Saturday’s 800-meter race offered a tantalizing rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship performance.
Oregon’s Rebekah Noble versus California’s Alysia Johnson.
Too bad Johnson decided the result early on. Johnson ran out to an early lead and never allowed Noble to threaten Saturday in her first-place finish at the NCAA West Regional Championships at Hayward Field.
Johnson’s first place finish in two minutes, 2.12 seconds qualifies her for the NCAA Championships in two weeks in Sacramento, Calif. Noble came in second in 2:04.95 and teammate Zoe Buckman ended her afternoon in fourth in 2:06.82.
The top five individual finishers automatically advanced to the NCAA Championships in two weeks in Sacramento, Calif.
“Obviously, I knew that we had some good competitors in the field and to come away with a win is obviously something else I wanted,” Johnson said. “The ultimate goal is to get to nationals, the Big Show, and compete there … I was hoping to run a pretty fast time, a good time so I was just racing against a clock there toward the end.”
Both Johnson and Noble attempted to downplay any rivalry between the two.
“I can’t stress enough that I’m not really thinking about any one competitor,” Johnson said. “I’m very happy with my performances and for me to worry about anyone else’s would be counterproductive.”
The main goal for Noble Saturday was making it to the NCAA Championships and she accomplished that.
“Luckily I get to go on, and that was the main goal, and now I have someone to go along with me and that’ll be even better,” Noble said. “(Track and Field Director) Vin (Lananna) was like ‘you’ve got a competitor in you’ so you got to bring that out today and I feel like I did in a way, but I got second,” Noble said.
Noble and Johnson last met up at the NCAA indoor finals, where again Noble finished second to Johnson. Noble sat out another possible showdown two weeks ago at the conference meet with a sore hamstring.
Although Noble’s interview was cut short so she could prepare for the 4x400m relay, she scratched and Oregon went with Kavina Hall, Leah Worthen, Keshia Baker and Irie Searcy instead. They stayed close until the end before they faded into sixth place in 3:40.58.
Britney Henry advanced to the NCAA Championships with a third place finish in the hammer throw. She launched a throw of 215 feet, three inches to survive an elite field showcasing USC’s Eva Orban, who was first at 219-0, and Arizona State’s Sarah Stevens, who was second at 217-8.
Javelin thrower Rachel Yurkovich only made one throw by design Friday afternoon.
Bothered by a sore shoulder, Yurkovich launched her first throw 178-9 and sat out the rest of the competition.
“The goal was to get top five on my first throw and I was just lucky enough to get off a good one and get first, so I’m pleased and grateful that that happened,” she said.
Yurkovich injured the shoulder at the Oregon Twilight. She felt fine throwing, but felt sore the next morning. It took her a week to fully recover. Yurkovich aggravated the injury at the Pac-10 Championships and it led her to work with her coach on a one throw strategy for regionals.
“It’s a brand new thing for me and, I mean, it’s not in my vocabulary to fail,” Yurkovich said. “When I was talking to my coach about it, it was a little upsetting, a little frustrating, but you have to realize what the bigger picture is. What’s more important, regionals or nationals? And you can’t do well at nationals or win with a hurt shoulder.”
Eastern Washington’s Carolee Gutierrez proved her biggest competition with a throw of 175-7 on her final attempt.
“I was confident for a while and then the girl from Eastern Washington started throwing good and it scared me toward the end but I kept my cool and tried to keep calm,” Yurkovich said. “She threw great.”
Teammate Ashley McCrea will also make the trip to the NCAA Championships. She placed fifth with a throw of 159-1.
Emily Enders pole vaulted into seventh place Saturday with a season best height of 12-11 3/4.
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