Life couldn’t be easier for the Oregon women’s track and field team this week.
Looser-than-usual practices, nice weather and light training lead up to Saturday’s season-opening meet, the Oregon Preview at Hayward Field.
“It’s pretty much just a warm-up,” distance runner Hanna Smedstad said about the meet. “We’re all excited that the season is starting, though.”
Oregon runners, jumpers and throwers should dominate the collegiate competition at the meet, but they might tangle with several competing professional athletes.
Portland and Portland State will be the only Division I schools besides Oregon competing at the Preview, while Seattle Pacific, Whitman College and four acommunity colleges will also send teams to the meet.
Still, Saturday’s meet is the second chance of the young season for the Ducks to score NCAA provisional or qualifying marks, and the first time they will be able to qualify on their own track. This year’s NCAA Championships will be held at Hayward Field from May 30 to June 2.
“It is a tune-up, because it’s the beginning [of the season ] for a lot of athletes,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said of the Oregon Preview. “But it’s the first meet at home, it’s the first good opportunity to get a Pac-10 qualifying mark and maybe even get onto the NCAA qualifying list.”
Heinonen said that Saturday’s meet may help him make decisions on which athletes to take to the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., during spring break.

Junior All-American pole vaulter Nikki Reed, coming off a disappointing finish to the 2000 season marred by injuries, is one of those athletes who will compete for the first time in 2001 on Saturday.
“I’m excited for the meet this Saturday,” Reed said. “I’m hoping to jump my PR or higher.”
Reed may have to compete with some collegiate athletes, but the Ducks running in the distance events may face the toughest competition. Three featured non-collegiate athletes will compete in the 3,000, while one will enter the field in the 1,500.
Annette Peters, with Asics, as well as Mindy Leffler and Carrie Morales, will run the 3,000. Lisa Nye, with Nike Portland, will compete in the 1,500. Also, former Duck standout Marie Davis will race in the 3,000 Saturday.
If last season’s Oregon Preview is a guide, the Ducks should cruise past the competition this year. Oregon won 11 events last year and even scored one NCAA provisional mark in the process. That mark belonged to Karis Howell in the javelin. Other returners who won their events last year are Mary Etter (shot put and discus), Maureen Morrison (hammer throw) and Endia Abrante (sprints).
Fans attending the Oregon Preview this weekend will see something never seen before for the women: the steeplechase. Although no Oregon athletes are entered, others will compete in the event. The 5,000 steeplechase will appear at the women’s NCAA Championships for the first time this year.
The Oregon Preview will run almost all day Saturday, starting at 11:20 a.m. with the women’s hammer and concluding with the 4×400 relay at 4:15 p.m.