It was a bittersweet ending to a storied track and field career.
Senior Katie Crabb, who ended her career at Oregon at the NCAA Indoor Championships Saturday in Fayettville, Ark., was in position to run a personal best, score points and walk away from the oval satisfied.
A mid-race collision put an end to all of that.
“Coming in I was excited to have one last opportunity, but it didn’t unfold like I would have hoped,” Crabb said. “But that’s the way things go sometimes, and you can’t always prevent collisions.”
Crabb was positioned in fifth place in the women’s mile, when halfway through the race she collided with two runners, causing her to roll her ankle. The redshirt-senior maintained pace until the final 200-meter lap, when the pain became too much for Crabb.
The Chico, Calif., native placed ninth in a time of four minutes, 46 seconds, good enough for All-American honors.
“I’m really proud of Katie,” women’s track and field coach Tom Heinonen said. “I thought she raced really well in the championship setting. Overall, she’s had a great time at Oregon and we’ll just never know what she could have been able to do [Saturday] because she didn’t have a fair run.”
“The race got off to a good start,” Crabb said. “And then when it slowed, I remained patient, thinking I could make a move in the second half. Just before that was going to happen, I rolled [the ankle]. I tried to hang on and not think about it, but it just wasn’t there at the end.”
Arkansas’ Tracy Robertson won the race in a time of 4:39.
Redshirt sophomore Jason Boness had a more successful outing in Fayetville. The transfer from Northern Iowa placed ninth in the men’s high jump with a leap of six feet, 11-and-three-quarter inches.
Boness’ height tied him for seventh place with Adrian Shears of Norfolk State and Michael Ponikvar of Stanford, but was awarded ninth due to more misses. Boness earned his fourth All-American honors, his second as a Duck.
Weber State’s Charles Clinger won the competition with a leap of 7-5.
The entire Oregon track and field team takes to the outdoors this Saturday for the season-opening Oregon Preview at Hawyard Field.