Jeff Lindsey will be going home a week earlier than he planned.
The sophomore high jumper from Mansfield, Texas, finished in a tie for third during Friday’s NCAA West Regional Qualifier in Northridge, Calif., assuring himself a trip to Austin, Texas, for the NCAA Championships June 9-12.
Lindsey cleared 7 feet, 1 inch on his third try to advance to NCAAs, an achievement that was made even better by the fact the sophomore missed out on nationals by half an inch during the indoor campaign.
“What a way to make up for indoors,” Lindsey said. “I was going home to Texas the week after classes, but my family and friends will be stoked to see me a week earlier for nationals.”
Battling back pain, Lindsey cleared 6-9 on his first attempt, but needed all three attempts at 6-11 and 7-1 to qualify for third. He had the bar moved up to 7-2 1/4 but failed to clear.
It was the third time he had cleared 7 feet during the outdoor season.
“My back was bothering me a little coming in,” Lindsey said, “so I was a little nervous. I still smoked 6-9, but then cut it close on the next two bars … My attempts at 7-2 1/4 were pretty good — better than everybody else other than (California’s) Teak (Wilburn). Overall, the conditions weren’t bad — it wasn’t hot or cold and there was a little headwind. The surface wasn’t nearly as fast as Hayward Field, so I had to give it everything I had speed-wise.”
Along with the chance to go home early, Lindsey will get to travel with a friend since teammate Teddy Davis also qualified for nationals, finishing in a third-place tie with Lindsey.
Davis cleared both 6-9 and 6-11 on second attempts, but like Lindsey he needed all three tries to clear 7-1. The final clearance was a 3/4-inch personal best for the sophomore from White Salmon, Wash.
“After Teddy got his second attempt at 6-11, his chances were looking pretty good,” Lindsey said, “so I couldn’t let him go to NCAAs alone.”
Prior to Friday, Davis’ one 7-foot clearance for Oregon came during his collegiate indoor opener in January 2003 (7-0 1/4).
Other qualifiers in the high jump included event-winner Wilburn (7-2 1/4), Southern California’s Jesse Williams (7-1, fewer misses) and Long Beach State’s John Temidara (fifth, 6-11).

All-Academic men
The Oregon men claimed a conference-high and school-best five first-team selections to the Pacific-10 Conference All-Academic team.
Redshirt seniors Ryan Andrus (3.94, business administration) and Gabriel LeMay (3.77, biology), senior Trevor Woods (3.74, business administration) and sophomores Matt Scherer (3.74, business administration) and Andy Young (3.76, exercise and movement science) were praised with first-team honors for the Ducks.
Andrus has collected three such honors in track and cross country, while Woods and Young received their second consecutive first-team track honors.
Second team picks included redshirt junior Eric Logsdon (3.27, business administration) and Davis (3.54, undeclared), while junior Brett Holts and freshman David Moore took home honorable mention honors.

All-Academic women
The Oregon women’s track team also proved to be a smart bunch. Of the Ducks’ 28-person roster, only 18 were eligible for outdoor honors, meaning an athlete is a redshirt freshman or older and is in her second year with the same university. Of the 18 eligible athletes, 11 qualified for honors with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
Oregon’s first-team honorees included seniors Kirsten Larwin (3.89, French) and Erinn Gulbrandsen (3.73, English) and second-team honors were awarded to sophomores Whitney Gum (3.51, biology) and redshirt sophomore Sara Schaaf (3.49, mathematics).
Honorable mention accolades were given to senior Jill Hoxmeier, redshirt juniors Taylor Bryant, Laura Harmon and Magdalena Sandoval, juniors Michelle Donovan and Kayla Mellott and redshirt sophomore Haripurkh Khalsa.