Jenny Kenyon took a slight step down from her personal best, Ann Sullivan took a slight step up, and the end result was that the Oregon athletes finished fifth and sixth, respectively, at the Pacific-10 Conference Heptathlon Championships Sunday.
The heptathlon, a seven-event meet over two days, marked the first chance for the Pac-10 schools to score marks in the conference meet, being held in Berkeley, Calif. The Ducks now have seven points in the meet, the second-most of any team. The rest of the Oregon athletes will take the trip to California for the expanded meet next weekend.
Kenyon struggled slightly over the weekend due to a tender knee, but scored 4,911 points to finish fifth in the nine-athlete field. The performance wasn’t as strong as her fourth-place showing in Eugene last year, but bettered her performance in 1999 by 500 points.
Kenyon’s weakest events over the weekend were the 100 hurdles, high jump and long jump. Before the meet, Kenyon had pointed to the shot put and 200-meter race as her strengths, and she finished fifth and second in those events.
For Sullivan, the high points came in the 100 hurdles, 200 and long jump. Sullivan, primarily a runner, finished last in the high jump and second-to-last in the 800. The freshman said she knew she would have trouble in those events heading into the weekend. However, her 4,874 points were enough for a season and personal best.
Washington State’s Ellannee Richardson and Whitney Evans finished first and second at the heptathlon, respectively, giving the Cougars 18 points and an early lead in the conference meet. Richardson scored 5,578 points, an NCAA automatic mark, and Evans scored a provisional mark of 5,546 points.
Julie Tinker of Stanford finished in third-place with an NCAA provisional mark. Stanford’s Lillian Bush finished eighth, giving the Cardinal seven points in the meet.
Sullivan will return to Berkeley next weekend for the regular Pac-10 meet. She qualified for the Pac-10s in the 100 hurdles and the 400 hurdles.