Oregon sports had a busy weekend, featuring wins, losses and records.
Here are the top stories:
-Oregon track and field’s Greg Skipper broke the school record in the weight throw Friday at the UW Invitational, launching it 70-10.50 feet. The throw beat Brian Rochotte’s previous school record from 2007, and was the fifth furthest in the NCAA this season.
-By the end of the UW Invitational on Saturday, plenty of Skipper’s teammates stood out with strong performances. Dual-sport athlete Tony James clocked a 6.71 in the 60 meters, Brittany Mann jumped to second in the Oregon record books in the shot put (51-3.75) and Mitch Modin finished second in the heptathlon.
-Friday night Oregon men’s basketball defeated Arizona State 68-67 despite a horrific end to regulation. The headliners were Elgin Cook (23 points) and Joseph Young (late game heroics).
-Speaking of late game heroics, how about Jillian Alleyne and Oregon women’s basketball? The Ducks downed UCLA 67-65 on a last second layup by Alleyne Saturday afternoon. Oregon fought back into the game after finding itself down 14 with just 13:22 left on the clock.
-Though recording a double-double is nothing new for Alleyne, her performance against UCLA was special. In addition to scoring the winning bucket, Alleyne finished with 30 points and 25 rebounds. She played with energy and passion, throwing herself at the boards and dominating on the offensive end. Yes, the Ducks have struggled of late, but more performances like that from Alleyne could have Oregon making some noise down the home stretch of conference play.
-Oregon men’s tennis hosted Nevada over the weekend, defeating the Wolf Pack 7-0 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday. Though both days had positive results, keeping the undefeated home streak alive, Saturday’s matches were a lot tougher. This was probably a result of having to face the same opponent less than 24 hours later.
“When you win big as we did yesterday, it’s hard not to have a little bit of a mental letdown,” coach Nils Schyllander said.
-The women’s tennis team had less luck than the men, dropping its home opener 4-3 to Minnesota. The Ducks started out strong in doubles, but slips in singles play led to the defeat.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur