The Oregon women’s track and field team hopes to translate its efforts from last season’s Pepsi Team Invitational to this year’s 15th edition Saturday.
Last year, the Ducks defeated three squads after accumulating 204 points against Minnesota, Colorado and Washington. Each of those teams returns to Hayward Field for the annual meet, which starts at noon.
With recruiting scaled back the past couple of years, several Ducks will compete in multiple events, including senior sprinter Michelle Donovan, who will compete in the 400-meters, 200-meters and other relay events.
Donovan said that being successful at the meet is important for her team under first-year program director and head coach Martin Smith.
“This is a big meet for us all,” Donovan said. “We’re all being thrown into a bunch of events because we want to go out there and win. We don’t want goose eggs out there in an individual event.”
Joining Donovan in the 400-meters is junior Sofie Abildtrup, who is seeking to enter Oregon’s all-time list in the event. She missed 10th place overall by .06 seconds with a time of 54.76 in early March.
Donovan said that the arrival of Pacific-10 Conference foe Washington only adds to the excitement of the meet. The West Linn native also said that her team is prepared after already experiencing the feel of a home meet at the Oregon Preview three weeks ago.
“We love it when UW comes down here because it’s at our home track,” Donovan said. “It’s kind of like a rivalry for us. We’re ready to put all the points out there on the board and just get it done.”
Junior Bree Fuqua is another Duck looking to do well in her two events — the shot put and discus throw. Fuqua, a transfer from Wisconsin, achieved an outdoor season best of 50 feet, 11 1/2 inches in the shot put at the Texas Relays last weekend. However, she will face a tough group of competitors that includes Minnesota junior Alean Frawley, who leads the field with an outdoor personal best of 53-5 1/2 in 2003.
Fuqua said she has been pleased with her results so far during the spring season. Fuqua, who holds indoor and outdoor shot put records at Wisconsin, is working with new throwers coach Lance Deal to improve her results.
“This outdoor season, I was kind of unsatisfied,” Fuqua said. “The shot put actually went pretty well and the discus has been OK. We changed a few things in the shot put to kind of get back.”
In the javelin, Oregon anticipates having little worry about winning the section behind redshirt junior Sarah Malone. Malone, who holds Oregon’s school record at 179-7, said that she has changed her training routine during the past week so she doesn’t expect to break any records this weekend.
Her strongest opponents are Washington’s Megan Spriesterbach and sophomore Tiffany Zahn. Spriesterbach temporarily held the Huskies’ school record for the javelin two years ago with a mark of 158-3. Zahn, who attended the same high school as Malone in Newberg, is a former Oregon 4A state champion.
Regardless of that, Malone is confident that she can pull out the victory.
“It’s not going to be a huge competition for me,” Malone said. “My plan is just to go out and win. I don’t think I will have any problem.”