammate on the ensuing jump-off when she cleared 12-5 1/4, while Larwin failed to capitalize at the same height on three attempts.
“I really wanted to make NCAAs, but the thing that I wanted more was for Kirsten to make it, too,” Enders said. “In the jump-off, it was hard because I was excited for myself but nervous for her. When I found out about the jump-off, I asked if I could defer and let her go automatically. But Mark (Vanderville, pole vault coach) told me to focus and if I cleared it, there was a chance we could both qualify.”
Larwin is expected to earn an at-large bid by the NCAA committee based on her personal and season best (13-6 1/4) from the Pacific-10 Conference Championships two weeks ago, Smith said.
Junior Sarah Malone earned her third NCAA invite in the javelin throw and was Oregon’s lone winner in any one single event. The Newberg native led throughout the competition and won based on her third attempt of 173-10 over Washington’s Megan Spriesterbach (2nd, 167-3) and three-time Pac-10 javelin champion Inga Stasiulionyte of USC (third, 166-2).
“On my first throw (164-5), I had an awkward plant and kind of came down wrong and jiggled a muscle in my rib cage,” Malone said. “I figured that mark probably wouldn’t hold up for the win, so I tried to relax it as much as I could and give it a few more tries.”
Malone downplayed the win, knowing her competitors had already qualified for the national meet.
“First place wasn’t that big a deal in reality,” Malone said, “because I know Inga and others will be ready to really go after it at nationals.”
In the shot put, junior Bree Fuqua held onto fourth-place after her first throw (52-8 3/4) to claim her first NCAA bid.
Over on the track, Laura Harmon also took home her first NCAA invite, placing third (16 minutes, 33.17 seconds) in the 5,000 meters. Her time rewrote her personal best (16:46.97) from the Stanford Invitational in late March.
“I knew from my workouts that I could qualify,” Harmon said. “After I nearly tripped in the last few laps, it took me a little while to regain my composure and my rhythm. Once I settled down, I knew my foot speed could pull me through.”
Harmon is Oregon’s only runner to qualify for the four-day NCAA Championships that begin June 9.