Oregon women’s track and field athletes spent their spring break in California with meets at USC and Stanford.
The women’s most recent competition, this past weekend in the Stanford Invitational, featured multiple qualifying marks at Cobb Track and Angell Field.
Freshman Zoe Nelson and sophomore Sarah Pearson made outdoor debuts in the 5,000 meters. The pair ran close together, earning 25th (16 minutes, 50.60 seconds) and 26th (16:50.64) place, respectively, and slipping past the regional qualifying standard of 16:52.00.
The two improved on 5,000 performances in the indoor portion of the track and field season. Nelson clocked in at 17:02.49 and Pearson at 17:08.35 in February.
Redshirt senior Amanda Fitz-Gustafson finished 26th in the 1,500 in 4:39.08.
Four Oregon women followed Friday’s action with qualifying marks Saturday in the two-day competition. The four Oregon women entered, Amber McGown, Dana Buchanan, Rebekah Noble and Sara Schaaf, all earned All-American honors in the indoor season.
All four spent Saturday competing in the 1,500.
McGown, a graduate student, improved her personal record by 2.51 seconds with a fourth-place finish at 4:21.30. She surpassed the previous high mark set last year when she competed for Cornell.
Buchanan improved her personal record by three seconds, finishing ninth at 4.23.88. Noble came in 15th in 4.24.90 and Schaaf placed 30th in 4:39.49.
Many of the track and field athletes spent the previous week prior to Stanford training in Irvine, Calif. The time spent in California came after junior Emily Enders guided the women’s performances in the Trojan Invitational two weekends ago.
Enders improved her personal best in the pole vault by 2 1/2 inches with a winning mark of 13-5 3/4. She ranks fourth all-time in Oregon history.
Freshman Rachel Yurkovich continued her winning ways this season with a throw of 174-0 in javelin. The Newberg native moved into second all-time Oregon three weeks ago in the Oregon Preview at 179-10.”I guess you could say throwing the javelin is my job, and I’m blessed this is where I work,” Yurkovich said in a University release earlier this season. “I’m really healthy right now, and have adjusted well to the new training program well.”
Lauryn Jordan, Britney Henry and Oregon’s 4×400-meter relay team had runner-up finishes. Jordan notched second in high jump at 5-5. Henry reached 208-4 in the hammer and the 4×400-meter relay team came in 3:43.57.
Six women grabbed invitations to the West Regional Championships in Provo, Utah. Five met qualifying marks before the USC competition. Freshman Ashley McCrea in javelin, Brittany Hinchcliffe in hammer, plus Enders, Yurkovich, Henry and Jordan made qualifying marks.
The Oregon women return to Hayward Field this Saturday for the Pepsi Invitational. The event is tentatively scheduled to start at 11:40 a.m. beginning with the women’s javelin.

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