Golf tournament canceled
The Oregon women’s golf team will wait a little longer to open its 2004 spring season. The Pinehurst Challenge, hosted at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C., was canceled due to bad weather. Heading east, the Ducks found themselves hampered by several inches of snow that recently fell on the 5,926-yard, par-72 course in recent days.
The Ducks squad of Johnna Nealy, Therese Wenslow, Erin Andrews, Kimberly McCready and Jessica Carlyon never got the chance to have their first-ever round at Pinehurst No. 8. The snow forced the cancellation of Friday’s round. While teams were hopeful play could continue Saturday and Sunday, the course conditions ultimately were the deciding factor in canceling the second and third rounds.
The Ducks will start the season on home turf with the Duck Invitational on March 8-9 in Eugene.

— Brian Smith

Ducks claim NCAA marks
Redshirt junior Leonidas Watson and sophomore Eric Mitchum recorded personal-best performances for Oregon on Saturday during the third and final day at the Mountain Pacific Championships at Washington’s Dempsey Indoor.
Watson won the triple jump with a distance of 52 feet, 10 1/4 inches, topping her previous best by 2-2 1/4.
The jump easily met the NCAA provisional mark of 51-2 1/4 and just missed the NCAA automatic mark of 53-5 3/4.
California’s Bruce Giron placed second with a 51-9.
Watson’s mark moved him to fourth all-time for Oregon, a list topped by Spencer Williams’ 53-11 1/4 in 1989, Latin Berry’s 53-10 1/4 in 1989 and Gregg Bleakney’s 53-9 3/4 in 1998.
Only eight collegiate athletes have jumped farther than Watson’s 52-10 1/4 in 2004, paced by Auburn senior Leevan Sands mark of 55-10 1/4.
On the track, Mitchum finished second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.81 seconds, 0.01 of a second behind Washington State’s Matt Mason. Mitchum’s time gave him sole possession of the Oregon record after sharing the mark with former outdoor All-American Micah Harris (7.85).
Mitchum’s previous best of 7.85 placed him 15th on the national qualifying list last week. The Calumet City, Ill., native’s 7.81 would place him in 10th, with Mississippi’s Antwon Hicks leading the way with a 7.66. Normally, the top-16 hurdlers are invited to the NCAA Championships.
On the women’s side, redshirt senior Amanda Brown lead the Ducks with a personal best in the triple jump.
Brown’s mark of 41-5 3/4 was good enough for third place, two spots behind Washington State’s Blessing Ufodiama.
Brown topped her previous best (40-8 3/4) by nine inches.
— Jon Roetman