Lauryn Jordan looks at this weekend’s Pepsi Invitational as a stepping-stone.
Jordan is using each meet to help her reach peak form for the Pacific-10 Conference Championships and Regionals.
“Most people like to win every meet, but I don’t,” Jordan said. “I’m going to win when it counts.”
Jordan and the rest of the Ducks join Washington, Penn State and Boise State in the Ducks’ first team scoring meet of the season. The Oregon women’s team has won two of the last three years.
Women’s javelin will open the competition at 11:40 a.m. and end with the men’s 4 x 400 meter relay at 3:30 p.m. Weather could factor in with forecasts calling for a 70 percent chance of rain with highs in the low 60s and lows in the mid 40s.
“It can (have an effect), but everyone has to run in it too,” distance runner Rebekah Noble said. “We’ve done workouts in puddles. We know what it’s like.”
Noble is making her home debut after not participating in the Oregon Preview, one week after the NCAA Indoor Championships. She will make her outdoor debut in the 800 after finishing second at the indoor championships in two minutes, 5.72 seconds.
Jordan is entered in five events including the 100, 100-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and triple jump. One of Oregon’s most dynamic athletes, Jordan considered redshirting at one point.
When Lananna was hired last summer, those plans were abandoned. The new coaching staff’s technical changes provided the impetus Jordan needed.
“I felt ready to come out this year,” Jordan said. “So why wait?”
Kelly Blair LaBounty, an Oregon graduate and two-time Olympic athlete, joined the coaching staff over the offseason. She offered Jordan a vision of someone who has been there and done that.
Though she normally works with coach Robert Johnson, LaBounty immediately helped Jordan with hurdles, which account for important points in the heptathlon.
A host of other Oregon women athletes will compete Saturday as well.
Graduate student Amber McGown set her personal 1,500 mark of 4:21.30 last weekend at Stanford and ranks third nationally outdoors.
Three Oregon javelin throwers are expected to compete, including double All-Americans Roslyn Lundeen and Elisa Reynoso join U.S. junior and Pan-Am junior champion Rachel Yurkovich.
Yurkovich improved her summer throw of 176-5 to 179-10 in the Oregon Preview – good for second all-time at Oregon. She didn’t stop there; she earned first place in the USC Invitational two weeks ago with a throw of 174-0.
Pole vaulter Emily Enders improved her personal record to 13-5 3/4 in the same meet.
Dana Buchanan stands 10th nationally in the 1,500. She could potentially make her debut in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She earned third in the Western Athletic Conference Champion-ships last year for Hawaii.
Oregon throwers Britney Henry and Brittany Hinchcliffe completed the indoor season with a rare tie with weight throws of 61-1.25.
Redshirt junior Henry and Washington State transfer Hinchcliffe push each other, and the benefits became immediately evident in the Oregon Preview, where Henry set a new Oregon hammer throw record of 208-7, fourth nationally. Hinchcliffe, the former Oregon hammer record holder, improved her personal best to 199-3, 10th nationally.
“It’s fun to train together,” Hinchcliffe said. “With her, she had a lot of success last year and for me, that’s something to work toward.”
The flu has slowed Hinchcliffe in recent weeks. She is anticipating a successful Saturday and possibly a personal record in the hammer throw, Hinchcliffe said.
“I’m healthy now and I would love to throw as far as I can,” she said.

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